DePaul University
Michigan
Great Start, Disappointing Finish for Blue Demons
8/28/2011 12:00:00 AM | WOMEN'S SOCCER
Aug. 28, 2011
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - What had started out so promising ended in disappointment for DePaul on Sunday.
Morgan Celaya scored the Blue Demons' first goal of the season in the 10th minute, but a pair of second-half Michigan goals in a little more than three minutes sent DePaul to a 3-1 loss in the Michigan Invitational at the U-M Soccer Stadium.
It didn't take long for Celaya to take a pass from Ashleigh Goddard and fire a shot that deflected off Michigan goalkeeper Haley Kopmeyer into the net.
"Ashleigh did a good job forcing the Michigan defender to commit with her aggressive dribbling," said DePaul coach Erin Chastain. "Then, she slipped it to Morgan who was very composed on her finish.
"Morgan played very well today."
In the first 10 minutes, the aggressive Celaya had three shots with two on goal. The senior midfielder finished with four shots---three on goal.
Michigan (3-1-0) retaliated in the 43rd minute when Shelby Chambers-Garcia caught up to a long ball off the foot of teammate Kristen Gonclaves and struck it into the back left corner.
The Wolverines took the lead in the 70th minute when Chloe Sosenko scored off an assist from Nkem Ezurike.
Just three minutes and four seconds later, Clare Stachel notched her second goal of the season and Ezurike picked up her second assist.
"Michigan's second goal came on a goalkeeper error," Chastain said. "We made a mistake and paid for it.
"The final score was misleading. We were in a tight 1-1 game, and giving up that second goal really deflated our group."
The Blue Demons had entered the second half in attack mode. A header by Rachel Pitman followed by shots from Michelle Scandora and Celaya had forced Kopmeyer to make three saves.
"We scored a good goal and had our chances early in the second half," Chastain said. "We need to play better and become more disciplined.
"But we are facing the most challenging schedule in our history. We've gone against two NCAA tournament teams (Milwaukee, Michigan) in our first four games while we are still building our program and giving our younger players experience.
"Down the road when we get to the BIG EAST season, our players will benefit from exposure to such a high level of competition."
After DePaul (0-4-0) had outshot Michigan 5-1 by the 19th minute, the Wolverines closed out the first half with six unanswered shots.
The Blue Demons will have a week to prepare for next Sunday's matchup against Illinois State at Wish Field.
NOTES: Sarah Gorden and Claire Hanold were named to the All-Michigan Invitational Team... Megan Pyrz made her collegiate debut replacing Hanold as goalkeeper in the second half and played the final 17:40 of the match... Michigan outshot DePaul 13-11 and both teams fired seven shots on goal... Celaya led DePaul with four shots and three on goal... Scandora had two shots with both on frame while freshman Rachel Pitman did the same in her first collegiate start... freshman Nikki Condit took two shots and classmate Amber Paul took one... Chelsea Grant played all 90 minutes and received a yellow card at the beginning of the second half... in addition to Grant, Scandora, Paul, Kelly Blumberg, Gorden and Rebekah Roller all played 90 minutes... Hanold made four saves while her counterpart Kopmeyer made six saves.
