ANN ARBOR, Mich. - No. 15 Rutgers field hockey battled valiantly on the road against a ranked foe, but two late goals from No. 12 Michigan gave the Wolverines a 2-1 victory. Michigan improved to 7-3 and 3-1 in league play with the win, while RU fell to 7-5 and 2-1 in the Big Ten.

Olivia de Zwaan scored the RU goal in the game, finishing off a great pass from Paulina Niklaus. Goalkeeper Emily Nicholls had two saves. Michigan had a 15-9 advantage in shots and 8-5 in corners, scoring the game-winner with two minutes to play. 

Michigan had the first six shots in the game, with RU unable to put pressure on the Michigan goal in the first 20 minutes. Only one of those was put on goal, which Emily Nicholls saved.

Five minutes into the second quarter, RU pressured, had a good opportunity with two shots on goal and a corner, but the shot was denied with a low dive by the goalkeeper. Another series of corners late in the frame was halted as well by Hala Silverstein, who had five saves in the opening half for UM.

"Our attack was working really hard in that half, I love the way they were putting pressure up on the field," head coach Meredith Civico said in a halftime interview on Big Ten Network with broadcasters Jack Kizer and Kara Lentz. "They had a lot of intensity up high that we wanted to keep up."

RU's defensive penalty corner unit was stout in the first half, blocking a series of shots from the Wolverines.

"That unit is so tough, they are willing to do whatever it takes," head coach Meredith Civico said in a halftime interview on Big Ten Network with broadcasters Jack Kizer and Kara Lentz. "They find a way, they're not afraid to get hit, they run it down, they are going to do whatever it takes for their team. I love that mentality from them."

The game went to halftime scoreless. Michigan had a 7-6 advantage in shots, with RU taking six of the final seven shots of the half. Corners were even at four apiece.

Almost nine minutes into the third quarter, the Scarlet Knights struck for the first goal of the game. Puck Winter won RU possession in the back, starting the counterattack. After the ball went out of bounds, Paulina Niklaus restarted play with an amazing pass. Niklaus launched a aerial from midfield into the circle, with two RU forwards charging. Oliva de Zwaan grabbed the pass, took one touch to the right and then launched a hard shot back across to beat the goalkeeper and give the visitors the 1-0 lead.

Michigan equalized on the final play of the third quarter. The Wolverines were granted a quarter in the final seconds of play, allowing them by rule to finish out the corner with time expired in the frame. The shot was put on cage and a scramble followed, with Michigan just able to put the ball into the cage past Rutgers' defensive diving attempts to halt it. The score was even at 1-1 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Michigan looked initially to have taken the lead off a corner, but a Rutgers' called video review saw the goal be overturned and kept the score at 1-1.

Michigan then scored off another late corner attempt with two minutes to play. Michigan took a shot from the top, which was saved and a rebound shot was blocked by the mask of a RU player. That led to one more shot attempt, which Michigan put home.

Rutgers has one game next weekend as RU wraps up a three-game road swing. The Scarlet Knights trip to Indiana on Friday for a noon contest against the Hoosiers.