April 30, 2005

Event:  Men's Lacrosse, CCLA Semifinal

Site:  East Grand Rapids, Michigan, (East Grand Rapids HS - Memorial Field)

Score:  #4 Michigan 15, #23 Michigan State 6

Records:  U-M (15-2, 7-0 CCLA), Michigan State (11-3, 5-3 CCLA)

Next U-M Game:  Sunday, May 1, 12:00pm EST - CCLA Championship vs. #12 Oakland (East Grand Rapids, Michigan – Memorial Field)

Wolverines Back in CCLA Final With 15-6 Victory Over Spartans

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

East Grand Rapids, Mich. – The #4 University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team came away with a 15-6 victory over #23 Michigan State in the semifinal game of the CCLA Tournament.  With the victory, the Wolverines earned a birth in the CCLA Tournament Finals, on Sunday, May 1 at Noon vs. Oakland University.  The Spartans stayed within closing distance throughout the first period and a half before Michigan opened the floodgates en-route to a 7-2 halftime lead.  Senior captain Ryan Clark (Summit, N.J./Summit) paced the squad with 1-6-7 totals, while freshman Evan Fox (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) and junior midfielder Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) both scored four times for U-M.

After the Spartans got the first true possession, senior long-stick midfielder David Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) caused a turnover at the top of the box and picked up the ensuing groundball.  Silverman carried the ball up field and found an open Ryan Clark who passed the ball across the crease to Evan Fox who was sitting on the opposite post.  Fox buried the shot into the open goal to give the Wolverines the 1-0 opening lead.  Fox added his second goal just over a minute later, assisted on the play by fellow freshman Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) to give Michigan the early 2-0 lead.

The Spartans responded quickly however, cutting the lead in half at 2-1, at the 7:45 mark.  The Wolverines did their own responding, rebuilding their two-goal lead on a tally from Peter Krauss just 10 seconds later after the ensuing faceoff.

David Silverman continued his work on the offensive side of the ball, finding himself open at the top of the box after a Wolverine transition with four minutes left in the first period.  Silverman buried the opportunity for his sixth goal of the season, giving Michigan the 4-1 lead.

The Maize and Blue weren’t able to put away the Spartans early on as they’ve done to the majority of the opponents in ’05 however, as State was able to score the final goal of the period, remaining relatively close at 4-2 heading into the second period of play.

After a sloppy first period, the Wolverines looked to tighten things up in the second quarter.  Freshman midfielder Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) added the first goal of the second period, dodging in on the left side and firing a low, bouncing shot past MSU goaltender John Dean.  Junior midfielder Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) added his 13th goal of the season, just over two minutes later at 10:24 to extend the Maize and Blue lead to 6-2.   

Ryan Clark added his first goal at 6:09 in the second, wrapping around from behind the net, and burying a high shot over Dean’s left shoulder, just inside the post.  Leading by a score of 7-2 with just over six minutes remaining, the Wolverines finally started hitting on all cylinders in the second period both offensively and defensively, scoring three goals and shutting out the Spartans in the frame. 

Michigan continued the onslaught coming out of the half, notching the first goal of the third period at 13:42 on Fox’s third goal of the game, assisted on the play by Ryan Clark.  After State closed the lead to 8-3 midway through the third, senior midfielder Mike O’Leary (St. Louis, MO./Clayton) earned the Wolverines a man-up advantage when he was slashed on a dodge from the top.  Fox added his fourth goal of the game on the man-up, burying a shot from just outside the crease while being checked from behind.  The Wolverines notched two more goals in the third period, extending the lead to 11-3 heading into the final frame. 

Michigan began to work in their substitutes in the final frame with sophomore Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) taking over between the pipes.  Jim Constantine added his third and fourth goals of the game in the fourth quarter as the Wolverines finished off the Spartans to a tune of 15-6. 

Statistically, U-M won every category, finishing with 46 shots to the Spartans’ 19 and scooping up 61 groundballs compared to 39.  The groundball figures were a direct result of the sloppy play early on.  The Wolverines were 16-24 in faceoffs and cleared the ball at a better rate than MSU, finishing 16-21 while Michigan State posted 18-31 totals.  The Maize and Blue notched two man-up goals on six attempts while holding the Spartans to one goal in four tries. 

