March 13, 2004                                                                      

Event:  Men’s Lacrosse

Site: Ann Arbor, Michigan (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Score: #5 Michigan 10, #6 Arizona 9

Records: UM (5-1, 1-0 CCLA), Arizona (4-3, 0-1 WCLL)

Next U-M Game: Saturday, March 20 -- vs. Oakland (Ann Arbor, Mich. - Oosterbaan Fieldhouse), 7:00 p.m. EST

Gal, Hanna Cap Late Wolverine Comeback

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Ann Arbor, Mich. – The #5 ranked University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team defeated the #6^th ranked Arizona Wildcats 10-9 in a see-saw match in front of 714 fans at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, Saturday (March 13) night.  Senior captain Justin Gal (Amherst, Mass./Milton Academy) buried a shot from 10 yards out with 1:14 left in the contest to give U-M its fifth win of the early season.  The Wolverines had trailed by a goal with just under two and a half minutes to play but rallied late to defeat the rival national power. 

With the game tied at 8-8 with just under three minutes to go, and the game headed into overtime, Wildcat Adam Paris started a wild finish with a goal at the 2:54 mark.  Just thirty seconds later however, Michigan knotted the game once again, on a Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville Manilus) goal with just 2:22 left.  Hanna was fed the ball on the left hand side of the goal, and from about 10 yards out ripped a shot just inside the post to bring the score to 9-9. 

After the teams exchanged possessions in the neutral zone of the field, Michigan was able to gain possession in the Arizona end and subsequently called a timeout.  On the ensuing possession, the Wolverines ran through their offense and were able to find an open Gal on the right-hand side of the goal, and he finished the play with a low to high rip.

Michigan opened the game with two goals in the first quarter from junior Mike O’Leary (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) and Hanna and entered the second quarter with a confident 2-0 lead.  But Arizona would score five of the next seven goals and took their first lead of the game with the first goal of the third quarter at 12:59.  The Wolverines answered quickly however, with a jumping shot from senior captain Ray Lombardi (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) after junior long-stick midfielder Dave Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) carried the ball the length of the field and dished it off to Lombardi in front of the cage.  Lombardi received the pass, spun off a defender and shot the ball in mid-air, tying the game at 5-5.  

The teams would then trade goals to bring the game to 7-7 until a series of great plays gave Michigan the 8-7 lead.  After midfielder Paul Passino (Houston, Texas/Episcopal) scooped up a loose ball near midfield along the out-of-bounds line, the junior avoided two Wildcat defenders and shuttled the ball to sophomore midfielder Eric Rimmke (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern) who streaked down the middle of the field and found a cutting Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) who buried the shot low along the ground from just to the right of the goal.  Wildcat James Lochridge notched his fourth goal of the game just over thirty seconds later to tie the game at 8-8 and began the frantic finale.

Junior goaltender Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) stopped a season high 14 shots, saving his best for last.  With Michigan up 10-9 with just over a minute left, Arizona was able to corral the ball and call timeout to plan their final attack.  After a breakdown in front, Arizona worked to get off a point blank shot that forced Webber to come up out of his stance. The junior netminder was able to get a piece of the ball with his right shoulder with just five seconds left in the game.  The shot deflected out of bounds giving Arizona one last fruitless attempt with just two seconds left. 

Arizona was able to notch 35 total shots compared to just 23 from Michigan.  Each team collected 31 ground balls with Silverman once again leading the way with 10 for the Wolverines.  Michigan won the face-off battle winning 12 of 22, while each team converted two extra-man opportunities with Michigan having nine chances, compared to Arizona’s eight. 

The Wolverines play again next Saturday night (March 20) vs. CCLA rival Oakland at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse at 7:00 p.m. in the lone game of the weekend.

NOTES

●  Jeff Hanna’s moved into third on the all-time goal scoring list tonight with four goals (119 career).  Hanna surpassed 2003 captain and 1^st-Team All-American Chip Thomas, who finished his career with 118. 

●  Dan Webber stopped a season high 14 shots.  His career high is 18 vs. Whittier last season on February 24. 

●  Junior midfielder Ryan Clark left the game in the second quarter after injuring his left knee.  Clark will be re-evaluated during the week.

●  Michigan outscored its opponent in the second half for the sixth consecutive game, topping Arizona by one, notching six to the Wildcats 5. 

●  Dave Silverman notched a career-high 10 ground balls vs. Arizona topping his previous high of eight that he’s tallied twice this season, most recently vs. Buffalo on March 6.  Silverman leads the team with 43.

●  The Wolverines are 34-1 at home over the past five seasons.  The only loss in Oosterbaan during that stretch came to Colorado State in 2001.

QUOTES

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “That was a great lacrosse game between two very good teams.  The fans got their money's worth tonight.  We gutted it out.  Arizona did some things we weren't prepared for, but I thought we kept our composure through most of the game.  When we lost Clark so early it really could have deflated us.  He's so important to our offense and our extra-man, but Hudson stepped in and did a nice job.  We weren't sure we were going to have him tonight, but he showed a lot of toughness.  Our defense was outstanding tonight.  If we're going to be successful this year, it's going to be because of them.” 

On Gal and Hanna’s Play:  “Jeff Hanna has ice in his veins, doesn't he?  He doesn't show a lot of emotion.  He just outworks everyone else.  I spoke with Justin today about letting the game come to him a little bit more.  He did a great job tonight looking to create but also moving the ball and involving his teammates.  He can be so good when he plays smart, and tonight he did that.”

On the implications of beating the #6 team in the country:  “We knew how good Arizona was coming into this game.  We have a lot of respect for them.  They're well coached, they have a ton of talent, and they play as hard as anyone we've played.  We judge ourselves against other top teams, so it means a lot to us to get this one.  We've had wins like this at home every year.  We just have to make sure this is not the pinnacle of our season, as it was last year when we beat BYU here and the year before when we beat Colorado State.  We've got to keep improving.”

On Clark’s Injury: “He said it felt like it did when he blew his other ACL last year, but Susan, our trainer, thinks there's a chance it's just a bad sprain or partial tear.  He'll be evaluated Monday, and we'll see.  We're not deep offensively.  Obviously, we are very hopeful we'll have him back.”

On the play of Dan Webber:  “Dan played a solid game overall, and came up really big for us late in the game.  Arizona really controlled play for a while after the half, but his 10 saves in the third kept us in it.  That save he had with a few seconds left was huge.  You have to depend on your goalie to step up at times, and Dan certainly did today.”

On the team staying "relentless" and answering Arizona's goals:  “This was just one of those games where neither team could get on a run.  I think that was partly due to the number of penalties called, but it certainly had a lot to do with heart.  Every time we'd get momentum, they would answer.  We played really unselfishly today, and that's what enabled our offense to score late.  Their defense likes to pressure, so if we hadn't been moving the ball the way we were, I don't think we would have had the opportunities we did at the end.”

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