Jan. 30, 2016
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - No. 15 San Diego State opened the 2016 campaign on Saturday at the Michigan Invitational and was dealt a 12-9 loss despite a furious comeback. The loss dropped the Aztecs to 0-1 on the season, while the Wolverines improved to 4-2.
After trailing at halftime, 8-4, SDSU tightened things up and began its comeback starting with a Taylor Gums goal off a feed from Alyssa Diacono. Less than four minutes later, the visitors reduced their deficit after Gums found Ioli Benekou for a power-play score. Then with under a minute to go, Gums created an opportunity for Nikole Ferarri on another 6-on-5 chance to help the Aztecs go into the fourth period down, 8-7.
The final eight minutes, however, saw Michigan come out of the gates with three goals in less than three minutes. By the time Benekou took her 5-meter penalty shot, one in which she made, the Aztecs were already down 11-7. After Benekou's third goal, Tayla Walsh followed it with her first as an Aztec and the Wolverines' Ali Thomason added one final goal, which gave her four for the morning, to provide the final margin.
In the first half, San Diego State hung tight with Michigan, trailing only, 3-2, after goals from Benekou and Hannah Carrillo. The second quarter, however, proved costly as the Wolverines outscored the Aztecs, 5-2. In the frame, SDSU received a pair of goals from Gums.
Individually, Benekou led the Aztecs with six shots with Gums and Caroline Israels each taking five of their own. Rachel Mitchell, meanwhile, made 13 saves in net.
San Diego State returns to the pool at 6:30 p.m. ET to face No. 17 Hartwick in Ann Arbor.
No. 7 Michigan 12, No. 15 San Diego State 9
SDSU 2-2-3-2--9
MICH 3-5-0-4--12
SDSU goals: Ioli Benekou 3, Taylor Gums 3, Hannah Carrillo, Nikole Ferrari, Tayla Walsh
MICH goals: Ali Thomason 4, Allison Skaggs 3, Caroline Anderson 2, Danielle Johnson, Kim Johnson, Laura Jimenez
SDSU saves: Rachel Mitchell 13
MICH saves: Julia Campbell 10