April 11, 2004                                                                      

Event:  Men’s Lacrosse

Site: Oxford, Ohio (Varsity Field Hockey Field)

Score: #4 Michigan 13, #24 Miami 4

Records: UM (11-2, 5-0 CCLA), Miami (5-2, 2-2 CCLA)

Next U-M Game: Saturday, April 17 -- vs. Michigan State (East Grand Rapids, Mich. - East Grand Rapids High School, Memorial Field)

Wolverines Top Redhawks, Clinch #1 Seed in CCLA's

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Oxford, Ohio – The #4 ranked University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team defeated the #24 ranked Miami (OH) Redhawks by a score of 13-4 in front of 321 fans in Oxford, Ohio, Sunday afternoon (April 11). The Wolverines rallied off five unanswered goals to begin the game, and pulled away at the outset of the second half to earn their 11th win of the season and conference leading 5-0 CCLA record. Justin Gal (Amherst, Mass./Milton Academy) led the Maize and Blue with 3-2-5 totals, while both freshman Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) and junior Mike O’Leary (St. Louis, MO./Clayton) recorded career days by netting four and three goals respectively.

The Wolverines came out firing on Miami and rattled off five unanswered goals, and seven of the first ten to give the Wolverines a 7-3 halftime lead. The Wolverines were on the good end of a three-minute illegal stick penalty that occurred at the beginning of the second quarter as Michigan took advantage of the un-releasable penalty and scored two goals to spur on their quick start.

The Redhawks did not lie down however and scored three second period goals even though the Wolverines were dominating in possession of the ball. A Matt Hudson goal right at the end of the second period as time expired gave Michigan a comfortable 7-3 lead however, heading into halftime looking for their fourth straight win.

Michigan didn’t slow up entering the second half, notching the first four goals on the third quarter, giving Michigan an 11-3 lead after three quarters of play, allowing the Wolverines to rest some of their starters. The second half of play was bogged down by a number of penalty calls that didn’t allow either team to get in any type of offensive flow. The Wolverines were flagged for five penalties in the fourth quarter alone.

Michigan goaltender Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) recorded 11 saves including six in the fourth quarter as the Wolverines were constantly in man-down situations. For the second night in a row, the Wolverines dominated all aspects of play in the game. Michigan outshot Miami by a 49-35 margin, while also scooping up almost 20 more groundballs with a 53-32 tally. The Maize and Blue were successful in man-up attempts six out of nine tries, while holding the Redhawks to only 2-11 totals. The Maize and Blue cleared the ball extremely well going 24 for 29 as Miami was successful 24 of 39 chances. Michigan also won 11 of 17 faceoffs.

The Wolverines will play next, vs. Michigan State on Saturday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m. in East Grand Rapids, Michigan at East Grand Rapids High School's Memorial Field. If they can pull out the win, the Wolverines will have clinched a 6th straight CCLA regular season conference title and their 56th consecutive CCLA victory.

NOTES

●  Leading scorer, senior Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) continued to emerge from the small slump he faced during the Michigan Invitational scoring four points on 1-3-4 totals, a day after scoring a career-high eight points (5-3-8) vs. Indiana. Hanna’s three assists also tie a career high that was set twice already this year, first vs. Western Michigan on March 12 and vs. Indiana on April 10.

●  For the fifth game in a row, some one other than the team's leading groundball man Dave Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) (79 on the season) led the Wolverines in groundballs as Jeff Hanna scooped up seven in the contest vs. Miami (Ohio).

●  Michigan kept alive its now 55-game CCLA winning streak by defeating Miami (Ohio). The Wolverines put the streak on the line again, next Saturday, April 17 vs. Michigan State.

●  Two Wolverines recorded career high days as Matt Hudson and Mike O’Leary scored four and three goals respectively. Hudson’s previous best had been two goals, scored against Oakland on March 20. O’Leary’s previous high was two goals, tied early this year against BYU (Feb. 28).

●  Mike Roth (South Orange, N.J./Montclair Kimberly) recorded his first career point, assisting on Matt Hudson’s first goal of the game.

●  The Wolverines continued their trend of second half domination as Michigan pulled away from Miami today in the second half notching six second-half goals to the Redhawks one. Michigan has outscored their opponents in the second half to a tune of 87-41.

QUOTES

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “I was really happy with the way we played today.  That was a good offensive team we shut down.  We played with the kind of emotion we need to carry through the end of the season, and we played a smart game.”

On the play of the defense:  “We know that if we are going to be successful in the post season this year, it's going to be because we continue to make a commitment to the kind of defense we are capable of playing.  We know how good our defensive unit is.  When our midfielders commit to playing at their level, we are tough to score against.”

On next week's game:  “Records don't matter a bit.  Michigan State is always a big game.  If you are a Wolverine, and you can't get fired up to play the Spartans, you need to have your pulse checked.  We're excited about playing in Grand Rapids.  The East Grand Rapids program has really bent over backwards to make this happen.  If the weather cooperates, it's going to be a great night."

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