#9 Michigan Field Hockey blows out #3 Penn State on the road

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

This season was considered a 2 game season from the outset.

Penn State and Maryland. 

After an OT win at Ohio State on Friday, #9 Michigan took their 2-0 B1G record to University Park, PA for a top-10 showdown with #3 Penn State.

This has been a heated, physical rivalry over the last two seasons. And a competitive series overall. Last year it was PSU who raced out to a large lead early on Michigan's home turf.

This year, the tables were turned. 

Meg Dowthwaite scored her team-leading 8th goal of the season 18 minutes into the game to put Michigan up 1-0 on a fast break.

The Wolverines struck again just 8 minutes later, when Esther de Leijer fed Carly Bennett for the goal making it 2-0.

In the 2nd half, it was Bennett who gave it to de Leijer for the goal, as she put the game away giving Michigan a commanding 3-0 lead.

Goalie Sam Swenson stood on her head, yet again. 9 saves in this one. Michigan outshot PSU 13-12, and led in SOG 12-9. The ELITE Michigan defense turned away 8 Penn State penalty corners.

Michigan's defense has allowed 0 goals through 3 B1G games, two of them on the road.

Michigan held on for the 3-0 shutout, stunning #3 Penn State in front of a near-capacity crowd who were probably expecting a big Nittany Lion win.

Michigan is now 7-2 and 3-0 in the B1G. 

The game that's been circled since the release of the schedule is up next. Michigan hosts #10 Maryland at 6pm at Ocker Field on Friday.

Maryland was upset today by Northwestern and still has to play Penn State. A win on Friday would give Michigan margin for error the rest of the year. It should be treated as a championship game given Michigan just won their toughest game on the schedule today in grand fashion.

We've only beaten Maryland once all-time. 2001, for the National Championship. The overall series record is not pretty and they are a monkey on the back. That can all go away with a win on Friday night.

Wolverine Devotee

September 24th, 2017 at 8:12 PM ^

#1 UConn and #18 William & Mary. UConn was #4 when we played them and W&M was unranked but they're in a good conference and now ranked obviously. Delaware was the national champion last year out of their conference.

We have wins over #1 North Carolina, #15 Wake Forest, #25 Liberty and now #3 Penn State.

As far as the RPI of those teams, they are #16, #11, #21 and #7 respectively.

W&M is oddly higher in the RPI than UNC who is #7 in the poll. 

Esterhaus

September 24th, 2017 at 7:58 PM ^

To mirror the Scots game of Shinty which is similar to Irish Hurling. You can carry the ball on your stick and opponents can slice at it and also utilize their sticks to block and tackle. We need more ruffians games.

No matter what, I want to see my beloved Wolverines win. Way to go M Field Hockey!

Wolverine Devotee

September 24th, 2017 at 8:58 PM ^

Michigan only has teams for one sex but could have both if we so chose to in the following sports-

Hockey (M), Volleyball (W) and Water Polo (W).

The NCAA sponsors women's hockey, men's volleyball and men's water polo. In fact, multiple B1G schools have teams in the first two sports mentioned. 

I think women's hockey will happen in the next decade.