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No. 4 Michigan Overcomes No. 3 Notre Dame 3-1 to Reach Semifinals of 2010 Women's National Collegiate Club Championship
TUCSON, Ariz. -- In a game of oddities, including two of the top offenses in the country being held to a combined four goals and a goalie scoring, the No. 4-ranked University of Michigan Wolverines found just enough scoring to overcome No. 3 University of Notre Dame 3-1 to reach the semifinals of the National Collegiate Club Championship.
The victory avenges a 4-2 loss by the Wolverines to Notre Dame earlier this season and places Michigan into the tournament semifinals for only the second time in program history. In 2007, Michigan reached the semifinals but fell to eventual National Champion California Polytechnic State University (8-6 L) before upending defending national champion Michigan State University (10-9 W OT).
Michigan will meet the victor of the second round game between No. 6 University of Oregon and No. 19 University of Central Florida at 7:30 p.m. with a berth in the National Championship game at stake. Notre Dame, which reached the 2009 title game, will face-off with the victim of the Oregon-UCF game at 9:50 p.m. to battle for a spot in the third place game.
Overall, neither team could break through on the offensive end of the tank for 11:23 until Merideth Segovia (Jr., East Grand Rapids, Mich.) eluded her defender and placed a shot into the cage at the 2:37 mark of the second period for a 1-0 lead.
The Wolverines netted the eventual game-winner 85 seconds later when Paula Finnegan (Fr., Ann Arbor, Mich.) whipped a shot into the cage at the 1:08 mark to give Michigan a 2-0 lead at halftime.
Notre Dame was unable to generate anything on offense for the full 28-minutes of game play as the Fighting Irish's lone score came on a full-tank length bomb from goalie Betsy O'Neill (Sr., Danville, Calif.) with one second left in the third period to move the Irish to within 2-1.
However, Michigan's defense was able to stiffle the Irish for the remainder of the contest, while Segovia tacked on a man-up goal with 5:01 left in the fourth period for the 3-1 final score.
In cage, Kathryn Godlewski (Sr., Troy, Mich.) made 14 saves to earn the victory and Player of the Game honors, while O'Neill registered eight saves in the losing effort for Notre Dame.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -- | Final | |
| No. 4 University of Michigan | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | -- | 3 |
| No. 3 University of Notre Dame | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -- | 1 |
Notre Dame Goals: Betsy O'Neill
Michigan Goals: Merideth Segovia (2); Paula Finnegan
Saves: Notre Dame - Betsy O'Neill (8) ; Michigan - Kathryn Godlewski (14)
Exclusions: Notre Dame - 8 ; Michigan - 4
Advantage Opportunities: Notre Dame - X-for-X ; Michigan - X-for-X
Sprints: Notre Dame - 2-for-4 ; Michigan - 2-for-4
