More analysis to come tomorrow, but the comeback victory was thrilling, can’t-miss television. Here’s to a 3-peat in 2010!

For the first time in the MCLA Tournament, Michigan’s offense didn’t allow the opposing team to get an early lead. Trevor Yealy got on board within a minute and a half of the game’s start, and Clark McIntyre added a tally of his own within another minute. The teams traded goals before Michigan finally got a little bit of space, taking an 8-4 lead into the halftime break. After the half, it was all Michigan. The Wolverines put 9 more goals on the board, while only allowing 3 more tallies by Colorado (2 of which came within a minute of the end of the game, when the outcome was no longer in question). In net, Mark Stone played the first half, while Andrew Fowler played a strong second half for the Wolverines. Though he didn’t tally a point for the Wolverines, David Reinhard was one of the most important pieces in the game, winning almost 70% of his faceoffs and helping the Wolverines keep possession as much as possible. Offensively, Riley Kearns led the way with 3 goals (one of which was quite the highlight: a jump shot from a very tight angle coming around the back of the net) and assists on goals by Jordan Kirshner and Svet Tintchev. David Rogers, Trevor Yealy, and Clark McIntyre also scored multiple goals for Michigan.

MFlowBlue Recap – Official Recap

Chapman Preview

Another round, another past opponent for the Wolverines. They’ll face Chapman at 7PM Mountain (9 Eastern) on the stadium field at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

At A Glance. Chapman enters the contest with a 16-2 record. The Panthers’ only losses on the year came at the hands of Michigan and BYU, so they’re attempting to work the revenge tour in reverse order during the MCLA tournament. They went 5-0 in the Southwest Lacrosse Conference, and won the conference tournament by downing Arizona and San Diego State by lopsided counts.

Common Opponents. Michigan and Chapman, on top of playing each other (more on that later), faced several of the same teams over the course of the year. The Wolverines and Panthers both played the University of Arizona at neutral site, and each came away with a lopsided win (Chapman won 17-3, Michigan won 14-3). Chapman beat Texas 14-4 at a neutral site in Southern California (Michigan beat the Longhorns 11-5 on Tuesday in Denver). The Panthers took down Colorado State 15-5 at home and 9-8 in Denver (Michigan took down the Rams 16-3 in Oosterbaan). Michigan’s rival BYU Cougars were the only other team to beat Chapman, winning 10-7 in Provo, but losing in the MCLA Tournament yesterday in a 10-9 overtime thriller (Michigan beat BYU 14-11 in their only meeting this year). Michigan and Chapman both beat UC-Santa Barbara by identical 7-5 scores.

Stars. Chapman’s attack is led by the SLC Offensive Player of the Year in Connor Martin, who notched 46 goals and 29 assists for the Panthers this year. He was joined on the All-SLC first team by fellow attack Marcus Wooden, who scored 34 goals and dished 16 assists. At midfield on the all-conference team, Derek Mills and Mike Clayton, who scored 41 and 27 points, respectively, represent the Panthers. Andrew Salcido represented the team on defense. David Reinhard should have quite the challenge at the “X,” as Chapman’s faceoff specialist, Chris Small, also landed on the first team. Neither of Chapman’s goalies, Daniel Kirkpatrick and Jason Kho, landed on the top 3 all-conference teams.

When Last We Met. In a game televised nationally on ESPNU (albeit on tape delay of a couple months), Michigan took down the Panthers at Chapman Stadium. The Wolverines trailed 8-4 minutes before halftime, but Riley Kearns brought the score within 3 just before the half expired. Michigan took over in the second half, outscoring Chapman 8-2. Faceoff specialist David Reinhard can be credited with helping the Wolverines maintain momentum, winning faceoff after faceoff in the second half, and giving his team a “make-it, take-it” advantage. Against SLC 1st-teamer Christopher Small, he won 62.5% of the time, an outstanding success rate. Trevor Yealy (5), Kevin Zorovich and Anthony Hrusovsky all notched hat tricks for Michigan in the game, with all of Hrusovsky’s goals coming in the second half. Marcus Wilson scored 5 goals and Connor Martin scored 2 for the Panthers.

Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, 7MDT/9EDT. The crowd at last night’s game was a little sparse, so I encourage any Michigan alumni or fans in the Denver area to head out and support the team tonight. If you can’t watch in person, the game will be televise once again on Fox College Sports Atlantic, or streaming on the FCS website. I plan to host another CoverItLive chat here.

Michigan 11-5 Texas
Has has been the case several times this season, the Wolverines got off to a slow offensive start when they faced the Longhorns. However, the defense was similarly slow-starting on this day, allowing Texas to take a 3-1 lead before the Michigan team started humming. Michigan scored the next 5 goals and never looked back. In the second half, Michigan got off to another slow start offensively, but they didn’t allow Texas to score and were able to work through the offensive slump, scoring 3 in the quarter. Though Trevor Yealy led the team (and the nation) in scoring this season, it was senior Peter Vasher who was the offensive star on this day, scoring 5 goals for Michigan. It’s a shame he was hurt for much of the year, because the Michigan offense could have benefitted from another bigtime scorer. Mark Stone played the first 3 quarters in net for Michigan, and Andrew Fowler played the fourth.

