April 3, 2004                                                                      

Event:  Men’s Lacrosse

Site: Ann Arbor, Michigan (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Score: #5 Michigan 4, #2  California - Santa Barbara 3

Records: UM (8-2, 3-0 CCLA), UCSB (12-1, 7-0 WCLL)

Next U-M Game: Saturday, April 4 – Michigan Invitational - vs. Minnesota - Duluth (Ann Arbor, Mich. – Oosterbaan Fieldhouse), 3:00 p.m. EST

Defense Keys Victory Over #2 Gauchos

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes I Photos

Ann Arbor, Mich. – The #5 ranked University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team defeated the #2 team in the land, squeaking by the University of California - Santa Barbara Gauchos by a score of 4-3, in front of 812 fans at the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, Saturday night (April 3).  In the Wolverines lowest scoring output of the season, the Michigan defense held on for over 25 minutes of action after a third-period goal from junior Bobby Groenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) proved to be the game-winner, giving Michigan it's third victory this season over a top-10 team.

Webber had Kirk Kozel defends UCSB leading scorer Luke Wilson.  Wilson was held scoreless.

The Gauchos opened the scoring, with a first period goal from captain Will Patton.  Patton ripped a long shot from the right side that found its way through a maze of Wolverine defenders to give UC-Santa Barbara an early 1-0 lead.  The Wolverines answered exactly four minutes later at the 7:36 mark of the first, with the first of two goals from senior captain Justin Gal (Amherst, Mass./Milton Academy).  Gal found himself open at the top of zone and ripped a high shot that beat UCSB goaltender Ryan Brittain over the shoulder to even the score at 1-1 heading into the first intermission.

Michigan grabbed its first lead of the game just over five minutes into the second quarter on Gal's second goal of the evening.  Gal did it all on the play, dodging a defender on the right side of the field about 10 yards outside of the net, cutting across the middle of the field, and snapping a low side-arm shot through traffic that found its way past Brittain for Gal's second goal of the game. 

It didn't take long for the Gauchos to answer however, as UCSB tied the game at 2-2 under two minutes later on a goal from their third leading scorer Hank Caulkins.  Caulkins took the ball from behind the Wolverine cage, circled towards the front of the goal brushing off the Wolverine defense and with a jumping, spinning shot, beat Michigan goaltender Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) to even the score.

Michigan wasn't done in the first half however as freshman Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) continued his solid play stepping in for an injured Ryan Clark (Summit, N.J./Summit) and buried a feed from senior captain Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manilus) from behind the net for Hudson's sixth goal of the season, first amongst the freshman class.  The teams entered the half with Michigan leading by the slimmest of margins, 3-2.

The Gauchos struck first in the second half to draw the game even at 3-3, as Tom Smith buried a deep shot from the right side that beat Webber low, just inside the right post with 11:37 left in the third.  The tying goal didn't phase the Wolverines or Bobby Groenke however, as just over a minute later, the junior midfielder who has battled through numerous injuries and illness over the past two years, ripped a high shot through the net for the game deciding goal at 10:28 of the third, with still over 25 minutes left to be played in the contest.  Groenke's goal came on a man-up advantage, the Wolverine's only man-up goal of the evening as he found himself open at the top of the zone after shaking a Gaucho defender and decided to let one rip from about 15 yards out.  The blast beat Brittain high, just over his left shoulder to give the Wolverines a 4-3 lead.

For the final 25 minutes of the contest both defenses played outstanding lacrosse, denying each team of quality chances and forcing the attackers to let loose with long shots that were either saved or flew wide of the cage.  The Gauchos' best chances to draw the game even came in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter as Michigan goalie Dan Webber made six fourth quarter saves to secure the victory.  After a turnover in the U-M defensive zone, Webber made a fantastic stick save to his right hand side on a clear shot from only yards outside the Maize and Blue goal with just under two minutes left.  UCSB's final opportunity came after calling a timeout with just over 20 seconds remaining.  After setting up their offense, a Gaucho attacker let loose a hard, low shot from the left side that Webber calmly stopped with his stick, and secured the loose ball to ensure Michigan's eighth win of the season. 

Michigan ended up outshooting UCSB 35 to 20 in the contest, and also grabbed a total of 41 groundballs compared to the Gaucho's 26.  Santa Barbara did win the faceoff battle, winning six of 10 faceoffs.  Michigan held UCSB to 14 of 23 clear attempts while gaining success on 14 of 18 themselves.  The Wolverines notched the lone man-up goal of the game on Groenke's game-winner, going 1-9, while denying UCSB on each of their three man-up chances.

