March 21, 2003

Site: Ann Arbor, Michigan (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Scores: #6 Michigan 23, St. John's 0

Records: UM (6-3), St. John's (0-3)

Next U-M Game: Sunday, March 23 -- vs. Oakland, Rochester Hills, MI, 1:00 p.m. EST

Michigan Overwhelms St. John's, 23-0

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- Fourteen different Wolverines recorded at least one point, and the Michigan defense held St. John's to just 11 shots tonight in a dominating 23-0 win.  Paul Mans (Palo Alto, Cal./Gunn) put up a career-high 5 points on 4 goals and an assist.  Chip Thomas (Tenefly, NJ/Dwight-Englewood) matched him, and Ben Herbst (Pikesville, MD/Pikesville) scored 5 goals.  Andy Mast (Bonnockburn, Ill./Deerfield) got the start in goal and registered eight saves in the shutout.

Playing a starting lineup that included players who usually don't get in the early stages of games, the Wolverines completely dominated the first quarter, outscoring the Johnnies 6-0, outshooting them 11-2, winning 6 of 7 faceoffs and collecting 13 ground balls to St. John's 1.  Michigan's six first quarter goals were scored by six different players.

Herbst took over the second quarter, scoring his 2nd, 3rd and 4th goals of the night.  Michigan won all 9 faceoffs in the quarter and finished 24 of 27 on the night.

The second half belonged to Mans, as he scored two in the third quarter and two more in the fourth.  All told, the Wolverines put 32 of their 43 shots on goal, by far their best shooting effort of the year.

Next up for Michigan is #16 Oakland University.  The game is scheduled for this Sunday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. and will be played on Oakland's Upper Fields.

NOTES

● Trevor Broad (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Liggett) had another stellar day facing off.  He won 7 of 8 draws.  In fact, five Wolverines took faceoffs tonight, and they all had success.  Justin Gal (Amherst, Mass./Milton Academy) went 9 for 10, Anthony Ragnone (Flint, Mich./Powers) won all 6 of his tries, Mike O'Leary (St. Louis, MO/Clayton) went 1-0, and even defenseman Kirk Kozel (Barrington, Ill./Taft, CT) get into the action, winning 1 and losing 1.  Overall, Michigan won 24 of 27 faceoffs.

● Michigan collected 47 ground balls to just 17 for St. John's.  Gal and Ragnone paced the Wolverines with 7 apiece.

● After going an uncharacteristic 0 for 3 in their last game, the Michigan extra-man unit got back on track - going 5 for 8 tonight.

● Every healthy Wolverine got significant playing time tonight, except starting goalie Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) who backed up Mast in his first Michigan start, and goalie Jeremy Menkowitz (Ambler, Penn./Germantown Academy) who missed the game for a family wedding.

● The Wolverines have now won 30 of their last 31 games at home.  The only blemish on that streak came to Colorado State in the 2001 season.  Michigan's CCLA win streak of 43 games, dating back to the 1998 season, will be on the line against #16 Oakland on Sunday.  The Grizzles already have an impressive win at Auburn (ranked #7 at the time) under their belts.  The Wolverines have won four straight CCLA championships during that stretch.  No current Wolverine has ever lost a CCLA contest.

● Freshman midfielder Eric Rimmke (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern), a high school soccer star who is playing his first year of lacrosse, scored his first career goal in the game.

QUOTES

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the game overall: "This was actually a really good game for us.  We have a habit of coming in flat against unranked teams, but we seemed to have some energy tonight.  A lot of our younger guys got some significant time tonight, and thought pretty much everyone did a really nice job."  

On playing a team like St. John's: "When two teams cancelled on us in the fall we were scrambling to add at least one home date.  St. John's is the only team that came forward.  We really appreciate that.  I hope they view the game as a worthwhile learning experience.  They have a ways to go, but they have a great foundation." 

On the Oakland game this Sunday: "We are going to have to be up for Oakland.  We've been stressing that all week.  They are a team we've traditionally handled without much drama, but they are much improved this year.  They have a great attack, and they are playing at home.  If we're flat, we'll struggle."
 

