April 13, 2005

Event:  Men's Lacrosse

Site:  Pontiac, Michigan, (Notre Dame Prep - Alumni Field)

Score:  #5 Michigan 11, #8 Oakland 1

Records:  U-M (12-2, 4-0 CCLA), Oakland (10-2, 6-1 CCLA)

Next U-M Game:  Friday, April 15, 7:00pm EST - vs. Central Michigan (Ann Arbor, Michigan – Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Wolverines Maul the Grizzlies

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Pontiac, Mich. – The #5 University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team dominated #8 Oakland University by a score of 11-1 in front of 312 fans on Wednesday, April 13 at Alumni Field in Pontiac, Michigan.  In a rematch of last years’ classic double overtime battle that saw Oakland break the Wolverines 56-game CCLA win streak, the Wolverines were able to score early and often this time around, opening a 4-0 lead after one period, and shutting out the Grizzlies in the second half to secure the victory. 

Michigan was able to secure the first real opportunity of the game, earning a man-up chance just two minutes into the first quarter.  After working the ball around the zone, senior captain Ryan Clark (Summit, N.J./Summit) was able to get open on the doorstep and banged home the first goal of the game, giving the Wolverines the early 1-0 lead. 

After multiple possessions for both squads throughout the first, Michigan was able to net three goals within three minutes, starting at the 3:34 mark.  Freshman attackman Evan Fox (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) extended the lead to 2-0 on a score from down low.  Fox then assisted Clark for his second goal of the game to give the Maize and Blue a 3-0 lead.  On Clark’s second tally, the Wolverines had numbers in the Oakland zone after a turn over at mid-field.  Fox received the ball behind the net and found a cutting Clark who buried the quick-stick shot. 

Sophomore Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) finished the scoring in the first on a blast from the top of the zone after a penalty call.  Michigan was able to keep possession going however, and extended the lead to 4-0 entering the second period.

Through the first half of the second period, Oakland earned two man-up opportunities, but the Wolverines were up to the task, displaying the smothering defense they have displayed all season long, not allowing any quality scoring chances on the man-up opportunities.

Soon after the second penalty, at 7:55, freshman Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) gave Michigan the 5-0 lead.  Morales found a clearing on the left side and dodged in before firing a low shot just inside the far post.  The Wolverines’ defense killed a third second-period penalty shortly after the Morales’ goal. 

Oakland finally broke through, late in the second at 2:00 even, on a goal from junior Nate Reynolds.  Senior goaltender Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) made an initial save on a shot from the top of the zone but the rebound squirted out just in front of the goal before Reynolds scooped up the loose ball, turned and fired to draw Oakland within four at 5-1. 

The Wolverines quickly answered back right before the end of the half, with 17 seconds remaining, as Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) found an open Fox sitting on the left post.  Fox cleanly received the pass and fired a high shot over goaltender Chris Wood’s left shoulder.  The freshman’s second goal of the game gave Michigan the 6-1 lead heading into the half-time break. 

Oakland came out firing in the second half, opening the period with solid possession for the first four minutes.  Dan Webber was up to the task, stopping three quality chances during the span before the Wolverines were able to earn possession.    

After finally getting the ball back, Michigan set up their offense for the first time in the second half at the 10-minute mark.  They worked the ball around until Constantine found Fox again on the pipe for a quick-stick goal that gave U-M the 7-1 lead with 9:15 remaining in the third period. 

The Maize and Blue continued to control possession and earned a two-man advantage at 5:53.  The Wolverines converted quickly as Constantine found an open Morales at the top of the zone.  Morales made a quick dodge to completely free himself and fired a high shot over the netminder’s shoulder giving the Wolverines the 8-1 lead.  Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) tallied his first goal of the game three minutes later at 2:52, extending the Wolverine lead to 9-1 entering the final frame. 

All season long, the Wolverines have clamped down when they had to in the fourth, and Wednesday’s game was no different.  The senior foursome of Mike Roth (South Orange, N.J./Montclair Kimberly), David Silverman (Potomac, Mich./Churchill), Kirk Kozel (Barrington, Ill./Taft Ct.) and Brian Anderson (Lansing, Mich./Waverly) once again did their job throughout the entire second half on defense and especially in the fourth.  The Wolverines didn’t sit back though, and U-M continued to pour it on, scoring the first goal in the fourth period on Krauss’ second tally with Hudson adding his second to close the deal – making the final score 11-1 in favor of the Maize and Blue.    

