#10 Field Hockey beats Iowa in 2OT B1G Tournament 1st Round
Michigan's defense was dominant, yet again today in Bloomington. This time in the B1G Tournament First Round.
2 seed Michigan (16-3) had plenty of scoring chances against 7 seed Iowa (9-10), but Iowa had outstanding play by their goalkepper all game long.
Iowa almost scored the game-winning goal shortly into the first OT, but Sam Swenson made an incredible save by bodying the defender and making sure that no good shot would be taken. Even the commentators commented on how that save would later be key.
And it was. Freshman Emma Way scored the game-winning goal on a rebound in 2OT.
Michigan has now won 10 straight games, shutting out 6 of their last 7 opponents(!)
2 Michigan will face 6 Penn State tomorrow at 4pm in the B1G Tournament Semifinals.
That game will be broadcast on BTN2Go which is a free stream. Michigan Women's Soccer will play at 6pm in the B1G Tournament Semifinals at Penn State on BTN.
November 5th, 2015 at 6:45 PM ^
Game-winning goal
Emma Way with the double-OT game-winner! Awesome finish out of the flurry! #B1GFH #GoBlue https://t.co/KmLrwEFLt3
— Michigan FieldHockey (@umichfldhockey) November 5, 2015November 5th, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^
Very nice - I expect us to get an NCAA bid for sure with another win in the B1G tournament. Helluva save by the Iowa keeper, but then she got nutmegged :(
November 5th, 2015 at 7:00 PM ^
We should be in already. 16-3 with wins over #10 Stanford, #22 Northwestern, #25 Indiana, #27 Penn State, #30 Pacific in terms of RPI rankings.
November 5th, 2015 at 7:21 PM ^
Only thing that makes me nervous is that we're 13th in the RPI right now and last year we didn't get in the tournament when we were 11th in the RPI on selection sunday. The Big Ten is down this year (especially Northwestern, Iowa and Penn State) which does not help our SOS. I think making it to the championship game and losing to (likely) Maryland should be enough to get in as an at large.
November 5th, 2015 at 10:33 PM ^
There are 8 at large bids to be distributed. It is pretty much guaranteed that 5 of those at large bids will go to ACC teams, and probably 6. (The ACC has 7 teams that play field hockey). #1 Conecticut, #2 North Carolina, #3 Duke, #4 Virginia, #5 Wake Forest, #9 Boston College and #12 Louisville should be in. Only Louisville is a question mark, I think, but I'm saying they will be in.
That leaves 2 other at large bids. What Michigan needs to hope is that (1) the AEC is won by either #8 Albany or #10 Stanford (yes, Stanford is in the America East), (2) #11 Princeton beats #19 Penn for the Ivy League championship, and (3) #7 Maryland wins the Big Ten if Michigan doesn't.
If two of those three things happen, Michigan is probably in. If all three happen, Michigan is definitely in.
I think--I'm not really a field hockey bracketology expert, but I did notice that last year they followed the RPI except they gave the last bid to #12 Louisville over #11 Michigan because Louisville beat Michigan head-to-head. Michigan might get that same advantage over Stanford this year.
November 5th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
Thanks for listing out some possible scenarios. It's always an uphill battle for Michigan because almost every year they start out the season 0-2 with losses to UNC/Wake in the B1G-ACC challenge. They only have one win against those two teams since 2003. And when the Big Ten is having a slightly down year as a conference, it can be tough to rise very high in the RPI.
I'm fairly confident the selection committee would have Michigan as an at-large, but if they'd lost to Iowa today, I would've been pretty worried.
November 6th, 2015 at 12:12 AM ^
Does Michigan always play Wake Forest and UNC in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge?
November 6th, 2015 at 1:04 AM ^
Yup. Michigan and Iowa each play UNC and Wake Forest every year. The site of the games rotates between the four schools. Michigan hosted this year, next year it should be at Wake Forest.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:51 AM ^
Why is that? Seems sort of odd that they don't rotate the teams around more often.
November 6th, 2015 at 9:13 AM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 6:57 PM ^
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November 5th, 2015 at 7:08 PM ^
November 5th, 2015 at 7:11 PM ^
Indiana just tied PSU. It's 1-1 with 9:45 left.
Hopefully this one goes a looooooooonggggg time into the night. Maybe go to a penalty shootout (I refuse to call it a "stroke off")
November 5th, 2015 at 7:15 PM ^
Is field hockey popular amongst the youth in Michigan? Where is it primarily played? I can honestly say, I don't know a single person who played growing up in Indiana. Not bashing, just curious...
November 5th, 2015 at 7:17 PM ^
Ann Arbor. Pioneer and Huron both have teams, I know this for a fact.
There is an MHSAA championship for it. It's an East coast-dominated sport that Michigan has managed to win a national championship in (2001).
November 6th, 2015 at 12:13 AM ^
Just wanted to make a correction that Field Hockey IS NOT an MHSAA sponsored sport. There is a Michigan High School Field Hockey League with 20 or so teams, but it is not MHSAA. Lots of the teams are unfied district or county teams as well.
November 5th, 2015 at 7:23 PM ^
It will be 2 Michigan vs 6 Penn State tomorrow at 4pm on BTN2Go/BTN+.
Michigan beat PSU 3-1 in the regular season.
November 6th, 2015 at 1:41 AM ^
Beat Pehhhhhhhnnnnn Shtaaaaaate!