The Wolverines will play next vs. Minnesota - Duluth in the final game of the Michigan Invitational on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Colorado State, which defeated Minnesota-Duluth 22-4 today in the early game, faces UCSB at noon tomorrow in a rematch of the 2003 USL MDIA national championship game.

NOTES

●  The Gaucho's held Michigan's top two scorers to only one point in the contest as leading-scorer Jeff Hanna (32-6-38) assisted on Matt Hudson's second period goal.  Ray Lombardi (15-21-36) was held off the score-sheet completely.   Hanna has also notched only two points in the past two games, including only one goal, well below his 3.83 goals-per-game average that the captain earned heading into this weekend's tournament.

●  For the second night in a row, some one other than the team's leading groundball man Dave Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) (71 on the season) led the Wolverines in groundballs, as senior captain Justin Gal (Amherst, Mass./Milton Academy) scooped up 7 gb's in the game.  Last night vs. Colorado State, junior Brian Anderson (Lansing, Mich./Waverly) led the team in groundballs, recording nine, which also set a career mark for the defenseman.  His previous high was eight, set last season vs. UCSB (Feb. 26) and vs. BYU (May 8).  Anderson’s best groundball performances have come against some of the nation’s most difficult opponents. 

●  Michigan’s four goals scored marks the lowest number of goals the Wolverines have scored in a game this season.  Last night vs. CSU the Wolverines allowed the highest number of goals allowed this season, giving up 11. 

●  With the home victory, Michigan’s record at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse over the past five years improves to 36-2.   Michigan is also now 24-19 since 1999 in games vs. a top-10 opponent. 

●  After notching a season high 12 shots on goal in the loss vs. Colorado State on Friday night, Justin Gal once again led the team in shots with 11.

●  Michigan is 1-11 on the man-up advantage in their last two games, well below their .424 conversion rate this season.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “They are an incredibly talented team, and we knew going into tonight that we would have to play a complete game, with a solid defensive effort if we were going to come out with a win.  Neither team had an answer for the opposition's defense game plan.  It was basically a war of attrition.  I thought we were definitely going to need one more goal to secure the win, but the defense really stepped up.  This is our most complete defensive effort this season by far."

On bouncing back after a hard loss to #1 Colorado State the night before:  “This was obviously a huge win for us.  We were disappointed in our play in the second half of yesterday's game vs. CSU and we had a two-hour long meeting today to discuss what we needed to do as a team.  We said we couldn't let the game yesterday define our season.  Its one thing for the guys to say all the right things during the meeting, but they came out tonight and showed they meant everything they said."

On goaltender Dan Webber’s play:  “I think Webber was amazing tonight, especially late in the game when the result hung in the balance.  It was a total team effort but Webber made the saves he had to make and was spectacular at times.  In the kind of defense we play we are going to give up some shots from outside and these guys had some really good shooters.  This was definitely Webber's best game of the season.  He also quarterbacked our clears very well, something that has been a problem for us so far this season.  He had a complete performance tonight."

On the play of midfielder Bobby Groenke:  “Bobby has really stepped up and has matured as a team player.  With the loss of Ryan Clark it's taken us some time to figure out everyone's roll on offense and we need to figure out ways to score as a team.  Bobby has taken on some of that responsibility and it’s really showing in his play.  He's had so many setbacks in his career here that’s it very nice to see him healthy and playing with confidence and playing well.  He's very focused and it's starting to show."

U-M Goaltender Dan Webber

On the final frantic minutes of the game:  “The defense did a great job all night of keeping us in the game, and we knew if we could just stick to our game we'd have no problem.  The guys did a great job in front of me.  It was definitely a team effort.”

On defeating the #2 team in the nation:  “We've known from the beginning that we have a good team that can play with the best.  We needed to come out and put together a complete game and that’s what we did.  We played a full 60 minutes and showed everyone what we're capable of doing."

U-M midfielder Bobby Groenke

On his game-winning goal:  “I broke left, the UCSB player overplayed me a little and I felt it.  So I broked back to the right, got myself an open look and let one go.  I went high and hard and the shot ripped rope."

On bouncing back from last night's loss:  "This was a great accomplishment for the team.  We knew we couldn't let last night's game define our season.  Everyone on this team only knows we can get better.  We just want to continue to improve and really step it up a notch in the future and in St. Louis."

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