WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA -- It was never pretty but Rob Klatte’s #31 Purdue Boilermakers produced a workmanlike 1-0 victory here Thursday over Michigan in Big 10 women’s play, to move atop the conference standings.

After going up 1-0 in the 1st half, the Boilermakers controlled possession for close to 75 percent of the 2nd half, choking the life out of the game and making a Michigan equalizer nearly impossible.

Klatte would have preferred to see his team score a game-killing goal during the 2nd half, but noted he didn’t want his team to get suckered in for a counter-punch, something that nearly happened in the 1st half.

“If I thought they were going to be easy to break down we would have pursued the 2nd goal a lot quicker. Once we got the goal we wanted to force them to come out of the shell they were in,” Klatte said. “It poses problems if you open yourself to much. You saw in the 1st half they were dangerous on the counterattack and you definitely wanted to minimize those opportunities. They were happy to sit in until there were about eight minutes left in the game, and then we just have to hold our nerve.”

Klatte added that the victory was illustrative of his team’s growing maturity and sophistication.

“We’re learning. Today we had 6 or 7 underclassmen giving us major minutes. As far as the nuances of how to kill a game off, there’s still a lot to develop, but having said that I think we were patient at times. We just didn’t get that 2nd runner joining in over large parts of the 2nd half which is probably a matter of developing more savvy.”

Michigan missed a golden chance to score in the 6th minute when a long-range shot was spilled in front of goal by Purdue goalkeeper Jenny Bradfisch, leaving Michigan’s Meagan Hennessy on the doorstep of goal, but her rebound effort went straight into the body of Bradfisch and the match remained scoreless.

Purdue’s best early chance came from a good rolled cross by Jessica Stellhorn that traveled through the penalty area, missing a vital Boilermaker touch before Michigan’s Kristen Goncalves dealt with it.

The next 20 minutes were played largely in the middle of the field as both teams were highly organized and difficult to break down. Purdue’s  and Brookley Rogers was strong in the back, while Michigan’s Kim Siebert and Amanda Bowery looked to be stalwarts for the Wolverine defense. Purdue’s Liz Secue contributed a key block in the penalty area after a strange hop almost gifted Michigan a golden scoring opportunity in front of goal.

It was Purdue who struck first, with freshman Jessica Warren finishing a setup from Jessica Okoroafo to put Purdue u 1-0 with 5:36 remaining in the half. It was Warren’s first collegiate goal, while Okoroafo’s assist tied her for 2nd on the Purdue all-time list.

Purdue came out in the 2nd half and started gaining much more of the possession, Greg Ryan’s Wolverines were still deploying 10 players behind the ball in an effort to stay in the game, but chances to counter didn’t seem too readily available in the 2nd 45 minutes.

The possession paid off in the form of a good Purdue scoring chance 10 minutes into the half, with Sylvia Forbes heading a cross from Katie Seeger just wide as Michigan keeer Haley Kopmeyer did enough to just put Forbes off. Forbes had another chance at 65 minutes but her hard shot from 15 yards was well held by Kopmeyer.

The Wolverines started to get into the Purdue end a little more frequently in the final 10 minutes, but failed to generate any real quality scoring chances other than a shot from Kelsey Rogind off a Jackie Carron corner with 1:30 remaining. Purdue's Bradfisch saved it comfortably and the Boilermakers advanced to 8-3-3 and 3-1-2 in the Big 10, good for first place in the conference. Michigan falls to 5-7-2 and 0-2-2.

Lineups

Michigan
GK Haley Kopmeyer
D Jackie Carron, Amanda Bowery, Kim Siebert, Sarah Stanczyk
M Alex Jendrusch, Meaghan Hennessy, Kristen Goncalves, Amy Klippert, Courtney Mercier
F Holly Hein,
Subs Kelsey Rogind, Clare Stachel, Kara Koppinger
 
Purdue
GK Jenny Bradfisch
D Liz Secue, Sylvia Forbes, Brookley Rogers
M Katie Seeger, Lauren Montenegro, Jessica Stellhorn, Katie Leinert, Alexis Tryba
F Jessica Okoroafo, Marta Lynch
Subs Jessica Warren, Vanessa Ibewuike, Katie Becker, Lauren Varnau, Anna Xarsons, Remi Gibba