March 6, 2004                                                                      

Site: Ann Arbor, Michigan (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Score: #5 Michigan 17, Buffalo 4

Records: UM (3-1, 1-0 CCLA), Buffalo (1-2, 1-2 CCLA)

Wolverines Cruise in CCLA / Home Opener

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Ann Arbor, Mich. – The University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team captured the opening game of their 2004 CCLA regular season schedule, defeating the University of Buffalo Bulls 17-4 in front of roughly 500 fans at the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse Saturday night (March 6).  The Wolverines opened a 7-2 lead entering half-time and never looked back, outscoring Buffalo 10-2 in the second half, a trend the Wolverines have followed all year – now outscoring their opponents 38-9 in the second half of their games.

Junior Ryan Clark (Summit, N.J./Summit) led U-M with a six-point night finishing with 2-4-6 totals, while senior captain Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manilus) tallied four goals to add to his team-lead 14.  Senior captain’s Ray Lombardi (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and Justin Gal (Amherst, Mass./Milton Academy) also notched three goals apiece. 

The freshman also got in the action in the second half with Mark Idzenga (River Vale, N.J./Bergen Tech) notching two goals, while Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) and Joe Grimberg (Lakewood, Ohio/St. Ignatius) each tallied a goal apiece.

The Wolverines opened the scoring with a flurry of three straight in a two minute span, beginning with a Hanna man-up goal at the 12:04 mark.  Buffalo got within one with 5:20 left in the first on a Matt Collum goal, but Gal scored the first of his three with 44 seconds to play in the quarter on a drive and shot that beat Buffalo goalie Jason Reynolds up high.

Gal completed his natural hat trick when he scored Michigan’s next two goals late in the second, and a Clark tally with 29 seconds to play gave the Wolverines a 7-2 lead at the half.  Buffalo scored first in the third on a man-up blast from outside by Ian Houk, but the Wolverines scored the next three, including two by Lombardi, to increase the margin to 10-3 going into the final quarter.

Michigan head coach John Paul emptied the bench at that point, and it was the subs who played with the most energy of the night, scoring on seven of eight shots in the fourth. 

Hanna led the Wolverines with eight groundballs with junior midfielder Trevor Broad (Grosse Pointe, Mich./University Liggett) and junior long-stick midfielder Dave Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) tallying seven and five groundballs respectively.  The Wolverines, led by Broad, were dominant on faceoffs, capturing 19 out of 25 draws.  U-M was also more successful in clearing the ball, going 16-23 while Buffalo was held to under 50% with 12-26 totals.  The Bulls were successful on the extra-man however, converting both chances for goals.  Michigan finished three out of their four man-up chances.  The Wolverines outshot the Bulls 48-21.  Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) played three and a half quarters and recorded 7 saves, and freshman Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) made four saves in the final six minutes.

The Wolverines play again next Friday (March 12) vs. Western Michigan at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse at 7:00 p.m. in the first of two weekend home games.

NOTES

●  Buffalo’s first goal of the game was a man-up goal, breaking Michigan’s perfect man-down record this year.  Michigan had held their opponents to an 0-6 mark in their first three games.

●  Jeff Hanna’s four goals (109 career) put him ahead of Tom Burns for fourth on the all-time goal scoring list.  Burns finished his Michigan career with 107.  Hanna will next look to pass Chip Thomas’s 118 goals for third all-time.

●  Justin Gal’s three goals in the contest surpass his season total of two and also ties a career high in goals.  Gal last scored three goals in a game vs. Indiana on April 4, 2003.

●  Freshmen Matt Hudson and Joe Grimberg each tallied their second career goals in the victory.

●  Freshman Mark Idzenga moved into a tie with Joe Williamson (Romeo, Mich./Romeo) for first among freshman with five points with his two goal performance vs. Buffalo.  It also marks the second time in his young career that Idzenga has notched two goals in a game.

●  Michigan recorded its second highest goal total of the season with 17 goals.  Earlier this season, Michigan netted 24 goals vs. Central Florida (Feb. 23).

●  With the victory, the Wolverines keep alive their now 51-game CCLA winning streak.  Michigan will defend the streak next weekend vs. Western Michigan, a team Michigan only defeated 7-6 in last season’s meeting – the closest conference contest the Wolverines have played in five years.

●  All three Michigan captains, Jeff Hanna, Justin Gal, and Ray Lombardi scored at least three goals in the game.

●  Junior midfielder Paul Passino (Houston, Texas/Episcopal) notched his first point of the season, an assist.

●  Three Michigan midfielders missed the game to rest injuries.  Bobby Groenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) missed his second straight game with a separated shoulder that occurred in last week’s game vs. Florida.  He will continue to be evaluated through the week.  Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) also missed the game due to a deep thigh bruise that forced him out of the Brigham Young game last week.  Freshman Mike Best (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) contracted a bad case of food poisoning last night and did not dress today.

QUOTES

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “I thought we came out a little flat in the first half.  There was a delay to the start of the game and I think that threw some of the guys off a little emotionally.  We have a routine, and breaking from the routine might have taken a little out of the guys.  We improved our play in the second half and started working harder and focusing better.”

On who impressed:  “I really liked the way Ragnone (Anthony) played.  He was all over the field tonight, hustling to every ball and really clearing it well.  He was everywhere.  Dave Silverman also played his usual steady game, grabbing ground balls and moving it upfield.  All of the attack asserted themselves across the board.”

On the Wolverines’ sloppy play early on:  “I think we were out of it mentally in the first half and it showed.  Things were a little sloppy out there but we eventually fixed things.  I think the guys fed off the subs' play in the second half, and the sideline really got in to it watching the younger guys playing well.”

On next weekend’s games:  “Next weekend is huge for us.  Western Michigan gave us a really tough game last year.  This could be the toughest CCLA game this year.  They have some outstanding talent at a couple of positions, especially in goal.  We can’t look past them at all to Arizona.  Once the Western game is over we can look forward, but for now all of our focus is on them (Western Michigan).”

Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493, jjhennes@umich.edu