Dan Webber finished with eight saves in the contest, making the key stops when called upon, and shutting the Grizzlies down during the man-up run in the second, and during their solid play coming out of the half.   

Statistically, the Wolverines won every major category, firing 34 shots to only 21, scooping up 42 groundballs to 28, and finishing 11 for 15 on faceoffs.  The Wolverines cleared the ball at a rate of 18-26, lower than their average, with Oakland successfully clearing the ball 14 of 21 times.  The Maize and Blue was very successful in the man-up department, netting three goals on four chances, while holding Oakland off the board on their eight man-up opportunities, including three kills in a row during a key stretch of second quarter.  

Michigan will return to Ann Arbor on Friday, April 15 at 7:00pm EST at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse to take on the Central Michigan Chippewas in their final home game of the 2005 season.

NOTES

●  Senior long-stick midfielder David Silverman paced the Wolverines with a career-high tying 11 groundballs vs. Oakland.  Silverman improved his team-lead to 103 with the effort.  He is only four groundballs away from breaking his season-high mark of 106 set last year.

●  In an unlikely occurrence for the Wolverines according to ’05 trends, the scoring vs. Oakland was relatively conglomerated, with only six Wolverines recording points.  Ryan Clark (2-3-5) and Evan Fox (3-2-5) paced the Wolverines with five points each.

●  Jim Constantine recorded a career high three assists vs. Oakland.  His previous high was two, set earlier this year vs. Florida (March 27).

●  The Wolverines have now won nine games in a row.  The last time Michigan accomplish such a feat was in 2003, when they won 10 in a row between March 2 and April 11.    The overall record stands at 15, set between March 8, 2002 and April 9, 2002.

●  Freshman Peter Krauss and Bobby Morales both continued to impress, with each contributing two goals a piece.

●  With the solid effort tonight, Dan Webber lowered his goals against average to 3.79 and upped his save percentage to .659, both career highs.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “Yeah – Obviously I was very pleased with the way we played tonight.  We got after them right away and I liked our intensity.  Once again David Silverman played an outstanding game.  He was all over the place and was amazing on Billy Binge, who I still think is the top offensive player at our level, and he just shut him out.  I am not sure that’s been done before.”

On the play of the offense:  “I thought we did a really nice job out there.  We were moving the ball around and staying patient  - we weren’t trying to force anything.  When we had the opportunity we capitalized.  Guys were hitting their shots tonight.”

On shutting down the opponent in the second half:  “Obviously I was very happy.  I don’t want to take anything away from our defense because I thought they played a great game, but it was really our play on offense, holding onto possession and keeping the pressure on that made the difference.  Our ride was working really well, and they weren’t getting a lot of good opportunities.”

On the play of Dan Webber: “Once again, like we’ve been saying all year, when Dan is on and focused he’s great.  He showed it tonight.  The defense was doing a nice job of keeping them outside.  They were firing from the outside but we’ll give that to them when Dan's on.”

On not letting down after the big victory:  “Yeah, that’s always an issue but I think we’ll be ok and will come out strong against Central on Friday.  It's our final home game.  We have 12 seniors on this team who want to go out the right way.  I also don’t know any Michigan team that can't get up for a game against Michigan State, especially in front of 5,000 people, so that shouldn’t be a problem next week.”   

Senior Goaltender Dan Webber

On the performance on himself and the defense: “Really this was an entire defensive effort.  We’ve been working on a few things lately, and they were just keeping them to the outside and I was getting some good looks.”

On winning the rivalry game:  “Obviously we’ve been looking forward to this since last year.  This doesn’t surprise me though.  I know everyone was ready to come out here and play this game – the intensity was there.  We’ve been thinking about this for a year.”

Senior Long-Stick Midfielder David Silverman

On the play of the defense:  “We did what we had to do out there tonight but I think you really need to give a lot of credit to the offense out there - especially someone like Matt Hudson.  Hudson could be starting anywhere, but for us he’s coming off the bench and still contributing every game.  It says a lot about our offense when you’ve got a guy like Huddy coming off the bench.”

Senior Captain Ryan Clark

On the play of the offense:  “I thought we executed great tonight.  We went out there and did what we wanted to do.  Tonight I think we did a great job of running through the offense, moving the ball around and staying patient.  We weren’t trying to force anything and it showed."

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