May 1, 2004                                                                      

Event:  Men’s Lacrosse, CCLA Semifinal

Site: Pontiac, Mich. (Notre Dame Prep High School)

Score: #4 Michigan 11, Oakland 12,  2 Overtimes

Records: UM (12-3, 6-1 CCLA), OU (3-11, 3-3 CCLA)

Next U-M Game: Tuesday, May 11 -- USL MDIA National Championship Tournament 1st Round Game (St. Louis, Mo.- Anheuser Busch Sports Centre)

Streak Ends in CCLA Semifinal Loss to Grizzlies

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Pontiac, Mich. – The #4 ranked University of Michigan men’s lacrosse dropped a 12-11 double-overtime decision to the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies, in front of 197 fans in Pontiac, Michigan at Notre Dame Preparatory School on Saturday (May 1).  With the victory in the semifinal contest, Oakland snapped the Wolverines' 56-game CCLA winning streak, and denied U-M the chance to win their sixth straight CCLA Conference Championship.  The CCLA Championship game between Oakland and Miami (Ohio) will take place Sunday (May 2) at 1:00 p.m. in Pontiac, Mich.

In a wild contest, played under a constant, cold rain, Oakland grabbed the early momentum scoring three goals in the first period and grabbing a 3-1 first-quarter lead.  Joe Opron started the Oakland rush with a goal just over four minutes into the game, on a rebound attempt off a shot from the CCLA’s second-leading scorer, Billy Binge.  Opron scooped up a loose ball just to the right of the goal after Michigan goaltender, junior Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) made a stick save on a shot from the top of the box.  The sophomore attacker would then let loose a low shot, just inside the far post to give the Golden Grizzlies a 1-0 lead.

After senior captain Jeff Hanna (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manilus) tied the game at 1-1 on a shot from roughly five yards out directly in front of the net, Oakland answered with two more goals in the first, one from Binge, and one from Nate Reynolds.  Binge set up Reynolds on the third goal of the period, lofting a touch pass just over the outstretched sticks of the Wolverine defenders, as Reynolds was able to get a stick on the ball and deflected the ball into the bottom of the net.

Trailing 3-1 entering the second quarter, the Wolverines bounced back with three unanswered goals, beginning with a blast from junior Bobby Groenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) from the top of the box that beat Oakland goaltender Chris Wood just over his right shoulder.  Michigan scored again on a somewhat flukie goal, as senior captain Ray Lombardi (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) stole the ball from the Oakland goaltender, as Woods tried to scoop the ball off the ground and into the air to begin the Golden Grizzly breakout.  Once Woods attempted to flip the ball in the air to himself, Lombardi, who was standing directly in front of him, snatched the ball out of mid-air and before the goaltender could react, Lombardi quickly buried a shot to draw the Wolverines within one.  Just minutes later, junior midfielder Mike O’Leary (St. Louis, MO./Clayton) fed U-M’s leading freshman scorer Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) to the right of the goal, as Hudson let go a low shot that beat Woods through the legs to even the game at 4-4. 

Oakland would grab the lead again, not letting U-M retain momentum, as Opron buried his second goal of the night on a turnover in the Wolverine zone with less than two-minutes remaining in the period.  In what would set the tone for the end of the game however, Michigan created one more scoring opportunity just seconds before the end of the half, as Lombardi found himself with an open shot, and buried it just seconds before the first-half buzzer sounded, and the teams entered the half deadlocked at 5-5.

In unusual fashion for the 2004 season, the Wolverines let the Grizzlies control play entering the second-half instead of taking over as they have all-year long.  Oakland notched three quick goals early on in the third quarter, including two from Binge and one from Opron, and added one more just before the end of the quarter on a goal from Reynolds to give Oakland a 9-5 lead entering the final frame.  Binge’s second goal of the quarter that gave OU a 8-5 lead was the most notable in the string of goals as the junior attacker strode down the right side of the field, with Michigan defender Kirk Kozel (Barrington, Ill./Taft, CT) draped all over him, and pushed his way to the goal.  Binge cut across the face of the net, shielding his stick the whole way, and fired a shot back across his body to the opposite side beating Webber over his left shoulder.

Down by four goals, and with their backs against the wall, the Wolverines came out fighting in the fourth.  A quick goal just minutes into the period on a deep shot from junior Anthony Ragnone (Flint, Mich./Flint Powers) quelled the Golden Grizzlies momentum and began to swing things back in the Maize and Blue’s favor.  Just moments later, Jeff Hanna found an opening in the crease and received a pass from Lombardi who was parked behind the net.  Hanna jumped to receive the pass and buried the shot while still in the air to cut the OU lead to 9-7.

