No. 4 Michigan Upsets No. 3 UCLA 9-8 OT in 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship First Round

Kat Godlewski

DAVIS, Calif. -- Kat Godlewski (Jr., Troy, Mich.) made 11 saves to earn Player of the Game accolades as the No. 4-nationally ranked University of Michigan rallied from a 6-4 deficit at the end of the third period to upset No. 3-ranked University of California-Los Angeles 9-8 OT in the final opening round game of the 2009 National Collegiate Club Championship at the University of California-Davis.

Playing in an unusually severe torrential downpour of rain and chilling temperatures, the Wolverines got hot down the stretch outscoring UCLA 5-2 over the final 13 minutes of play to rally back to tie the game with 1:24 left in regulation, connect on a Hail Mary at the conclusion of the first overtime period and score the game-winner 1:36 away from sudden death overtime.

Trailing 6-4 entering the fourth period, the Maize and Blue sliced the margin to a single goal 1:41 into the seven-minute fourth period as Anne-Lise Maag (Med., Menlo Park, Calif.) broke away from her defender to rip a shot into the twine at the 5:19 mark.  Facing a potential 6-5 loss in regulation, the Wolverines needed some help as UCLA's Catrina Gallardo (Jr., Modesto, Calif.) was ejected to set-up a potenial last gasp attempt by Michigan to tie the game.

Working the ball around the perimeter, Michigan found an opening and dumped a pass to Merideth Segovia (So., East Grand Rapids, Mich.) who beat UCLA netminder Rachel Bone (So., Citrus Heights, Calif.) with 1:24 left in regulation to even the tallies at 6-6 and bring on overtime.

Playing two three-minute overtime periods, UCLA appeared primed to put the game away in the opening ticks on the clock as Desiree Wilson (So., La Vern, Calif.) responded to Seogiva's breakaway with one of her own to place the Bruins in front 7-6 41 seconds into the first overtime period.  

Michigan countered as Jacque Gowin (Sr., Santa Clara, Calif.) uncorked a shot from the outside which sailed over the shoulder of Bone and into the back of the cage to retie the game at 7-7.  

Again, UCLA went in front as Adele Young (So., Long Beach, Calif.) cashed in a Michigan exclusion with a quick man-up goal with 51 seconds left in the period, but the Wolverines' received another last second miracle as Gowin unleashed a shot just ahead of the end of period horn which whizzed past Bone and into the right-side of the netting to tie the game at 8-8 and bring on the other mandatory three-minute OT frame.

In the last three-minutes of overtime, the game was all Michigan as Jessie Carr (So., Palo Alto, Calif.) accepted a pass and swam-up the left-side with a UCLA defender hanging on her left-side.  With no Wolverines' close and needing to get rid of the ball before having it stolen away, Carr turned the corner and broke to the cage before lobbing a soft-shot up and over the head of Bone to complete a hat-trick and net the game-winner.

In cage, Godlewski was solid from the fourth period on keeping the Bruins' offense in check through the end of regulation and holding UCLA down to keep her team within reach in overtime. 

For UCLA, Samantha Lim (So., Los Angeles, Calif) made three saves in the first period before being lifted for Bone who recorded five saves over the final 27 minutes of play.

The game was nip-tuck throughout much of the contest as UCLA went ahead 1-0 in the first period with a two-on-one counter goal by Samantha Ellis (So., Sunnyvale, Calif.) with 4:50 left in the first period.

Michigan responded in the second period with a lob shot by Gowin which found the back of the cage at 4:12, but the Bruins went back in front 12 seconds later with a rising shot from outside by Alexandra Neste (So., Manhattan Beach, Calif.) at the 4:00 mark to take a 2-1 lead.

The Wolverines ended the first-half with back-to-back goals as Maag drilled a shot from the outside at 2:15 and Carr broke away to flip a goal into the cage at 1:15 to give Michigan a 3-2 lead at the break.

UCLA answered the Michigan scoring run with a spurt of their own in the third period as Young converted an advantage chance at 5:49 and netted another goal on a fast break at 5:26 to put the Bruins ahead 4-3. 

Wilson added to the lead with 4:02 left in the period by flipping in a missed shot on an man-up opportunity to build the margin to a pair of markers at 5-3, but Carr inched the Wolverines back into the game by finishing a cross pass on an exclusion chance at 1:22 to slice  the lead back to 5-4. 

However, UCLA appeared primed to put the game-away with a quick set shot by Wilson with 13 seconds left in the third period to go ahead 6-4 and set-up the dramatic fourth period and overtime.

Michigan advances to face No. 1-nationally ranked Cal Poly State University at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 2 in the second round of the tournament, while UCLA will meet No. 14 California State University-Chico at 9:50 p.m. this evening (Friday, May 1) in the consolation bracket.

Michigan Goals: Jessie Farr (3); Jacque Gowin (3); Anne-Lise Maag (2); Merideth Segovia

UCLA Goals: Desiree Wilson (3); Adele Young (3); Samantha Ellis; Alexandra Neste;  

Saves: Michigan - Kat Godlewski (11) ; UCLA - Samantha Lim (3, 7 minutes), Rachel Bone (5, 27 minutes) 

Ejections: Michigan - 8 ; UCLA - 6

Sprints: Michigan - 2 (Cara Finn - 1st & 5th) ; UCLA - 4 (Adele Young - 2nd & 3rd, Jessica Ryder - 4th & 6th)