MFlowBlue recap – Official recap

Michigan 22-6 Sonoma State
Perhaps inspired by their own lackadaisical first half effort against Texas, Michigan was determined not to have a slow start in round 2 against the Seawolves of Sonoma State. As the sun set on Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Michigan led 3-1 just 5 minutes into the game, on their way to a stunning 17-4 lead… at halftime. Michigan’s defense was operating as efficiently as its offense, and to quote @UMichLacrosse “Eylachar: One man clearing machine.” Trevor Yealy scored 5 for the Wolverines, Riley Kearns and Wes McGowan each completed hat tricks, Kevin Zorovich had 4 points for Michigan, and 11 different Michigan players scored in all. Mark Stone and Andrew Fowler split time in net, with Stone getting the starting nod. Michigan scored their second-highest output of the year, trailing only their 33-8 pounding of Eastern Michigan on March 20th, by putting 22 goals on the Seawolves. Of course, they probably could have scored many more, given the uneven distribution of goals over the halves.

MFlowBlue recap – Official recap

Colorado
As we enter the third round of the tournament, Michigan will finally face an opponent that they’ve already seen before in the Colorado Buffaloes. The game will take place tomorrow night at 8PM Mountain time (10Pm Eastern) in the stadium at Dick’s Sporting Good Park.

Colorado finished the season 15-6, with a 5-0 record in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse Conference, with a nailbiter 11-10 loss to BYU in the conference final. Their body of work over the season earned them an at-large bid to the MCLA Tournament, and the national #5 seed. An 11-3 decision over UCSB got them through the first round, and they took down #4 Minnesota-Duluth in round 2 for the right to face Michigan.

Michigan thrashed the then-#4 Buffs 13-4 in the home opener at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. Michigan led 9-2 at halftime, adding a 4-2 second-half advantage as well. Trevor Yealy, Aaron Hodari, and Riley Kearns had 5, 3, and 2 goals for Michigan, respectively. 4 different Colorado players scored. In addition to facing each other earlier this year, Michigan and Colorado also had several opponents in common. CU lost 11-3 to Michigan State (Michigan pounded the Spartans 21-9), beat BYU 10-8 in Provo and lost 11-0 at a neutral site (Michigan prevailed 14-11 in Ann Arbor over the Cougs), lost a home game 8-7 to Sonoma State (Michigan beat them on a neutral field yesterday by a rather lopsided score – see above), and beat Colorado State 11-4 (Michigan won 16-3 against the Rams).

James Blackburn led Colorado in scoring on the year, notching 36 goals and 14 assists. Behind him were Darren Hulick and Joel Packer with 33 and 31 goals, respectively. Josh Albrecht and Tyler Snyder each had 23 point for Colorado. In net, senior Kevin Moriarty played the majority of the year, but 3 freshmen also saw duty for the Buffaloes. Against Michigan, Blackburn, Hulick, Snyder, and Michael Emerson each scored a goal. Moriarty played almost the entire game, before taking a penalty with just over a minute to go, and Will Brown was placed between the pipes.

Who’s Left?
One of the advantages of playing a tough schedule over the course of the year is that Michigan has already faced every team left in the bracket. Aside from Colorado, who they’ll play tomorrow, (2) BYU and (3) Chapman will square off in the other semifinal game. Michigan beat Chapman 13-10 in Orange, CA, and took down BYU 14-11 at Oosterbaan. Neither team will be a mystery to Michigan, nor are they a mystery to each other. They played in Provo at the end of the regular season, and Chapman walked away victims of a 10-7 defeat at the hands of the Cougars. BYU and Michigan are the only two teams Chapman lost to this year.

More comprehensive recap (of each of the past 2 games), along with a Colorado preview, coming tomorrow.

Buffalo
The Wolverines got off to a slow start offensively, as they were unable to get any good shots off despite controlling possession most of the time. Kevin Zorovich broke the seal, collecting a rebound and depositing it in the net for a 1-0 Wolverine advantage. He again scored as the clock hit 0 on the first quarter, from a Harry Freid steal at midfield and a long pass down near the crease. Buffalo’s best scoring opportunity during the first quarter was a long attempt at an empty net, as goalie Mark Stone was marking a forward on the 10-man ride. However, the shot sailed wide to the ride, and Michigan escaped unscathed.

