The 14th-ranked Massachusetts field hockey team closed out its trip to the Maine Invitational last Saturday with a comeback win over No. 9 Michigan.

Trailing 2-1 going into the second half, Brooke Sabia tied the game within the first minute of the half, scoring her first goal of the season off a feed from Alexa Sikalis. Sabia scored again three minutes later, giving UMass a 3-2 lead that turned out to be the final score.

Coach Carla Tagliente said that while Sabia needs to show more consistently strong performances on offense, her skills continue to improve.

“She’s coming along quite well, and I’m really excited to see how she’s going to evolve even more over the season,” Tagliente said.

The Minutewomen (2-0) struck first in the 10th minute of the game when co-captain Hannah Prince scored off a penalty corner off a pass from Sikalis. But the Wolverines (0-1) struck back when captain Rachael Mack scored a penalty corner goal of her own four minutes later, and Michelle Roberts scored at the 27th minute to give Michigan the lead going into the half.

The Wolverines outshot UMass 14-10, and had a 9-6 advantage on penalty corners, but goalkeeper Sam Carlino kept the Minutewomen in the game, making seven saves on the way to her second win of the season.

Tagliente said beating a top-10 team like Michigan was a big win for the team.

“In past years, these were the games we struggled with, whether it was a top-10 team or a top-20 team,” Tagliente said. “We’d have this stigma, playing a ranked team that, ‘Oh my gosh, what’s going to happen here?” And there’s almost a mental block, and I think we overcame that last year, and we’re past that point.”

UMass opens season with victory over Maine

The Minutewomen opened up the 2013 season with a 2-1 victory over the Black Bears last Friday at the Maine Invitational in Orono, Maine.

Freshman Nicole Miller opened up the scoring in the first half, scoring her first collegiate goal in the 15th minute with a shot from the edge of the striking circle.

Freshman Izzie Delario extended the lead in the second half when she scored on a rebound off a penalty corner shot from Prince to give UMass a 2-0 lead.

Tagliente said Miller and Delario played well in their first collegiate games and  liked what she saw offensively from the team overall.

“A number of people really had great offensive games that you won’t see in the stat column, and it’s only a matter of time before we start to see a few more people breaking through and getting goals,” she said.

Maine (0-1) tried to close the gap late in the game, as Annabelle Hamilton scored a penalty corner goal in the 56th minute, but Carlino and the Minutewoman defense held the lead for the rest of the game. Carlino provided UMass with six saves for her first win of the season.

“Sam really had an outstanding game,” Tagliente said. “She came up with a few saves at the end to keep them from tying the game.”

On Tuesday, the Minutewomen return to Garber Field to host UMass Lowell at 5 p.m.

Jesse Mayfield-Sheehan can be reached at [email protected] and can be followed on Twitter @jgms88.