Colorado Wrap

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.

Posted under Other Sports

Yes, I’m writing a preview for a lacrosse game. That’s dedication, homes.

The Texas Longhorns captured the #16 seed in the MCLA National Tournament, granting them the right to face #1 overall seed Michigan. Hooray Texas! So, how did the Longhorns get to this point, and what should we expect from them on Tuesday?

Texas earned their bid to the MCLA Tournament by winning the Lonestar Alliance, a conference composed, predictably, mostly of teams from Texas. They are 16-3 entering the Michigan game, with the losses coming to SMU, Chapman, and Illinois (Michigan fans might recognize two of those teams – more on that later). In the LSA Playoffs, they gained revenge on SMU in the semifinals before defeating the Mean Green of North Texas in the finals. Judging by the fact that their auto-bid was for the dead last spot in the tournament, and no other team from the conference managed to make the field, it’s safe to say that the LSA is not one of the stronger conferences out there.

Chapman and Illinois, as hinted above, are common opponents for the Wolverines and Longhorns. Michigan fared better, to say the least. Against Chapman, Michigan played in front of a crowd of 2500 fans in Chapman’s own house (which, coincidentally, only has a listed capacity of 2000). On the road in a hostile environment, the Wolverines were able to mount a second-half comeback and take a 13-10 victory. When the Longhorns played Chapman, it was at a neutral site in San Diego, and the Panthers were able to hold Texas to just 4 goals all game, winning 14-4. In their respective games against the Illini, the situation is somewhat similar. Texas lost a 10-7 home game to the Illini, while Michigan came away with a 12-5 neutral-site victory (Lake Forest High School is closer to Illinois, and in their own state, but it is also the alma mater of Wolverines Anthony Hrusovsky and We McGowan). So, based on common opponents, Michigan is the better team. Of course, performance against common opponents is far from a perfect metric, but when Texas was essentially dominated by the teams, while Michigan did the dominating in their matchups, it’s a testament to perhaps a different level of team ability.

Texas had 7 players named to All-Conference teams. Freshman Attack Mid Johnny McKnight paced the team in scoring, with 42 goals and 11 assists on the year. He was named 1st-team All-LSA and is an All-American candidate. Joining him on the first team was Senior Defenseman Max Atherton. Three Longhorns landed on the second team. Senior Attack Evans Swann was the team’s second-leading scorer, with 37 goals and 15 assists, while sophomore midfielder William Lawson was third on the team with 23 goals and 24 assist. Joining them was senior defensman Mark Anderlik. Making all-conference honorable mention were Junior Attack Doug Boyer (38 pts) and Senior Midfielder Alex Kroviak (26 pts). The main man in goal for Texas was Senior Towers Wilen, who allowed 6.9 goals per game, and saved 59% of the shots he faced.

The game takes place at 4PM (local, 6PM Eastern) on Tuesday at Dick’s Sporting Good Park. If you aren’t able to make it to the Denver area (which I assume is the case for just about everyone), you can follow play-by-play on GameTracker at the Lacrosse Website, or on Twitter @UmichLacrosse.

Posted under Other Sports

So, this is odd to do after a weekend in which the team didn’t play, but here goes. 

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.

Posted under Other Sports