GAME SUMMARY

Michigan vs. St. John's
Friday, March 21
7:00 p.m. EST, Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Score by Quarter     1     2     3     4     OT     Totals

Michigan …………   6    8     5     4                     23

St. John's...............    0    0     0     0                       0

Michigan Scoring

Ben Herbst 5G/0A - 5 Pts.

Chip Thomas 4G/1A - 5 Pts.

Paul Mans 4G/1A - 5 Pts.

Sloan Buchan-McGilliard 2G/1A - 3 Pts.

Ray Lombardi 1G/2A - 3 Pts.

Jim Constantine 2G/0A - 2 Pts.

Brad Smith 1G/1A - 2 Pts.

Brian Marchena 1G/1A - 2 Pts.

Justin Gal 0G/2A - 2 Pts.

Mike O'Leary 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Jason Gratson 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Eric Rimmke 1G/0A - 1 Pt.

Brian Ray 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

Anthony Ragnone 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

Jeff Hanna - 0G/1A - 1 Pt.

St. John's Scoring

none

 
Goalies
Michigan:  Andy Mast - 8 saves / 0 goals against (60:00 minutes)

St. John's: Adam Arakawa - 5 saves / 14 goals against (30:00 minutes); Nick Boisen - 1 save / 5 goals against (15:00 minutes); Jon Broich - 3 saves / 4 goals against (15:00 minutes)
 

Team Statistics     1        2        3         4         OT        Totals

Ground Balls

Michigan               13      11      11       12                         47

St. John's                1        5        4         7                         17

Shots

Michigan               11      14        7       11                         43

St. John's                2        3        5         1                         11

Face-offs

Michigan                 6        9        5         4                         24

St. John's                1        0        1         1                           3

Clears

Michigan               8/11   5/5     8/10    9/12                   25/28

St. John's               3/7    2/4      3/8      5/9                    13/28

Extra Man

Michigan                 -      2/3      2/3      1/2                       5/8

St. John's               0/1      -       0/1        -                         0/2

 
Scoring Summary

13:37 (1^st)….UM….Lombardi….UM 1, SJ 0

12:05   (1^st)….UM….Thomas….UM 2, SJ 0

11:28   (1^st)….UM….Gratson….UM 3, SJ 0

5:30 (1^st)….UM….Herbst….UM 4, SJ 0

4:29   (1^st)….UM….Constantine (Buchan-McGilliard)….UM 5,  SJ 0

3:37   (1^st)….UM….Buchan-McGilliard (Mans)….UM 6, SJ 0

End of 1^st Quarter: Michigan 6, St. John's 0

11:00 (2^nd)….UM (EMO)….Herbst (Gal)….UM 7, SJ 0

10:47 (2^nd)….UM….Marchena (Lombardi)….UM 8, SJ 0

6:41 (2^nd)….UM….Smith….UM 9, SJ 0

4:54 (2^nd)….UM….Herbst….UM 10, SJ 0

3:56 (2^nd)….UM….Thomas….UM 11, SJ 0

3:47 (2^nd)….UM….Herbst….UM 12, SJ 0

2:18 (2^nd)….UM….Constantine (Lombardi)….UM 13, SJ 0

0:43 (2^nd)….UM (EMO)….Lombardi (Hanna)….UM 14, SJ 0

Halftime: Michigan 14, St. John's 0

13:20 (3^rd)….UM….Mans (Thomas)….UM 15, SJ 0

8:38 (3^rd)….UM (EMO)….Herbst (Gal)….UM 16, SJ 0

8:04 (3^rd)….UM….Buchan-McGilliard….UM 17, SJ 0

7:39 (3^rd)….UM….Mans….UM 18, SJ 0

3:01 (3^rd)….UM (EMO)….Thomas….UM 19, SJ 0

End of 3^rd Quarter: Michigan 19, St. John's 0

10:34 (4^th)….UM (EMO)….Mans (Marchena)….UM 20, SJ 0

7:28 (4^th)….UM….O'Leary (Ragnone)….UM 21, SJ 0

6:00 (4^th)….UM….Rimmke (Smith)….UM 22, SJ 0

4:18 (4^th)….UM….Mans (Ray)….UM 23, SJ 0

End of Regulation: Michigan 23, St. John's 0

Officials
Bob Waggoner, Brian Effinger, Dana Friend
 

Attendance
275