Early in the second quarter, Trevor Yealy got on the board. Following the Yealy goal, Buffalo had a number of man-up opportunities due to a rash of Michigan penalties, but the Bulls couldn’t muster a serious scoring chance. Later in the quarter, Jamie Goldberg scored from the left side of the net, but it was disallowed, as the referee determined his toes were in the crease. David Rogers made up for it moments later, as he zipped a shot past the goalie on the run, giving Michigan a 4-0 lead. Shortly thereafter, Buffalo had their best scoring opportunity of the game, as a fairly open look beat Stone, but clanged off the left post and away from the goal. However, they maintained possession and were able to finally get on the board. David Reinhard won the ensuing faceoff, and found Trevor Yealy in front of goal, but Trevor’s shot was blocked. Michigan maintained possession, and Svet Tintchev was able to give Michigan the 5-1 advantage.

In the second half, a Buffalo player went down with an injury (and an oblivious Bulls fan was screaming at the ref (a common condition for them, apparently) to stop play, as Buffalo had an open scoring chance), and before play was stopped the Wolverines committed a penalty, giving Buffalo the man advantage. A Buffalo Turnover led to a shorthanded goal by Trevor Yealy (from Zach Elyachar), and Aaron Hodari followed it with a nice juke around a defender going for the big hit, and adding a score of his own. Finally, the floodgates started opening for Michigan, as a Wes McGowan shot on the doorstep of the goal was saved, but Josh Ein scooped up the rebound and dished to David Rogers for an easy goal. Another scary moment for Michigan came when Buffalo yet again launched a long shot on an empty goal against the 10-man ride, but it went wide, and a second opportunity by the Bulls went wide as well. Once the Wolverines regained possession, they took it to the offensive zone, and Josh Ein, from behind the net, found Riley Kearns streaking towards the goal, and found him for the score. On the ensuing faceoff, Buffalo took one of their few faceoffs of the day, and scored their second goal, cutting the Michigan lead to 9-2. The Wolverines were not to be deterred, however, as Aaron Hodari bounced in a long jump shot, and Anthony Hrusovsky pinged one in off the right post. Trevor Yealy added his 3rd and 4th goals of the game before the end of the period (with the 4th coming with 1 second remaining), and the Wolverines led 13-2 heading into the fourth quarter.

Sophomore goalie Andrew Fowler started the fourth quarter in net, and was tested early, as an unnecessary roughness and a slash against the Wolverines put them 2 men down. However, Fowler came through for Michigan, saving an open shot from 10 feet away. One of the highlights of the game came shortly after that, as Josh Ein received a long clearing pass, and went in on goal. He spun through (and was hit by) several Bulls players just outside the crease, but somehow managed to hold onto the ball, whish he gave to Clark McIntyre -for immediate deposit only. Following the goal, Ein’s equipment was checked by an incredulous referee crew. When they detemrined that the stick was legal, there was a rousing round of applause from the Michigan fans. Ein got one of his own off a feed from Michael Bartomioli moments later. Closing out the scoring for Michigan was Colin Bayer, who scored backhanded, backing in on goal.

Following the game, 11 Wolverines were given their all-conference recognition, with Trevor Yealy and Zach Elyachar taking home Offensive and Defensive Player of the Year awards, respectively.

Photo by Martin Vloet for Michigan Lacrosse.

Up Next
The Wolverines now head to Denver for the MCLA National Championship, in which they will be the #1 overall seed. The tournament pairings were released this morning, and Michigan will take on the #16 seed Texas Longhorns next Tuesday (May 12) at 4PM. The site will be Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, which has 24 full lacrosse fields, plus the main stadium itself, the home of the MLS Colorado Rapids. I’m hoping to find someone knowledgable about Texas Lacrosse for a preview, so if anyone out there in the ether has a connection, let me know.

Central Michigan
The Chippewas got on the board first, and Michigan had a rough time getting started, but once they did, it was all Wolverines, as they demoralized the Chippewas 20-6 (in their previous meeting, Michigan had won 21-4). Mark Stone got the start in goal for the Wolverines, but fellow sophomore Andrew Fowler was able to get some time in net, playing the entire fourth quarter.

Trevor Yealy and Wes McGowan led the team in goals with four apiece, and David Reinhard, who dominated on faceoffs as per usual, was able to take the bench in the second half, while sophomore Edward Ernst got a bit of game action.

Up Next
Today. 3PM. Saline High School. Conference Finals. Buffalo.

Michigan State
Official recap – Photo gallery
Michigan prevailed over the “home team” Spartans at the neutral-site venue of Birmingham Seaholm High School. After a lightning delay pushed the start of the game back until about 8:15, the Wolverines came out rusty, and looked out of sorts for the first few minutes, allowing Michigan State to get on the board first. However, that would be the closest State got to tasting victory against the in-state rivals.

Trevor Yealy started taking over, as he so often does, and completed a hat trick with over 3 minutes left to play in the first quarter. The second was perhaps the most impressive, as it was a diving effort from the left side of the net, as he was taking a big hit from a Spartan defender. Clark McIntyre, David Rogers, and Peter Vasher also scored for the Wolverines, before the game was delayed yet again after a particularly loud thunderclap.

