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Field Hockey headlined Michigan's fall sports in 2022 [David Wilcomes]

A week ago I asked on the MGoBoard what people wanted to see me write about in the future and I got plenty of good ideas, which I'll try to fulfill in the coming weeks. The first and most immediate one that made sense were the multiple requests for a summary or update of non-revenue sports results. So this is the first installment of our non-revenue sports roundup column. Since it's the first one and we've got a ton of sports to cover, I decided to narrow this down quite a bit. Spring sports like golf, tennis, and track & field have quite a bit of the season to go, so I will get to them in a future edition. Today we're looking at the fall sports, field hockey, soccer(s), cross country (x2), and volleyball. 

 

Field Hockey

Let's start with Michigan's most consistently great fall sport, field hockey. It was another solid season for the team, although they had a disappointing early exit from the NCAA Tournament. Their regular season results were fine, 5-3 in the conference and tied for 3rd, with a litany of tough one-goal losses to elite competition (including those in the B1G). Penn State and Maryland tied for the B1G regular season title, but Michigan made a statement down in Columbus at the Big Ten Tournament. Always a competitive event in a conference as stacked as the B1G, Michigan ran the gauntlet and won three games in four days. They knocked off national #9 Iowa (5th in the B1G) 3-0 on Thursday, then beat national #3 PSU (1st in the B1G) in a thrilling 2-1 win on the backs of two goals from Kathryn Peterson on Friday. That propelled Michigan to the championship game on Sunday, where they beat national #4 Northwestern (tied with Michigan in the B1G) 2-1, dominating the 'Cats in shots and using two early goals to get it done. 

That triumph crowned Michigan as B1G Tournament Champions, the program's second title in three seasons and eighth overall. The strong performance in Columbus secured Michigan the national 4th seed for the 2022 NCAA Field Hockey Tournament, hosting the regional in Ann Arbor. That's where it all came to a disappointing end, a heartbreaking 2-1 loss in OT to #16 Albany. Michigan's Tina D'Anjolell scored the game's opening goal but Floor de Ruiter tied it with under three minutes to go in regulation for the Great Danes to send it into the extra session, which would end on Sophia Schoonmaker's breakaway goal. 

It was a brutal end to another strong season, but there is plenty to be proud of. A Big Ten Tournament title lives forever and is another mark of the sustained success of Marcia Pankratz's program. There were also individual honorees to mention: Katie Anderson was named All-B1G 1st Team, while Nina Apoola, Kathryn Peterson, and Anna Spieker were named All-B1G 2nd Team. Apoola also was the team's honoree for the Sportsmanship Award. There will be some attrition in the offseason, particularly among the midfielders and goalkeeper, but the team's top three goalscorers/pointsgetters were all juniors or younger, so there is a core to work with next season. Expecting continued success is merely the program standard. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More sports]