March 1, 2003

 

Site: Los Angeles, California (Leavey Field, LMU)

Scores: #6 Michigan 8, #1 Sonoma State 9

Records: UM (1-3), SSU (6-0)

Next U-M Game: Sunday, March 2 -- vs. Loyola Marymount (STX Tournament, Leavey Field @ Loyola Marymount, Los Angeles, Cal.), 10:30 a.m. PST

 

Fourth Quarter Rally Falls Short Against #1 Sonoma State

Los Angeles, Cal. -- After fighting their way back from a two goal deficit to even score at the half, Michigan was outscored 4-0 in the third quarter, and their fourth quarter comeback fell just short as they dropped a 9-8 decision to #1 Sonoma State.  With the loss, the Wolverines fall to 2-3, their worst start ever.

Chip Thomas (Tenefly, NJ/Dwight-Englewood), who had three goals on the day, opened up the scoring just over a minute in as the Seawolf slide got to him a step too late.  Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) made it 2-0 at the 8:58 mark on an extra-man goal.  Special teams continue to be a bright spot for the Wolverines this season.  They were 3 for 5 on man-up opportunities and limited Sonoma State to no goals on four tries today.

The two teams alternated goals through the rest of the quarter, and Michigan held a 3-2 lead going into the second.

Sonoma went on a 3-0 run in the first four minutes of the second quarter, with Brian Dunleavey scoring two and assisting on the other.  Michigan was able to fight back and tie it up in the last three minutes, however.  Thomas scored his second of the game, this time on an extra-man play, and then Ray Lombardi (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) created a turnover on an aggressive ride and found Sloan Buchan-McGilliard (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) alone in front to make it 5-5.

The third quarter and first half of the fourth proved to be Michigan's undoing as the team seemed to lose the ability to catch or pick up ground balls.  Sonoma State dominated possession, mostly due to forced and unforced turnovers.  The Seawolves scored four unanswered goals in the third as Will Burson came alive to assist on two and score one himself.  With five minutes to go in the game the Wolverines found themselves trailing 9-5 with not much going their way.

Things started to change quickly with 4:30 remaining when Ben Herbst (Pikesville, MD/Pikesville) recorded his third assist in the game and Thomas benefited with his third goal.  Herbst scored an EMO goal a little less than two minutes later when he collected a Lombardi rebound off a Dominic Gomez save and dumped it over his head to narrow the gap to two.  The Wolverines got to within one with just over a minute remaining when Hanna picked up a loose ball, dodged two defenders and found room inside the near pipe just before being pushed into the crease.

Sonoma won the ensuing faceoff, but the Wolverine defense forced a turnover right away, and Michigan called a timeout with the ball and 52 ticks left of the clock.  Michigan set up a play coming out of the timeout, but an errant pass turned the ball back over to the Seawolves, and they were able to run out the clock from there.

Michigan plays host Loyola Marymount tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. in the consolation game of the Los Angeles STX Tournament before heading back to Ann Arbor early Monday morning.

NOTES

● Bobby Groenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) will miss two weeks with the ankle sprain he suffered Wednesday against UCSB.  The team hopes to have him back for BYU on March 14.

● 1-3 is the worst start in Michigan lacrosse history, and 3 losses in a row is the worst losing streak.

●  This loss evens the overall record between Michigan and Sonoma State to 2-2.  The Seawolves won the first meeting between the two teams in 2000 in Rohnert Park, and then Michigan beat Sonoma twice the following season - once in Ann Arbor and once in St. Louis at the USLIA championships.  The two teams did not meet last season.

● Neither team cleared the ball well today, as both teams seemed to go through stages of poor execution.  Michigan was 15/24 and Sonoma finished 11/20 on clears.

● This is the first year of the STX Tournament in Los Angeles, featuring competition at the college, high school and middle school levels.  About 500 people were on hand for the showcase game between Michigan and Sonoma State.

● Kevin Toller, Michigan's All-American face-off middie who had to end his playing career due to concussions this fall, was at the game.  He was spending the week visiting a high school teammate who plays at Pepperdine.

 

QUOTES

 

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the game overall: "The fans got their money's worth.  This was an exciting game between two good teams.  I thought Sonoma was just able to gut this one out."  