The delay lasted from about 9pm until about 10:30, and Michigan again came out of the locker room needing to shake off a little rust. Though Peter Vasher re-opened the scoring, the Spartans added back-to-back goals to bring the game within 4 goals at 7-3. However, Michigan started to roll after that, scoring goal after goal, with few interruptions by the Spartans. By the end of the third, they held a 14-6 lead.

The Wolverines added 7 more goals in the final quarter of play, and finished the game on the winning end of a 21-9 margin. Yealy finished with 8 goals, and goalie Mark Stone made a career-high 18 saves. Fellow goalie Andrew Fowler made a brief appearance while recovering from a stress fracture in his foot, as Stone left the game for 50 seconds due to a minor injury of his own.

Lacrosse updates, now serving video! A healthy tip of the hat to MFlowBlue and Wes McGowan for bringing it to my attention and creating it in the first place, respectively.

Michigan Men’s Lacrosse vs. Michigan State from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

Up Next
The CCLA conference tournament tees of in Saline this weekend. The Wolverines have a first-round bye, and will face the winner of Friday’s Pitt/Central Michigan game on Saturday at 4pm. The Wolverines did not face Pitt this year, but bested the Chippewas 21-4 in their only meeting this year. For the complete bracket, check out the CCLA website.

Chapman
A replay of the victory over Chapman aired yesterday on ESPNU at noon. This is notable in itself, because club sports are rarely on television at all, much less one so niche-oriented as lacrosse. Most Michigan Lacrosse fans hadn’t had a chance to see the game, myself among them. The game was a tale of two halves between the then-#1 (Chapman) and #2 (Michigan) teams in the country. Of course, as the Wolverines are still undefeated and this game happened over spring break, Michigan ended up victorious. However, it didn’t look like that would be the outcome at halftime. With less than 30 seconds to go in the first half, Riley Kearns scored an unassisted goal for the Wolverines, but they still trailed by 3 at the break.

The second half was a completely different story. Chapman came out of the locker room looking to maintain possession, and do everything they could to keep the Wolverines off the board. However, Trevor Yealy and Anthony Hrusovsky were ably to break through early in the 3rd quarter to bring the game within a goal. Chapman responded with two goals of their own, re-widening the lead to three. It was all Michigan from there, though, as the Wolverines notched 4 goals before the third quarter ended, to take a one-score lead into the final frame. In the fourth, they were the ones maintaining possession and killing time, though they managed the stretch the final lead to 13-10.

Michigan got hat tricks from Yealy (5), Hrsovsky, and Kevin Zorovich, in addition to single goals from Kearns and David Rogers. Mark Stone started the game in net, but was replaced by fellow sophomore Andrew Fowler after allowing 5 goals in the first period. Fowler allowed just 5 through the remainder of the game. Perhaps the star of the game for Michigan, or at least one of the men who helped turn the tide in the second half, was faceoff specialist David Reinhard. He finished the game 15-25 at the “X,” and gave Michigan momentum throughout the third and fourth quarters, as they would score a goal and get the ball right back, thanks to Reinhard.

Up Next
After a much-needed rest, Michigan returns to action this weekend at Birmingham Seaholm High School against Michigan State. The neutral-site contest is known as the Great Lakes Lacrosse Classic, and starts at 7PM. The Wolverines would certainly benefit from a sympathetic crowd, though the game is technically hosted by the Spartans.

The following week is the MCLA conference tournament at Saline High School. More information to come on that as seedings and game times are released, following this weekend’s play.

Etc.
A tip o’ the hat to Brian at MGoBlog for bringing MFlowBlue to my attention. The site is a Michigan lacrosse blog, run by a gentleman with the handle “nstandif,” who we can assume is injured Wolverine midfielder Nick Standiford, and features highlight videos of several games by Sick Lax Productions (aka Wes McGowan). If you’ve never had the chance to check out the lacrosse team, this will certainly give you an opportunity to see what they’re all about.

Western Michigan
On a cold an blustery night at Vicksburg High School (where Western plays their home games), the Wolverines allowed the Broncos to get on board first, but that was the only time they really threatened the entire night, as Michigan stormed back, eventually taking the 15-4 victory. With fellow goalkeeper Andrew Fowler on the sidelines with a walking boot and crutches, sophomore Mark Stone played the whole game in net, coming up huge a few times for Michigan. The margin of victory could have been much bigger for the Wolverines had the Bronco goalkeeper, Patrick Riley, not made a few spectacular saves of his own. Trevor Yealy led the Wolverines yet again, as he finished his hat trick in the first quarter, and tacked on one more later in the game. Riley Kearns and Kevin Zorovich each put 2 on the board, and sophomore LSM Matt Asperheim was able to notch his second goal of the year as well. Late in the game, the Wolverines played for possession, content to not run up the score (their coach must be less of a dick than Colorado State’s, as JP seemed eager to score as many as possible on the Rams). The fourth quarter passed by scorelessly, and several Michigan bench players got significant playing time. This leads me to the matter of the Western fans, who were… well, they’re what I would expect Western Michigan fans to be. They were actually complaining at the end of the game about Michigan not running up the score, because they wanted to see the teams “just play lacrosse.” Of course, they couldn’t manage to say this without lacing the sentence with profanity. Late in the third quarter, Michigan midfielder Michael Bartomioli was victimized by a very solid (clean) hit right near midfield. He was knocked flat on the ground, but immediately got back up and continued playing. When he came off the field about three minutes later, the Bronco fans were so classy as to yell that he was coming off the field because he couldn’t handle the physical play (which, what? he kept playing after the hit), and call him a “f****** p****.” I assume it was all Barto could do to not turn around and point to the scoreboard in retaliation. You stay classy, Kalamazoo.

