After the 60 minutes of regulation ended, neither the No. 7 Michigan field hockey team nor No. 1 Northwestern dared to celebrate just yet.
Although the Wolverines (11-4 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) forced the Wildcats (17-0, 7-0) to their first overtime of the season, Northwestern pulled off the victory, 2-1. With the Wildcats’ high-powered offense averaging 3.76 goals per game, even with Northwestern struggling offensively, Michigan’s sole goal was never going to be enough to win. Despite three victories against ranked opponents, the close loss marked the Wolverines’ third loss to a top-10 opponent this season.
“I think we fought really hard,” junior midfielder Claire Taylor said. “We stuck to our tactics, we stuck to our passing sequence. We played really tight and really hard defense, and we had our chances, and now we just need to finish.”…