After another Nate Reynolds goal extended Oakland’s lead to 10-7 half-way through the period, Michigan clawed back with three unanswered goals from Hanna, Groenke and Hudson in the final minutes of the period to draw the game even.  The culmination of the Wolverine comeback was a goal from Matt Hudson, his second of the game, with only 52 seconds left in the contest.  With the Wolverine’s down to their potential last possession of the game, Hudson received a feed from behind the net to the right of the goal, and attempted to cut towards the front of the net for a better shot.  Although Hudson’s path was blocked by a Grizzly defender who knocked Hudson to the ground, the freshman was somehow able to get a low shot off that had enough juice on it to be beat Woods and tie the game at 10-10 with under a minute to play.

After winning the ensuing face-off, Michigan raced down field to try and end the game before overtime set in.  After quickly setting up the offense, junior midfielder Brian Vincent (Farmington Hills, Mich./Univ. of Detroit Jesuit) found himself with an open shot just to right of the goal from about seven yards out.  Vincent let loose a low shot that stuck just inside the post to give Michigan an 11-10 lead, and the apparent victory with just 33 seconds remaining in the game. 

Oakland controlled the ensuing faceoff, but the Michigan defense was able to force a quick turnover.  The Wolverines lost the ball on the ensuing clear attempt, and with just 10 seconds left Oakland was able to gain solid possession of the ball on a push call.  With Michigan's defense stuck upfield on the clear, a quick restart allowed Binge to cut across the field and find an open Opron parked on the doorstep, just to the right of the goal.  Michigan defenseman Mike Roth's (South Orange, NJ./Montclair-Kimberly) leapt to knock the ball down, but it bounced right to Opron, and he fired a shot past Webber to draw the game even with only two seconds remaining on the clock.

Neither team could score in the first overtime as both clubs gained possession, called a timeout and ran long, deliberate offense sets trying to net the game-winning goal, while keeping the ball out of the opposing team’s hands.  Both teams had chances, but the goalies were up to the task or shooters missed the mark.  In the second overtime period however, Oakland finally broke through after each team had solid offensive possessions.  On Oakland’s second possession of the four-minute overtime period, a long shot from Binge was saved by Webber and the rebound was kicked out front.  Both teams scrambled to gain possession of the loose ball, but it was the hero of the fourth quarter, Joe Opron who eventually came up with the ball, and fired a low shot through traffic, that beat Webber just inside the left post to give Oakland a 12-11 victory and a chance at the CCLA Tournament crown.   

The Wolverines will now have to wait until Monday, May 3 to find out their seeding and future opponents in the USL MDIA National Championship to be held in St. Louis, Missouri from May 11-15.  Visit www.mgoblue.com for all your Michigan Lacrosse news and to find out what will await the Wolverines in St. Louis in ten days.

NOTES

●  The loss was Michigan's first ever in CCLA play since the conference was founded in 1999, a streak spanning 56 games and encompassing five straight CCLA championships.

QUOTES

UM Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “We always dread this kind of game where we come in against a good opponent flat.  We’ve had great success in the CCLA over the past six years and I think because of that, sometimes our guys walk into games just expecting to win, and you can never do that.  It was our mission this year to take every game as seriously as possible and to respect each team we played.  Obviously we didn’t do that tonight and they took advantage of it.  We didn’t wake up until the fourth quarter..”

On taking positives out of the fourth quarter comeback:  “I don’t think we can really take much out of the fourth quarter tonight in terms of positives.  To win would be positive, but to need five goals in the fourth quarter to come back only shows what we didn’t do the entire game.  It took the fact that our backs were against the walls to play the way we are capable.  It shouldn’t have to take that.  We should be ready from the outset.”

On heading into the USL MDIA National Tournament:  “I really hope this game lights a fire under the guys.  They are obviously very disappointed in this loss, but I hope we can use that.  I'm sure people won't expect much from us at the tournament now after this, but can still do some damage.  We didn’t practice much coming into this weekend because of finals and the practices we did have didn’t go well.  We need to regain our focus and come out better.  We need to know that we have to work for everything, and that nothing is just going to come for us.”

On the Oakland goal that tied it up with two seconds to play: "Obviously, we lost focus for a couple of seconds.  It's disappointing.  That should never happen.  To their credit, Oakland never quit.  I've said all year that their attack is among the best in the country at our level, and those guys took advantage of every mistake we made today.  We held them in check a couple of months ago, but we didn't have an answer today."

On the difference in the game:  “It was clear early on that they just wanted it more.  We played sloppy and didn’t get to the loose balls like they did.  It felt like they had a number of goals that just resulted from sloppy play in our end with guys open in front of the net.  We can’t beat good teams by playing that kind of game.”

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