BOX SCORE
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In front of 747 fans, including a number of Detroit faithful who made the trip to Ann Arbor, the women's soccer team helped open the University of Michigan's brand new soccer complex but fell by a 3-1 score to U-M Friday evening.
Sophomore
Nina Carter (Clinton Twp., MI/Chippewa Valley) scored the first goal of the 2010 season and the first in Michigan's new stadium off a
Sarah Dzuris (Rochester Hills, MI/Rochester) corner kick. Dzuris booted the ball to the top of the six-yard box and, after a few kicks and a final header off a Michigan defender, the ball came right to Carter's feet. She placed it into the back of the net at the 11:59 mark.
The Titans put forth a great defensive effort in the first half including when defender
Mary Leone (St. Clair Shores, MI/Lakeview) made a sliding tackle to deflect what looked like an open Michigan shot on net with less than 20 minutes left.
"I think in the first half we competed great. Offensively we did really well and we limited their scoring opportunities. I felt very good about how our team was performing in the first half," said head coach
Mike Lupenec.
Michigan applied pressure early in the second half with a corner and two shots. The second one found the back of the net with 36:26 left, tying the game 1-1.
The game remained deadlocked until late in the match but Michigan scored a pair of goals in less than four minutes to take a 3-1 lead. With 7:10 remaining, a cross from the right side was chipped inside the six-yard box behind freshman
Nora Abolins (Demorestville, ON/Centennial) for a 2-1 lead. Michigan added another with 3:57 remaining in the game to take a 3-1 edge, which ended up being the final score. The Wolverines outshot Detroit 22-3 overall, including 15-0 in the second half.
Abolins made two saves in the first half and three in the second half tending the nets for Detroit.
Detroit's next action will be this Thursday at Titan Field, as the Titans will serve as the road team against Madonna with game time set for 3:00 p.m.
