The University of Michigan women's lacrosse team held Central Michigan scoreless for the first 36:14 of the game and cruised to a 12-4 victory over the Chippewas on Sunday (March 11) at the CMU Lacrosse Complex. Sophomores Lilly Grass and Molly Garrett paced Michigan's offense with hat tricks, marking the first career three-goal performance for Garrett. Both teams got off to a slow start until sophomore Chandler Kirby put the Wolverines on the board with an unassisted goal at 23:48. Grass then notched two goals in a span of 1:04 to quickly push U-M's lead to three goals at the 20:38 mark. Freshman Caitlin Muir curled the crease and scored unassisted just 58 seconds later to make it 4-0. The Chippewas registered their first shot of the game at 14:36, but junior goalie Mira Shane came up with the save. With 13:55 to go in the opening half, Grass completed her hat trick when she converted a free-position attempt. Muir tallied her second of the day at 9:28 and graduate student Bianca Brueckner capped the half with a goal with 1:07 remaining to give the Maize and Blue a 7-0 lead at halftime. Shane stopped all three Central Michigan shot attempts in the first half to mark the second time this season the Wolverines held an opponent scoreless for the first half. Michigan scored its eighth unanswered goal just 1:50 into the second half, as Garrett scored her first of the day. CMU responded with its first two goals of the game just 1:21 apart to make it 9-2, Wolverines. The two teams then traded goals with Garrett and junior Grace Hemmer netting goals for U-M to keep Michigan in the lead, 10-4, with 11:49 remaining. Sophomore Catherine Granito came off the bench in the second half and fired a hard sidearm shot past CMU goalie Dominique Hamma, giving the New Canaan, Connecticut, native her first career goal. Garrett rounded out all scoring in the game with her first career hat trick with 2:47 left on the clock. Michigan held the advantage in every team statistical category, including shots (37-16), draw controls (12-6) and ground balls (27-19). The 27 ground balls matched a program record, which was recorded on Feb. 22, 2015, against Winthrop. The Wolverines' 11 turnovers are tied for second fewest in a game in program history, while U-M forced 19 CMU turnovers. Michigan was nearly perfect on clear attempts, going 15-for-16. Hemmer led U-M with a career-high four draw controls, while Muir picked up a career-high four ground balls. The Wolverines will begin Big Ten Conference play when they host Ohio State on Saturday (March 17) at noon inside U-M Lacrosse Stadium. The event is Michigan's Mental Health Awareness Game, as the Wolverines are committed to help #BreaktheStigma around mental health.