Illinois
As this game took place in Lake Forest, Illinois, and I was otherwise occupied with attending football’s spring game, I didn’t manage to catch the 12-5 victory over the #16 Illini. From the sounds of it, the first half was a little contentious, but then the Wolverines were able to pull away in the third quarter.

Up Next
The Wolverines have a weekend off (perhaps much-needed, considering all the players who seem to be banged up), before they face Michigan State April 25th in the Great Lakes Lacrosse Classic in Birmingham at Seaholm High School. The following week, it’s the CCLA conference tournament at Saline High School.

Games included: Iowa III, Purdue II, Iowa II, Minnesota I, Northwestern II, Michigan State, UConn, Purdue I, Minnesota II, Wisconsin II, Ohio State II, Northwestern I, Ohio State I, Penn State I, Illinois II, Iowa I, Indiana, Illinois I, Oakland, Wisconsin I, NC Central

Individual Players

The overwhelming majority of Stu’s shots came from the outside (which is not surprising at all). What is somewhat surprising is how infrequently he jacked up bad looks. Expect his chart to look pretty different next year, as the departure of every point guard currently on the roster will force Stu to play a little more point.

The casual Michigan Basketball fan can’t hate Zack Gibson enough (and there are a few legitimate reasons to not like his game), but he is actually a pretty darned good player at times. He can be a defensive liability, which obviously isn’t indicated on this chart, and he’s never going to dominate anyone offensively, but he is the quintessential role player.

The striking thing about Manny’s chart, especially in relation to everyone else on the team, is his shot selection. He shots a whole hell of a lot of bad looks. The reasons for this are multiple, and some are Manny’s fault, whereas others aren’t. Things that are his fault? Obviously, he needs to improve his recognition of what he’s getting himself into as he drives the lane, and not go for it, or dish after driving. Even when he gets up in the air, he can get enough hangtime to hopefully pass out. He also shoots a lot of poor 3-pointers, though he seemed to develop a touch for making them towards the end of the year (sadly, not encapsulated in this chart). Things that aren’t his fault include having to carry the load on offense, getting stuck with the vast majority of the team’s last-second chucks to beat the shot clock, not being able to draw a foul call to save his life (those are in the chart as “1″ attempts, even though many of them were definitely deserving of a call). With a hopefully improved roster next year, some of the external factors will go away completely or be reduced, and Manny could really improve his offensive efficiency.

He was never meant to be an offensive player, and his (in)ability to consistently shoot bears out why.

After a blazing start to the season, he hit something of a wall (as did the other two freshmen), shooting more and more poorly over the course of the season, with a few excellent games mixed in. Next year, he’ll probably have to play more of a slashing PG-type role, which he actually did very well at times this year, to the point where I was begging for it in certain games toward the end of the year.

I will repeat again that all three freshmen had their hot games and slumps. Novak is probably the most prone to this, because he was playing a position in which he was a physical underdog in every game, and was getting the hell beaten out of him on a regular basis. Next year, hopefully Cronin, Morgan, and McLimans will be able to give the team a little more size on a consistent basis, and Zack will be able to move to a more natural position.

I don’t think I went an entire UFR of a game Shepherd played in one time this year without making the following statement: “Quintessential Jevohn Shepherd. He shows off his great athleticism and stunning lack of basketball ability all at once.”

Among shots that fans can reasonably expect him to make (that is, those graded “2″ or “3″), he shoots ridiculously well. He also did a much better job than the team’s other star, Manny, of choosing his shots wisely. He would take big post defenders out toward the perimeter, or post up smaller mismatches. Sims has one more year to get even better, and with more big men on next year’s team, hopefully be entirely dominant next year.

At one point late in the season, he was actually leading the team in 3-point percentage. Like Lee, this sort of analysis isn’t going to make him look like a great player, because he does so little on offense.

This graph surprises me, because Kelvin was one of the few players on this team that I was absolutely convinced would make the shot any time I saw him shoot an open 3. His loss will be lamented, because it hurts Michigan in terms of PG depth (currently: none).

Man, I’m so over talking shit about Anthony Wright. His awesome performance in the Oklahoma game is not charted here, but he actually wasn’t as much of a “see the ball, shoot the ball” player as I’ve criticized him for (at least not in the second half of the season, when his minutes dropped off, which is what I’ve charted here).