On getting shut out for the first 25 minutes of the second half: "Obviously, that's what killed us.  We couldn't seem to catch, throw or pick up a ground ball during that stretch.  Against a great team like Sonoma State, you can't have those lapses and expect to win.  We put a run on them at the end and had a chance to tie it up, but we can't depend on that happening.  We have to learn to execute for 60 minutes."   

On tomorrow's game: "We will make a few lineup changes to give some guys who deserve it a chance to play, but we absolutely have to come out fired up and finish this trip feeling good about ourselves.  I think we'll be ready to do that."

 

GAME SUMMARY

Michigan vs. Sonoma State
Saturday, March 1
3:00 p.m. PST, Leavey Field, Los Angeles, California

 

Score by Quarter     1     2     3     4     OT     Totals

Michigan …………   3    2     0     3                       8

Sonoma...........…..    2    3     4     0                       9

 

Michigan Scoring

Ben Herbst 1G/3A - 4 Pts.

Chip Thomas 3G/0A - 3 Pts.

Jeff Hanna 2G/0A - 2 Pts.

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

Brian Marchena 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Ryan Clark 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

Ray Lombardi 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

 

Sonoma Scoring

Brian Dunleavey 3G/1A - 4 Pts.

Will Burson 2G/2A - 4 Pts.

Ben Alexander 3G/0A - 3 Pts.

Brent Johnson 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Jeff Terry 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

Chris Esposito 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

 
Goalies
Michigan:  Dan Webber – 7 saves / 9 goals against

Sonoma:  Dominic Gomez - 6 saves / 8 goals against
 

Team Statistics     1        2        3         4         OT        Totals

Ground Balls

Michigan               11        6        8       12                         37

Sonoma                13        6        7         6                         32

Shots

Michigan                 7        8        5       13                         33

Sonoma                  4        9        8         4                         25

Face-offs

Michigan                 3        2        2         2                           9

Sonoma                  3        3        3         2                         11

Clears

Michigan               3/4     5/8     4/8      3/6                     15/24

Sonoma                3/5     2/4     3/5      3/6                     11/20

Extra Man

Michigan               1/1     0/1     1/1      1/2                       3/5

Sonoma                0/2     0/1       -        0/1                       0/4


 
Scoring Summary

13:43 (1st)….UM….Thomas….UM 1, SSU 0

8:58   (1st)….UM (EMO)….Hanna (Clark)….UM 2, SSU 0

7:15 (1st)….SSU….Alexander….UM 2, SSU 1

6:13   (1st)….UM….Marchena (Herbst)….UM 3, SSU 1

6:01 (1st)….SSU….Alexander….UM 3, SSU 2

End of 1st Quarter: Michigan 3, Sonoma State 2

12:39 (2nd)….SSU….Dunleavey (Terry)….UM 3, SSU 3

11:02 (2nd)….SSU….Dunleavey….UM 3, SSU 4

10:54 (2nd)….SSU….Burson (Dunleavey)….UM 3, SSU 5

3:10 (2nd)….UM (EMO)….Thomas (Herbst)….UM 4, SSU 5

1:11 (2nd)….UM….Buchan-McGilliard (Lombardi)….UM 5, SSU 5

Halftime: Michigan 5, Sonoma State 5

12:45 (3rd)….SSU….Johnson (Dunleavey)….UM 5, SSU 6

12:20 (3rd)….SSU….Alexander (Burson)….UM 5, SSU 7

10:51 (3rd)….SSU….Burson (Esposito)….UM 5, SSU 8

3:08 (3rd)….SSU….Dunleavey (Burson)….UM 5, SSU 9

End of 3rd Quarter: Michigan 5, Sonoma State 9

4:30 (4th)….UM….Thomas (Herbst)….UM 6, SSU 9

2:41 (4th)….UM (EMO)….Herbst….UM 7, SSU 9

1:09 (4th)….UM….Hanna….UM 8, SSU 9

End of Regulation: Michigan 8, Sonoma State 9

 

Officials
Gary Alabaster, Dave Hague, Hank Friedman
 

Attendance
500