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Wolverines Fall to Bulldogs, Take First Loss of Season

» Michigan outshot the Bulldogs 17-8 in the match, including a 10-5 margin in the second half.
» Lily Farkas and Kacey Lawrence each paced the offensive effort with four shots apiece.
» The lone goal of the match came from Butler’s Katie Soderstrom in the 64th minute.

Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (UM Soccer Stadium)
Score: Butler 1, #9 Michigan 0
Attendance: 689
Records: UM (1-1), Butler (1-1)
Next UM Event: Thursday, Aug. 25 — at Boston College (Newton, Mass.), 7 p.m

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The University of Michigan women’s soccer team outshot Butler 18-7 but fell 1-0 to the Bulldogs on Sunday (Aug. 21) at UM Soccer Stadium.

Michigan (1-0) started hot, and led 5-0 on shots before the first Butler chance. UM’s top opportunity of the opening stanza came in the 28th minute, as a graduate student Meredith Haakenson laid a ball off from the right wing to the top of the box for senior Lily Farkas. She took a touch, but pushed her right-footed effort just wide of the left post.

Butler’s (1-1) best chance of the half came in the 38th minute, as Sara Trandj was alone on the back post at the top of the six off a lofted serve. Her chance from in close sailed high and wide.

The game sat scoreless heading into the intermission, with the Wolverines holding an 8-2 margin in the shots category. Farkas was responsible for a trio of them, while Lawrence had a pair.

UM came out of the gates quickly in the second half, with two golden chances in the opening seven minutes. The first came from freshman Jenna Lang in front, while the latter came from Lawrence, who tried to finesse a ball with the outside of her left foot to the right of the post, but it trickled wide.

The 63rd and 64th minutes proved to be the most eventful of the match. Senior Dani Wolfe smashed a strike from the top of the box that was saved and deflected off the crossbar. The ensuing rebound resulted in a fast break for Butler that was snuffed out by a standout effort from the sophomore Avery Kalitta at the top of UM’s defensive 18.

Following a failed clearance by the Wolverines, Butler’s Katie Soderstrom gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead at the 63:18 mark as she beat her defender one-on-one and finished top shelf from the right side.

From there, UM outshot the Bulldogs 6-0 the rest of the match, but was unable to equalize. The top opportunity came in the 74th minute, as a service from Sarah Bridenstine on the right flank found the head of junior Sammy Woods. Her bounding effort at the top of the sixth was on frame, but a stellar stop from Bulldog goalkeeper Anna Pierce point-blank went out of bounds.

Tweet of the Match

Next up, the Wolverines will hit the road for a Massachusetts road swing, first traveling to take on Boston College on Thursday (Aug. 25) at 7 pm (ESPN+) and finish off the trip with a contest against Boston University on Sunday (Aug. 28) at noon.