February 28, 2005                                                                      

Event:  Men’s Lacrosse

Site: Tempe, Arizona (Sun Devil Band Field)

Score: #5 Michigan 13, Arizona State 3

Records: UM (2-1, 0-0 CCLA), St. Vincent (1-3), (0-0 AMC)

Next U-M Game: Wednesday, March 2 -- vs. Arizona (Tucson, Arizona – Rincon Vista Fields), 7:00 p.m. MST

Defense Keys Road Win Over Sun Devils

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Tempe, Arizona – The University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team earned a 13-3 road win over Arizona State on Monday (Feb. 28) in Tempe.  In front of 235 fans at the Sun Devil Band Field, the Wolverines defense dominated, holding ASU off the board until the 8^th minute mark of the fourth period.  On the opposite side of the field the Maize and Blue offense was cruising, scoring eight first-half goals en-route to the victory.

Freshman Evan Fox (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) led U-M in total points for the second time in three games, finishing with 3-2-5 totals on the game.  Fox notched the first goal of the night to open the scoring and the last goal of the night to close it.  So far, he has totaled 8-6-15 during the early strides of the 2005 campaign, leading the squad. 

Senior Mike O’Leary (St. Louis, MO./Clayton) netted three goals in the contest, two of them back-to-back towards the end of the third period at 4:45 and 3:00 to give Michigan its largest lead of the game at 11-0.  After starting the 2005 season 29-4 in faceoffs, senior midfielder Trevor Broad (Grosse Pointe, Mich./Univ. Leggitt) was cooled somewhat, finishing 9-9 on Monday.  For the second game in a row, senior long-stick midfielder Dave Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) led the team in groundballs with six.  Silverman led the team last year, and paces the 2005 squad with 19. 

Senior goaltender Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) finished with seven saves in three periods of scoreless play before being relieved by sophomore Ryan Kaufman (Olney, MD./Magruder) who registered three saves and three goals against the final 15 minutes of play.

As a unit, the Wolverines won the majority of the statistical categories, registering 32 shots to the Sun Devil’s 16, and scooping up 36 groundballs vs. 26.  Michigan finished two of their five extra-man opportunities while holding ASU scoreless on each of their four chances.  Each team faired well clearing the ball with Michigan going 18 of 23 and Arizona State finishing 12-17. 

The Wolverines will take to the field again Wednesday night at 7:00 pm MST in Tucson, Arizona versus the #6 Arizona Wildcats at Rincon Vista Fields.

NOTES

●  

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “This was a good start to the trip for us.  We took care of business.  We knew our defense would be able to control this game, and they did.  That gave our young guys on offense a chance to get comfortable, which is going to pay off later in the week against Arizona and BYU.”

On who impressed:  “Our entire defense did a great job.  I thought Eric Rimmke was a warrior in there.  Not only did we ask him to defend one of their attackmen as a shortstick middie, but because of all of our injuries on the offensive end he had to play on our second line for the first time in his career.  He did a solid job on the offensive end."

On the play of the freshmen: "Our EMO tonight was one senior and five freshmen because four guys who'd regularly be down there are hurt.  All three of our starting attackmen right now are freshman with (Ryan) Clark and (Matt) Hudson out.  They're definitely maturing quickly.  They were a big reason we had success tonight."

On the next game, versus Arizona: "That one will be completely different challenge.  They are very much like us - very sound defensively and patient offensively.  We'll be trying to keep them from dictating the tempo of the game, and we'll need some of the freshmen to continue to step up."

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