April 28, 2002

Site: Indianapolis, Indiana (IUPUI Stadium)

Score: #5 Michigan 7, #12 Buffalo 5

Records: UM (16-2), Buffalo (12-4)

Next U-M Game: Wednesday, May 8 -- USLIA National Tournament First Round (St. Louis, Mo.), Time TBD

FOURPEAT!  Michigan Slogs Past Buffalo for CCLA Crown

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The fifth-ranked Michigan men's lacrosse team (16-2) came into the championship game today looking for its fourth consecutive CCLA crown, but were wary of their opponent--the 12th-ranked and dangerous Buffalo Bulls who lost to the Wolverines by a deceptive score of 12-4 in Ann Arbor on April 7. Despite a late comeback by the Bulls, Michigan was able to hold off Buffalo in the mud of IUPUI Stadium and win 7-5. Junior midfielder Chip Thomas (Tenafly, NJ/Dwight-Englewood) led the Wolverines with two goals and one assist and junior attackman Sloan Buchan-McGilliard (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer) added two goals. Attackman Dan Keating was tops for Buffalo with three goals.

The key moment in the game came with less than a minute left and Michigan ahead 6-4 when sophomore defenseman John Morgan (Rockville Centre, NY/South Side) was called for holding with 46 seconds left. Buffalo had just scored two quick goals and were looking to close the gap further with the Wolverines a man down. But Michigan junior goalie Sooman Kim (Troy, MI/Troy) stopped a shot by Buffalo's Mike Gold and cleared the ball. The ball came to sophomore attackman Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius), who beat Buffalo backup goalie Mike Suda to clinch the victory. Keating would score another for Buffalo with four seconds left to close the final score to 7-5.

Rain all day on Saturday and the earlier Division II final Sunday created a wet and muddy field for the teams. As a result, neither could generate much offense. Buffalo controlled the pace at first, getting shots on Kim and also getting the first extra-man opportunity. Michigan did not even take its first shot until Buchan-McGilliard put it wide almost six minutes into the game. Keating scored the first goal with an inside roll dodge with 7:53 remaining to give the Bulls the 1-0 advantage. Midfielder Doug Kubiak followed that up four minutes later to extend the lead to 2-0. Buffalo dominated Michigan in the quarter, holding the Wolverines to just seven shots.

Michigan came out quickly in the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 2-1 with 12:48 remaining when Hanna found Thomas cutting to the crease. Less than a minute later, Buchan-McGilliard followed that up to tie the game when he darted in front of the goal and put it low past Buffalo goalie David Reed. Michigan dropped back into a scoring slump, as the team was able to control the ball and create shots, but many flew wide or were stopped by Reed who had 12 saves on the day.

The Wolverines came out more inspired in the second half, determined to break the tie. With eleven minutes remaining, sophomore midfielder Justin Gal (Amherst, MA/Milton Academy) took a shot that hit Reed and squeaked past him, only to stop dead in the mud in front of the goal. Michigan was not able to take the lead until 9:11 remaining when sophomore midfielder Kevin Toller (Ann Arbor, MI/Pioneer) picked up a loose ball, penetrated and fired a shot over Reed's shoulder. The Wolverines were once again the victim of tough conditions with six minutes remaining when Hanna took a shot that stopped dead in the mud. After a long possession by Michigan, Gal scored with 1:13 remaining after Thomas picked up the loose ball and fed him on the crease. The Michigan defense once again held Buffalo scoreless in the quarter, allowing the Wolverines to take a 4-2 lead.

Michigan struck early in the fourth quarter to take a 6-2 lead with goals by Thomas and Buchan-McGilliard, the latter coming after a great dodge and cross-crease feed by freshman attackman Ryan Clark (Summit, NJ/Summit). The Wolverines had two prime opportunities to put the game away when Reed was called for two slashing penalties at two separate times, forcing Buffalo to call time-out to dress defenseman Mike Suda as the back-up. Both times, however, Michigan was unable to score and only put one extra-man shot on goal on Suda. With 6:20 remaining, Keating ran in from behind and beat Kim on a one-on-one to close the lead to 6-3 and spark a Buffalo comeback. Midfielder Mike Gold scored another for Buffalo with 5:04 left after getting a feed from behind from attackman Jack Goldsmith. From that point on Michigan held off the comeback and preserved the victory.

The win was Michigan's 41st straight CCLA victory and 4th straight conference title.  The Wolverines now await the release of the final USLIA poll and tournament seedings tomorrow night to find out who their first round opponent will be in St. Louis on May 8.

NOTES

● After scoring 26 goals in the previous five games, an average of 5.2 per game, Hanna was just 19 seconds away from his first game without a goal of the season. He finished with one, his lowest output since the April 5 Colorado State game.

● Michigan was 0/7 on extra-man opportunities. Combined, the two teams were 0/13.  The Wolverines did score a man-down goal late in the 4th quarter to help ice the game.

● This was the first time Michigan went scoreless in the first quarter since the February 27 game against Arizona.

●  In the last five games, Michigan has held its opponents to just one total goal in the third quarter. The one goal was scored by Oakland in the CCLA Semifinal.

● Michigan’s CCLA winning streak is extended to 41, dating back to a 1998 loss to Illinois. The Wolverines are also on a 14-game winning streak.