One hundred million dollars of awesome. Puls made his first like 5 three-pointers, which also happened to be his first 5 field goal attempts. If he can get Barwisized in the off-season (seriously: have him work out with the football team), he could contribute down the road, because dude can certainly shoot.

#7 Minnesota-Duluth
The Wolverines had to shake off some cobwebs after what must have been a rough week of class. They didn’t manage to score until the Bulldogs had already gotten on the board, the first time this season Michigan has trailed in a home game(!). However, they flipped the “dominate” switch immediately thereafter, as Davis Reinhard won the ensuing faceoff, then found Josh Ein for a goal just 7 seconds after Duluth. Trevor Yealy got going immediately thereafter, and Duluth didn’t stand a chance. Yealy scored a program-record 11 goals in the contest, three of which came consecutively in the first quarter for a natural hat trick. Then he got a hat trick of hat tricks. And two more goals. Wes McGowan (2) was the only other Wolverine with multiple goals. Though he gave up 10 goals, sophomore goalkeeper Mark Stone made several exciting saves in his first complete game of the year. The highlight for Duluth came on their last goal of the night, as Casey Mithun shot behind his own back to beat Stone. Still, the Wolverines dominated this game nearly from start to finish, winning 18-10.

#8 Colorado State
After the slow start on Friday, Michigan wasn’t bound to let Colorado State get on board first the following night. Kevin Zorovich drew first blood with just under 6 minutes remaining in the first quarter. The final goal in that quarter was the night’s highlight, as Riley Kearns (perhaps inspired by UMD the previous night) shot behind his back to beat the goalie. Eager to make up for the first 9 minutes of lost time, Michigan tacked on 3 more goals before the first break. The Wolverines kept the offense humming in the second quarter, as they led 9-0 before CSU finally got on the scoreboard with under 5 minutes remaining. Though Michigan didn’t have a dominant individual performance like they did the previous night, the team effort on Senior Night may have been even more impressive. The final score of 16-3 saw only two Wolverines (Yealy with 4 and Zorovich with 2) score multiple goals, and sophomore Andrew Fowler faced only 10 shots, saving 7.

Up Next
After the long home stand, Michigan finally hits the road, traveling to Kalamazoo and Chicago to face Western Michigan and Illinois. The Illini are barely ranked in the top 25, but with the way Michigan has been dispatching even better teams, the neutral site (Lake Forest High School) shouldn’t give them too much of a problem. As the team is finally leaving the confines of Oosterbaan fieldhouse, I won’t be able to attend both games, and the comprehensive wrapups must come to an end, but I do plan to attend Friday’s game (at Vicksburg High School), and will be able to give a complete recap of that contest.

Central Michigan
 The Chippewas put up more of a fight than Michigan’s former CCLA opponent to date, Eastern (whom Michigan defeated 33-8), but still couldn’t hang with the clearly-superior Wolverines, who downed them by a count of 21-4. The Wolverines’ fast start was key to their dominance of the game, as they took a commanding 5-0 lead within the first 6 minutes of the contest. Anthony Hrsovsky opened the scoring, then Trevor Yealy and Kevin Zorovich each scored back-to-back goals. The Chippewas didn’t manage to get on the board until just before halftime, but they already trailed 10-0 by that point. Anthony Hrsovsky (4), Trevor Yealy, Kevin Zorovich, Wes McGowan, and Josh Ein all netted hat tricks in the beatdown. Faceoff specialist David Reinhard won 12 of his 13 opportunities, and Andrew Fowler and Mark Stone split time in the net for Michigan.

Brigham Young
For those who don’t follow Michigan Men’s Lacrosse, having a team from Utah as one of their biggest rivals may seem a bit odd. However, take into account the number of games they’ve played in recent years (and the  potential impact of those games):

So, it’s pretty clear that there is legitimate material for a true rivalry here. With Michigan’s 28-game win streak on the line, the stakes were even higher. In a game that ended 14-11, however, it never seemed like the Wolverines were in serious danger of losing the contest.

Svet Tintchev and Matt Asperheim scored Michigan’s 1st two goals within 12 seconds of each other 3.5 minutes into the game, and the Cougars were playing catch-up the entire contest. When BYU’s Justin Hier scored the next goal, it was the closest the Cougars would ever get to Michigan, as the Wolverines rattled off two straight before BYU would put another goal on the board. Michigan’s eventual game-winner would come with 2 minutes still left in the 3rd quarter, as Kevin Zorovich put the Wolverines up 12-6 (while completing his hat trick). Sophomore Andrew Fowler played the whole game in net for Michigan, making 11 saves. Tyler Yealy (4), Kevin Zorovich, and Anthony Hrsovsky all netted hat tricks.

One of the highlights of the game, oddly enough for a contest one by Michigan, was a BYU goal. The Cougars’ Elliott Grow scored on Fowler by shooting behind his own head, surprising not only the keeper, but just about everyone in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.

