Two ranked opponents came into Oosterbaan Fieldhouse this weekend with the intention of knocking off the #1 team in all the land, but Minnesota-Duluth and Colorado State probably wish they hadn’t even bothered to try. 

#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.

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Another weekend, another sweep for the men’s Lacrosse team. The going wasn’t quite so easy this time though, as rival (and national #4-ranked team) BYU came into Oosterbaan for the Saturday 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.

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Stu Zaas gives us his story on the women’s lacrosse team. 

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.

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Saturday’s game against Vanderbilt was canceled, so the Wolverines only partook in one contest this weekend. They squared off against fellow Washtenaw-ites (Washtenaw-ians?) Eastern Michigan on Friday night.

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.

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…because I’m pseudo/fully lazy.

Important games today:

• Michigan baseball home opener 3:05 EDT at Ray Fisher Stadium. The Wolverines take on IPFW. Paul and I will be in the house, so stop by and say hey.
• Michigan hockey in the CCHA semifinals against Alaska. Yost Built has 10 Things to Know about the Nanooks.
• Michigan lacrosse against Eastern Michigan in their CCLA conference opener. 8PM at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. Come support an awesome club varsity team. $3/6 for students/non.

Hockey Sophomore Louie Caporusso has been named a finalist for the Hobey Baker award. Great honor for the young player, though his torrid goal pace from the beginning of the year didn’t hold up.

Michigan Sports Center has your first glimpse at the 2009 student football shirt. For the record, I don’t mind the slogan on the back, more as a reminder to those who wear them than as decoration for other people to see.

Saturday’s basketball game against Oklahoma will take place at 5:50 PM EDT. Don’t forget to check out last night’s victory post, and I’ll have your preview of the Sooners coming tomorrow.

Speaking of posting previews on the weekend and such, I know the semi-regular schedule around here has gravitated toward “hectic and random” of late, but it’s a fairly busy time, what with the basketball team in the Tournament and all. Once they bow out, the football-centric Varsity Blue you know and love should return.

Recruiting Update coming this afternoon.

Posted under Baseball, Basketball, Blog News, Hockey

Though it doesn’t boast Varsity status, the Michigan Men’s lacrosse team is one of the best club programs in the country, winning the 2008 MCLA National Championship, and having won seven CCLA Conference Championships this decade. So, yeah: they’re kind of a big deal. The Wolverines had their home opener (and another game) this past weekend, and yours truly was lucky enough to attend (as I will do for the entire home schedule).

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.

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