● Michigan's victory is due in part to its excellent job of gaining and maintaining possession of the ball in the fourth quarter--the Wolverines converted on all six clearing attempts and won five of seven face-offs.

● Michigan will play its next game when the 16-team USLIA Championship begins on Wednesday, May 8. Their seeding will be determined by the final USLIA poll released on April 29. The Wolverines are currently ranked #5 and could possibly jump past #2 Brigham Young after the Cougars fell 16-7 to #4 Colorado State in the RMILL Championship. Both #1 Sonoma State and #3 Auburn won their conference tournaments.

QUOTES

UM Head Coach John Paul

On Buffalo: "This is the closest game we've had in the CCLA in four years, and the Buffalo deserves the credit for that.  We did not take Buffalo lightly at all.  In our team meeting this morning I told the guys that BYU got killed last night at home against Colorado State in their conference final.  You have to be ready to play every day.  Any lapse in focus or intensity, especially at this point in the year, can be devastating - especially against a great team like Buffalo.  Buffalo is a very good team, and they are only going to get better.  I hope to see them get an at-large bid to St. Louis.  They will represent our conference well."

On the field conditions: "We are definitely not a mud team, but the guys did a good job today not allowing the conditions to become an excuse.  They played hard, and they played through some difficult periods in the game.  It was definitely a sloppy game for both teams, but neither team let down at all.  This was a championship game, and both teams approached it that way."

On the play of the defense: "Our defense had to step up today since we knew our offense would struggle a bit in the conditions.  We had a shaky first quarter.  We gave up way too many shots in that quarter, but we buckled down after that and played our game a bit better.  We have to make teams work to get quality shots against us, and aside from a few isolated breakdowns we did that."

On the CCLA streak: "Our team takes pride in our success in the conference, and we certainly hope to keep that going.  No player on our team, including the seniors, has ever lost a conference game.  We'll be very motivated to defend this title again next year."

On the national tournament: "Now the season starts over for us.  We'll find out tomorrow night who we play first, and we'll start practicing Tuesday.  Finals are over now, so we can completely focus on the task at hand.  I sense the guys are excited to get on with it.  They want to see what they can do together."

GAME SUMMARY

Michigan vs. Buffalo

CCLA Championship Game
Sunday, April 28, 2002
3:30 p.m., IUPUI Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana

Score by Quarter     1     2     3     4     OT     Totals

Michigan …………   0     2     2     3                     7

Buffalo …...............   2     0     0     3                     5

Michigan Scoring

Chip Thomas 2G/1A – 3 Pts.

Sloan Buchan-McGilliard 2G/0A - 2 Pts.

Jeff Hanna 1G/1A – 2 Pts.

Kevin Toller 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Justin Gal 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Ryan Clark 0G/1A – 1 Pt.

Buffalo Scoring

Dan Keating 3G/0A – 3 Pts.

Jack Goldsmith 0G/2A – 2 Pts.

Doug Kubiak 1G/0A – 1 Pt.

Mike Gold 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

 
Goalies
Michigan:                      Sooman Kim – 7 saves / 5 goals against

Buffalo:                         David Reed – 15 saves / 6 goals against

                                     Mike Suda - 2 saves / 1 goal against

Team Statistics     1        2         3         4        OT       Totals

Ground Balls

Michigan                13      10       12       16                      51

Buffalo                     9        6         5       13                      33

Shots

Michigan                  7        8       11       11                      37

Buffalo                   15        2         3         8                      28

Face-offs

Michigan                  2        2         2         5                      11

Buffalo                     1        1         1         2                        5

Clears

Michigan                7/9     3/4      4/5      6/6                  20/24

Buffalo                   3/6     1/3     4/10    6/10                 14/29

Extra Man

Michigan                0/1     0/1      0/1      0/4                    0/7

Buffalo                   0/3       -        0/1      0/2                    0/6

 
Scoring Summary

7:53 (1^st)….UB….Keating….UM 0, UB 1

3:33 (1^st)….UB….Kubiak….UM 0, UB 2

End of 1^st Quarter: Michigan 0, Buffalo 2

12:48 (2^nd)….UM….Thomas (Hanna)….UM 1, UB 2

11:54 (2^nd)….UM….Buchan-McGilliard….UM 2, UB 2

Halftime: Michigan 2, Buffalo 2

9:11 (3^rd) ….UM….Toller….UM 3, UB 2

1:13  (3^rd)….UM….Gal (Thomas)….UM 4, UB 2

End of 3^rd Quarter: Michigan 4, Buffalo 2

13:40 (4^th)….UM….Thomas….UM 5, UB 2

10:50 (4^th)….UM….Buchan-McGilliard (Clark)….UM 6, UB 2

6:10 4^th)….UB….Keating….UM 6, UB 3

5:04 (4^th)….UB….Gold (Goldsmith)….UM 6, UB 4

0:19 4^th)….UM….Hanna….UM 7, UB 4

0:04 (4^th)….UB….Keating (Goldsmith)….UM 7, UB 5

End of Regulation: Michigan 7, Buffalo 5

Officials
Rick Szalma, Dave Uchill, Terry Williams

Contact: Peter Lund (734) 604-8030