#25 W Lacrosse upsets #14 Colorado in first game as ranked team

Michigan Women's Lacrosse earned its first Top-25 ranking in the program's 6 year history last week after a 4-0 start and win over #25 Dartmouth, the second straight ranked opponent the Wolverines have beaten going back to last season.

Michigan played their first game as a ranked team yesterday and it was also their first-ever Top-25 game as the Wolverines took on #14 Colorado in the high altitude of Boulder.

Head coach Hannah Nielsen's first game at Michigan was last season against the same team. Colorado rolled 20-10.

Not the case this time around. 

Michigan at one point led #14 Colorado 7-2 in the first half. The game was never really all that close other than it being a one goal game briefly before Michigan scored the next two goals to go up 4-1.

Seven different players scored the 8 Michigan goals with Lilly Grass being the only one to get 2. The star of this game was by far senior goalie Mira Shane.

She had 17 saves against 23 shots on goal, netting herself US Lacrosse National Player of the Week honors. This performance comes after she had a career-high 18 saves in Michigan's win over #25 Dartmouth.

Colorado had a shot advantage of 37-20, but Michigan won the drawl control battle 9-7 which is so crucial in women's lacrosse as it's extremely difficult to cause turnovers being there is not much physical contact allowed. 

Waited a day to post this because this team deserves the recognition. After losing 20-10 just a year ago to the same team in the same place, Michigan returns and HANDLES a Top-15 ranked Colorado team. 

Program firsts for Michigan Women's Lacrosse achieved yesterday

• First game/win as a ranked team
• First win over a Top-15 opponent
• First Top-25 game/win

Cannot say enough about the job Coach Hannah Nielsen has done. She has 12 wins in less than 2 seasons. Her predecessor had 20 wins in 4 seasons. 

Michigan is now 5-0 and moved up to #20 in the IWCLA Poll.

Michigan will now play in their first-ever Top-20 game as the Wolverines stay in the state of Colorado and take on #9 Denver tomorrow at 2pm. The team will then return to Ann Arbor for a Sunday game against Cincinnati at 1pm.