Up Next
The home schedule comes to an end next weekend, as #7 Minnesota Duluth and #8 Colorado State come to Ann Arbor to make an attempt at taking down #1. Friday’s game is at 8:00 PM against the Bulldogs, and Saturday’s contest against the Rams is at 7:00 PM. Both games take place in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, and tickets are $3 for students, $6 for non-students.

Ein Photo by Martin Vloet.

Ann Arbor, MI — In front of a standing-room only crowd, #3 ranked Michigan (10-2, 4-0) topped interstate foe #14 Michigan State by a score of 12-9. Over 475 fans crowded Oosterbaan Fieldhouse to watch the Wolverines battle the Spartans in tight contest from start to finish. Michigan had not been challenged in a game since returning from the Santa Barbara Shootout winning by an average margin of 11.2 goals in its last five games.

Michigan State made it very clear that this would not be another cakewalk for Michigan, taking a 2-1 lead off two goals from Allison Atchoo. On an eight-meter penalty, Micaela Battiste (Flint, MI/Grand Blanc) leaped into the air, then bounced a shot past the MSU goalie to knot the score at 2-2. Michigan would take the lead for good, using two more goals off eight-meter shots from Amy Johnson (Washington, D.C./Holton-Arms) and Rachel Lary (San Diego, CA/Torrey Pines). The Spartans would cut the lead to one with a goal at the 6:30 mark from Chelsea Beam. Quinn Golinske (Beverly Hills, MI/Groves) scored her second goal of the season, recovering after bobbling the initial pass then beating her defender with a spin move to open up a shot on goal. Johnson then opened the lead up with her second goal of the contest as she converted on an eight-meter, giving Michigan the 6-3 advantage. Michigan would take a 6-4 lead into the intermission, marking the eleventh time this year the Wolverines have gone into halftime with a lead.

Lary opened up the scoring in the second stanza with her season-high tying third goal of the game. Lary ran a give-and-go to perfection with Johnson who earned the assist. Alexis Pavle (Grosse Pointe, MI/Grosse Pointe South) became the third senior to tally a goal on Senior Night, putting Michigan on top 8-4. Fellow senior, Battiste raced up the field weaving through Spartan defenders before finding an open Pavle in front of the net.

The Spartans would not go down quietly with Atchoo taking control of the subsequent draw and beating the entire Michigan defense back leaving just Emmy Scheidt (Birmingham, MI/Seaholm) in her path. Scheidt was unable to come up with the save making the score 8-5. Michigan State would score again three minutes later to draw back to within two goals. Golinske erased any momentum the visiting Spartans were able to build up scoring her second goal of the night on a beautiful one-timer off a Lary assist. Lary found the cutting Golinske on the left post and Golinske swatted the pass right into the net before the MSU goalie could even move her stick. Pavle again pushed the Michigan advantage back up to four goals at 10-6, scoring at the 14:10 mark. After Michigan State narrowed the gap to 10-7, Lary found Britt Boehm (Rocky River, OH/Magnificant) with a cross-goal pass leaving Boehm an open net for her 22nd goal of the season. Pavle would ice the game, completing her hat-trick – all of which came in the second half – at the 7:21 mark. Michigan State would score two goals in the closing minutes to bring the final tally to 12-9.

Michigan will next be in action in Fort Collins, Colorado playing in the Colorado State Tournament this weekend. The Wolverines’ schedule for this tournament includes games against Wyoming, #10 BYU, Denver, #7 Colorado State, and #18 Minnesota.

Game Notes: This was the final home game for Michigan’s seven seniors: Alexis Pavle, Natalie Relich, Micaela Battiste, Julie Baskind, Rebecca Miller, Rachel Lary, and Christinne Lee…Michigan finished the season undefeated at home (7-0)…Game attendance of 475 set a new program record as spectators had to stand or sit on the ground once bleacher space was exhausted…Johnson’s two goals give her the team lead with 25 on the season…Lary and Pavle extended their team-high six game goal streak…Johnson now has ten multi-goal games on the season and has scored in ten of the twelve games this season.

So, before this game I was told to listen for a few new names, because a lot of bench players would be scoring for the Wolverines. The obvious implication here was that Eastern isn’t exactly a lacrosse powerhouse. Understatement of the year. The Wolverines were up 6-0 before you could blink an eye, and ended up winning the game by 25 goals. Senior Peter Vasher returned from a hamstring injury to score his first 4 goals of the year, Trevor Yealy scored 8, Wes McGowan notched 6, and 5 other Wolverines got on board multiple times.

Once again, Sophomores Andrew Fowler and Mark Stone split time in net, with Fowler getting the start. Fowler allowed 5 goals on 8 shots in the first half, and Stone allowed 3 goals on 7 shots in the second. The men in net for Eastern also played really well (though the final score wouldn’t seem to indicate it). Michigan probably could have gotten as high as 40 considering the quality of defense, but the Eastern goalies made a couple ridiculous saves.