Michigan will take to the field again tomorrow at noon vs. Oakland in the CCLA Tournament Finals.  The Wolverines defeated Oakland earlier this year by a score of 11-1, avenging last season's loss to the Grizzlies in the CCLA semi’s by a score of 12-11 in double overtime.  That loss was the only time the Wolverines have ever dropped a CCLA contest, and last year was the first time they did not capture the conference crown.  Michigan won the conference title five straight years, from 1999 - 2003.  Their overall conference record now stands at 63-1.

NOTES

●  Senior captain Ryan Clark finished with 1-6-7, tying a career high in total points and assists set last season vs. Central Florida (Feb. 28, 2004) when Clark also finished with 1-6-7.

●  With the seven-point effort, Clark surpassed his single season point-high, set his freshman season when the attackman totaled 27-27-54.

●  With 4-2-6, junior Jim Constantine tied career highs in goals, assists and points.  Constantine finished with 4-2-6 vs. Florida on March 27 earlier this year.

● Senior long-stick midfielder David Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) paced the squad with 11 groundballs in the contest.  With 129, Silverman is blowing away his single-season mark of 106 set last season and is now currently 2^nd all-time with 295 career groundballs (Dave DiCamillo – 354), and is currently second all-time in groundballs in a season with 129 (Pierce Davis – 154).

●  Michigan spread the scoring load as they've done all season with nine different Wolverines scoring a goal.  Six Wolverines recorded multi-point games.

●  The 2nd period was where the Wolverines showed the most dominance, outscoring MSU 3-0, out-shooting them 12-4, finishing a perfect 3-3 on clear attempts and holding the Spartans scoreless on their lone man-up attempt to retain momentum.

●  Senior captain Anthony Ragnone II (Flint, Mich./Flint Powers) notched his ninth goal of the season.  With 9 goals and 6 assists this year, Ragnone has stepped up his game considerably in his final campaign after notching 11 goals and 9 assists combined in his first three seasons.

●  With the victory, Michigan has now won 12 games in a row, after dropping a 7-6 contest to  BYU on March 5.  In their two losses this year, Michigan has fallen by a combined two goals including the 9-8 loss to Division II St. Vincent on February 19.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  “I thought this was a pretty sloppy game and it's reflected in the stats.  The ball was on the ground a lot more than we would have liked, and we didn’t clear that well.  I’m happy we came out with the win, but I think we’re going to have to play a lot better tomorrow afternoon vs. Oakland.  I think the guys are mentally and emotionally ready to play these games, much more-so than last year, but no matter what we do, this is a tough week.  We’ve got graduation this morning and finals last week.  Its just a tough week for the guys.”

On combination of Fox and Clark:  “Just like last week, those two guys are going to eat up a zone, and if you’re going to play a soft zone you’re going to give up some opportunities for them.  Clark loves to sit there and feed and this type of defense doesn’t press him.  With Fox it doesn’t really matter, he can find the seam vs. man or vs. zone.  I thought Evan played very well today.  He also did a great job of finding some other guys today.” 

On Clark’s patience and ability as a set-up man:  “Ryan always does a nice job of looking off defenders and goalies and today he showed pretty good patience.  He’s got senior maturity, and he’s comfortable enough to hold the ball the extra second to make the play.”

On picking up their play in the second:  “I think we were sloppy in the first, and we weren’t playing the kind of defense we can.  I think some of that was just because we were putting some extra pressure on our defense because we weren’t playing well on the offensive end.  Their zone kept our scoring down early on, but we were able to score on transition and pick things up a little, and that carried over to our settled offense.”

On the play of the subs:  “Hudson obviously plays throughout the whole game, but we were able to get him some real quality time in the second half, and he played well.  He had a really nice goal towards the end.  The defenders we got in there did a nice job also.  It looks like we’re going to be pretty physical next year, which is something we’ve never really been on defense.”

On Silverman’s play:  “He’s an offense weapon because he’s able to get the ball up field so fast.  In the midfield area he’s taking the ball away from everybody.  He’s our MVP for a reason.  I think he was also on a mission tonight with last year’s All-Conference long-stick middie lining up on the other side.  I think that had to play in his mind a little today.”

On not letting down tomorrow vs. Oakland after the win earlier this year:  “I think the guys know its not going to be 11-1 again.  We’re just going to go out there and try and do the same things.  We know there is going to be some ebb and flow to it, and we’re just going to have to stay poised.  I really think if we play the way we’re capable of playing we’ll be fine.”

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