2000-2001 Michigan Men's Lacrosse -- Game #01

Michigan 16, Western Michigan 7
7:00 p.m., Saturday, Febuary 17, 2001
Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, Ann Arbor, Michigan  

 

Michigan Lacrosse Opens Season With Win

Second Half Surge Spurs Victory over Broncos  

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The 4^th ranked University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team got off to a slow start tonight, falling behind 2-0 in the first 3:30 of their season opener against CCLA rival Western Michigan.  Michigan struggled in the first half before finding their focus on their way to 16-7 win in front of 521 in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse Saturday night.  The win did not come easily, however.

 

The Wolverines couldn’t find the net for the first 11 minutes of the game until freshman midfielder Kevin Toller (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer HS) put them on the board with a drive from the top of the box that beat the slide.  Michigan rattled off two more goals in the next two minutes to take a 3-2 lead into the 2^nd quarter.  It looked for a moment like the lead may have been 4-2 as Jeff Hadwin (Vestal, NY/Vestal HS) put one past Western Michigan goalie Nick Klimaski as the buzzer sounded, but it was ruled just too late.

 

Just as the Wolverines were building momentum, an illegal stick call put them man-down for the first 3 minutes of the 2^nd quarter.  Western capitalized quickly, as they scored the equalizer just 44 seconds into the quarter.  Michigan’s man-down unit held for the rest of the unreleasable penalty, and Dave Bernard (Litchfield, Ct/Westminster HS) put them back on top 28 seconds after it expired.  Western’s John Mauer was able to score his second goal of the game in the 2^nd, but Tom Burns (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Brother Rice HS) answered with his 2^nd and 3^rd of the game to put Michigan up 6-4 at the half.

 

Head Coach John Paul made some changes at the half, putting in true freshmen Charles Appel (Maplewood, NJ/Columbia HS) and John Morgan (Rockville Centre, NY/South Side HS) along with senior captain Wesley Martus (Nashville, TN/Hillsboro HS) at close defense.  The Broncos were able to score in the first minute of the 3^rd, something they had been able to do at the start of each of the previous quarters, but the freshmen made the difference as the defense tightened up, allowing just 5 Bronco shots in the period.

 

Western wouldn’t score again for over 17 ½ minutes as the Michigan offense found its rhythm on the other end of the field, going on a 7-0 run to widen the gap to 13-5 early in the 4^th.  Hadwin got the offense started with two goals 12 seconds apart around the 8 minute mark of the quarter, and the flood gates were open.  Burns scored his 4^th next, followed by Toller with his 2^nd.  Sloan Buchan-McGilliard (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer HS), filling in for Kevin Chan (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset HS), who was benched for the game, scored unassisted two minutes after his former high school teammate, Toller.  Ben Herbst (Pikesville, MD/Pikesville HS) finished the scoring for the quarter on an unassisted drive down the left side.  It didn’t look like the last goal of the quarter, as once again Michigan managed to score as the buzzer sounded, but again it was disallowed as the goal came just after time ran out.

 

With 4 seconds to go in a Western penalty, and possession to start the 4^th quarter, Michigan ran a quick play that finished with an Eric DeLamarter (Concord, MA/Concord-Carlisle HS) man-up goal to complete the 7-0 run.  Western answered, but DeLamarter scored again on the exact same play on the next man-up opportunity.  Western scored once more to bring their total to 7, but a pair of Michigan freshmen attackmen, Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville HS) and Peter Lund (Washington, DC/Maret School) finished the Wolverine scoring to make the final score 16-7.

 

Michigan’s next game is Wednesday, February 28 at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

 

 

NOTES

 

·         The win over Western Michigan marked Michigan’s 25^th straight CCLA win.  The Wolverines’ last conference loss came on April 18, 1998 at Illinois.

 

·         3 Wolverine freshmen, Jeff Hanna, Peter Lund and Kevin Toller, scored the first goals of their Michigan careers against Western Michigan.  Toller scored twice.  Freshman Justin Gal also got his first college point with an assist.

 

·         Jeff Hadwin’s 2 goals added to his Michigan career record (since the inception of the USLIA) 261.

 

QUOTES

 

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the difference in the second half…”We really got a spark from Morgan and Appel.  They played some solid team defense, along with Wesley Martus, and that started paying off for offense.”

 

On the game overall…”It was a typical first game.  We started sloppy and a little out of control.  I think we were just too excited.  We kept our energy up throughout the game.  Now we just need to improve our focus and execution.”

 

On Michigan’s attack…”Our attack is tough to match up against.  We didn’t have Chan in there tonight, and he adds a whole different dimension, but I thought Sloan Buchan-McGilliard did a decent job stepping in, and Burns and Hadwin are always tough.  Hadwin didn’t have his best game, but he got the offense going in the 3^rd when we needed it.”

 

 

Box Score

 

Michigan vs. Western Michigan

Saturday, February 17, 2001

7:00 p.m., Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, Ann Arbor, Michigan

 

	1	2	3	4	OT	Totals
Michigan	3	3	6	4		16
Western Michigan	2	2	1	2		7

 

Michigan Scoring

Tom Burns 4G / 1A – 5 Pts.

Jeff Hadwin 2G / 1A – 3 Pts.

Dave Bernard 1G/ 2A – 3 Pts.

Ben Herbst 1G / 2A – 3 Pts.

Eric DeLamarter 2G / 0A – 2 Pts.

Kevin Toller 2G/ 0A – 2 Pts.

Sloan Buchan-McGilliard 1G / 0A – 1 Pt.

Jeff Hanna 1G / 0 A – 1 Pt.

Peter Lund 1G / 0A – 1 Pt.

Brian Marchena 1G / 0A – 1 Pt.

Justin Gal 0G / 1A – 1 Pt.

Chip Thomas 0G / 1A – 1 Pt.

Micah Veith 0G / 1A – 1 Pt.

Western Michigan Scoring

Fern Kidder 2G / 0A – 2 Pts.

John Mauer 2G / 0A – 2 Pts.

Jason Weeby 2G / 0A – 2 Pts.

Brent Lamar 1G / 0A – 1 Pt.

Dan McGrath 0G / 1A – 1 Pt.