The only times Eastern put up any resistance were a couple stretches where the Wolverines had mental lapses, allowing the Eagles 2 goals in a 37-second stretch in the first quarter, and 3 goals in a minute and a half during the second quarter. Other than that, the Michigan depth in the second half gave up a couple.

This weekend, Michigan will face off against Central Michigan on Friday night at 7PM. However, the headline game of the home schedule is the following night, with the #4 BYU Cougars attempting to come into Oosterbaan fieldhouse and steal a win from their rivals.

Speaking of whom, dude killed it tonight. Even if he reverts to Anthony Wright 2007-08 next year, I still don’t think I can make fun of him again, because he was a stone cold sniper in a tournament game. For Michigan. Anthony Wright. Seriously.

It’s a small miracle Michigan got to this point, much less gave a #2 seed one hell of a game. However, there’s a reason Blake Griffin is basically the consensus player of the year. He’s a damn good ball player. There’s also a reason opposing fans hate him, on top of the “beating the hell out of their team” thing. He acts like a bitch, is one of the cockiest players to ever not draw a taunting technical, is ginger, etc.

Getting to the NIT was a lofty goal for this team at the beginning of the season. Making the tournament was absolute gravy, despite what many people expected after wins over UCLA and Duke. Getting to the second round was just short of unbelievable, and we ran into a decent team with the best player in the country. So be it. Michigan in the tournament is crazy enough.

A more comprehensive basketball season wrapup is coming later next week, then you may return to your regularly-scheduled footballcentric programming.

A los barcos, hemos quemado.

After Terrence Oglesby was ejected, and Michigan was able to take and sustain a double-digit lead for much of the second half, it seemed like the first round was in the bag, and it was on to Oklahoma (Or Morgan State, as the case may be). However, Clemson suddenly drilled a few 3-pointers, Michigan forgot how to break the press, though they’d been doing it with relative ease all game, and this one turned into a nailbiter. I immediately went from “go for the triple-double, Manny” to “hey, just win, baby.”

Until Stu Douglass came down with that final rebound, this one wasn’t over. I still might not believe the outcome until I see the Wolverines take the court against Oklahoma on Saturday. The Michigan Wolverines, who have not been to the tourney since 1998, are in the second round. The Michigan Wolverines, who started 3 different freshmen and 2 different walkons during this year, are 1 win away from the Sweet Sixteen.

Oliver Purnell, 0-6. John Beilein, 5-1.

Queme los barcos.

Colorado
The Buffaloes came into this game ranked #12 in the country (Michigan was #1), but Michigan was able to dispatch them with relative ease. The final score was 13-4, and the Wolverines got scores from 6 different players, led by Trevor Yealy’s 5. The second quarter was the difference for Michigan. Leading by a narrow margin of 3-2 after the first, they exploded for 6 more goals before halftime, and the game was never again in doubt. Backup goalie Mark Stone played for the entire 4th quarter, ceding only one goal. Also the Colorado goalie played the whole game in cutoff sweatpants.

Minnesota
This game was also out of reach for the opponent by the time the fourth quarter rolled around, but it ended much sooner than that, for all intents and purposes. David Rogers, Riley Kearns, and Kevin Zorovich all scored within 2 minutes of each other in the first period, and the floodgates were opened. The Wolverines led 10-1 at the half, and backup goalie Mark Stone got his second consecutive day of significant playing time. The bench was emptied in the second half, as 10 different Wolverines found the back of the net (Yealy again led the team in scoring, this time with 4). However, the Gophers did manage to get a bit of scoring on in the second half, as they had 4 tallies in the half (3 in the 4th quarter alone). When all was said and done, Michigan was walking off the field with a dominating 17-5 victory over a clearly overmatched opponent.

Up Next
Michigan again hits the turf in Oosterbaan this weekend, squaring off against conference foe (and cross-county rival) Eastern Michigan on Friday night at 8:00PM. The Vanderbilt game previously scheduled for Saturday night, so EMU will be your only chance to see the team in action this weekend. Admission is $6 ($3 for students), so come out and support a very strong Michigan club program.

Trevor Yealy Photo by Clark Bell for Michigan Men’s Lacrosse.

This team can’t win on the road.

This team can’t make the NCAA tournament.

Yes. We. Can.

Photo via Nothing is Illuminated.

There were also similarities to the Michigan basketball teams under Tommy Amaker, in which the offense was disjointed for too long, and several possessions ended with a hopeless three thrown up to beat the buzzer.That contrasted with many other possessions, to be fair, in which the crisp passes and cuts opened up enormous shooting lanes for open threes or layups.

The refereeing was inconsistent yet again (as it seemingly always is), though it wasn’t bad enough that I think it was a huge factor in Michigan’s losing the game, unlike the contest against Iowa.

The Wolverines are good, but they just aren’t good enough to win a game like this… yet. However, they are good enough to win a game on the road against Minnesota, and they’ll need to do just that on Saturday in order to keep the dreams of returning to the tournament alive.