ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan struck first but Minnesota State rallied back with four unanswered goals to defeat the No. 7 Wolverines 5-2 Friday night at Yost Arena in non-conference men's hockey.
 
The Mavericks had five different goal scorers and were backstopped by Alex Tracy, who made 32 saves. MSU meets Michigan (0-1-0) again Saturday at 5:07 p.m. CT in Ann Arbor.
 
"I thought all night the bench was in a good place," said head coach Luke Strand. "They were excited for one another and there was no panic. We just stuck together even when we weren't necessarily playing our best hockey early."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
Luigi Benincasa's 2-on-1 wrister represented the first shot on goal in the game for the Mavericks nearly four minutes into the first period. Adam Eisele earned a chance on the short side during MSU's first power play but Logan Stein slid cross-crease for the save. After leading the nation on the power play last season, Michigan finished the period 0-2 but outshot MSU 13-4 in a scoreless opening 20 minutes.
 
Starting the second period with the extra attacker, William Whitelaw one-timed a shot from the left dot under the blocker of Tracy for the Wolverines. TJ Hughes and Michael Hage assisted 33 seconds into the middle frame.
 
At 4:25 Campbell Cichosz read the ice and head-manned a pass to Brian Carrabes, who deposited his first of the season on the blocker side. Luc Wilson started the play in the neutral zone as the Mavericks tied it 1-1.
 
Carrabes took advantage of a fallen defender, then fed a pass across to Brett Moravec who went forehand to backhand for a 2-1 score at 8:23 in the second.
 
Senior forward Rhett Pitlick rifled home his first goal in a Purple and Gold sweater just over one minute into the third period. Isolated after snagging a neutral zone interception, Pitlick head faked, then picked the lower corner on the stick side for a 3-1 edge.
 
"For Rhett's sake, you can't let him be one-on-one with the goalie. He's pretty talented," Strand quipped.
 
Freshman Luke Ashton sniped his first career goal from the top of the circle blocker side for a 4-1 advantage just over two minutes later.
 
"I thought Luke (Ashton) played a strong game, even beyond the scoresheet, so it was nice to see him get rewarded."
 
Garrett Schifsky found a lane to the crease and tipped in a pass from Michael Hage at 14:57 but Alex Tracy was perfect in goal the rest of the way, helping Minnesota State secure its first win over Michigan in team history. Stein made 18 saves for Michigan in defeat.
 
Eisele finished 11-15 in the faceoff circle. Both Carrabes (one goal, one assist) and Jordan Power (two assists) notched multi-point games.
 
Minnesota State (1-0-0) went 0-3 on the power play while Michigan finished 1-2 in front of a crowd of 5,274.
 
"I think just the ability for different lines to score on the offensive side was encouraging," said Strand. "When you are against good teams, you have to take advantage of your opportunities and we did that tonight."