ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No. 9-ranked the University of Michigan defended Canham Nataorium with wins against No. 19 California State University-Northridge, 17-6, No. 17 Long Beach State University, 8-6, and Azusa Pacific University, 15-6, at the Wolverine Invitational.
Michigan’s three wins doubled its win streak to six games. The Wolverines put up 40 goals to their opponents’ 18 goals in three games as they racked up their two highest-scoring games of the season. U-M twice played all 18 of the dressed players on its roster.
The Wolverines came out firing on all cylinders in their first game of the tournament and scored a season-high 17 goals in turning back CSU-Northridge.
Michigan played all 18 of its players who dressed for the game, including all three goalkeepers. Freshman goalkeeper Sara Campbell made her collegiate debut and played the final 5:15 of the game to earn her first career save, assist and two steals. Sophomore Rachel Sodokoff made her season debut; she scored on her first shot of the year.
U-M scored five goals in the first quarter and only gave up one first-half goal as it built an 8-1 advantage by halftime. They did not let off the gas in the second half with four goals in the third and five more in the fourth.
Junior Julia Sellers led the team with four goals. Senior Caroline Anderson had a big day with two goals, three assists and two steals.
Other notable U-M performances included senior Christina O’Beck, who drew four exclusions and scored one goal; freshman Brittany Prentice recorded her first career multi-goal game; freshman Emily Ritner dished out two assists to go with a goal and a win on her first career sprint; and the three goalkeepers combined for four assists.
Sophomore goalkeeper Heidi Ritner made three saves and allowed just one goal in the first half before giving way to sophomore Cameron Cordial and eventually, Campbell.
A rematch from last weekend when Michigan topped Long Beach State, 8-6, at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational in Irvine, Calif., ended up with the exact same score as U-M earned another win over a ranked team.
Last week The Beach got off to a hot start with the game’s first three goals. This time the Wolverines came out of the gate much better and held Long Beach State scoreless for the first 5:54 while they built a 2-0 lead off goals from freshman Kathy Rogers and sophomore Maddy Steere.
LBSU came back to tie the score at three-all in the second quarter, but a late run helped Michigan gain control. Sellers and freshman Maddy Johnston each scored in the final two minutes to make it 5-3 at halftime.
Michigan faced a Long Beach State comeback again in the second half as the lead was cut to 6-5 before the fourth quarter. Just like they did in the first period, the Wolverines used their defense to shut out their opponent for over four minutes while they built the lead back to three goals with scores by Sellers and Johnston again. Long Beach State got one more with 3:26 to play and U-M shut them out the rest of the way.
Johnston, Sellers and Steere scored twice each for the Wolverines. Rogers had a big game on the defensive end with three field blocks to go with her goal and assist in the first half. Heidi Ritner tallied six saves, two steals and two assists.
In the third game of the day, all 18 players saw action for the second time on the day.
Similar to the first game of the day, the offense performed at a high level with 15 goals. Michigan scored five in both the first and third periods, while holding Azusa Pacific to just two goals in the first half.
The offense had a balanced attack with 10 different players cracking the scoreboard and five of those scoring twice to lead the team. Junior Kim Johnson and senior Laura Jimenez led the way with two goals and one assist.
The three goalkeepers split time in the game, each earning saves. The defense helped them out with 18 steals in the contest.
U-M players reached a couple of milestones in the trio of victories. Steere reached 150 career points and now has 152. Johnson reached 150 career goals and 100 career drawn exclusions.
Release courtesy University of Michigan Athletics Communications
