March 1, 2006

Event:  Men's Lacrosse

Site:  Whittier, Calif (Donald E. Graham Field)

Score:  #4 Michigan 9, Whittier 11

Records:  U-M (1-3, 0-0 CCLA), Whittier (3-0)

Next U-M Game:  Sunday, March 5, 12:00 PM - vs. University of California - Santa Barbara (Santa Barbara, California - The Pit)

Impressive Comeback Not Enough for Wolverines, Lose 11-9

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes

Whittier, Calif. - The #4 University of Michigan men's lacrosse team showed quite a bit of moxie on Wednesday night (March 1) in southern California, battling back from a 7-0 deficit to tie the game late in third quarter and actually take a one-goal lead in the fourth, only to see their opponent, Division-III Whittier close the game with a three-goal run to drop Michigan to 1-3 on the season.  In front of 312 fans at Donald E. Graham Field in Whittier, Calif., the Wolverines scored seven goals between the second and third quarters while holding their opponent to one, but in the end, the Maize and Blue weren't able to seal the deal with one game remaining on their early season west-coast swing.   

After winning the game's opening faceoff, Michigan possessed the ball for a short time before turning the ball over, setting up a lengthy Poet possession with a number of shots on goal.  Whittier eventually earned an open shot from the right wing that just snuck in the right post for the early 1-0 lead. 

Whittier continued to keep up the pressure early on, taking advantage of Wolverine turnovers and sluggish play, netting six unanswered goals before Michigan was finally able to put together a quality possession.  The effort resulted in the Wolverines first goal of the game at the 1:54 mark of the first on a blast from the left wing from sophomore attackman Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central).

Trailing 7-1, Michigan came out much sharper in the second quarter, with a number of quality rides on Whittier clear attempts.  The Poet turnovers resulted in Michigan's second goal of the game from attackman Evan Fox (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) right outside the crease on a feed by Mark Hammitt (Madison, N.J./Delbarton - Boston College).  The Maize and Blue continued to claw back into the game on another Fox goal at the 8:34 mark after dodging in on the right wing and firing high just inside the right post.

Whittier re-built their five-goal lead two minutes later on a tally from Dave Gerbarg before Michigan answered back at 2:01 on a goal from freshman midfielder Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice).  Kearns was fed by Krauss and fired a hard, bouncing shot over the goaltender's left shoulder.  Michigan earned a man-up opportunity just over a minute later and eventually capitalized on a bang-bang play that saw Krauss make another nice pass to an open Fox who was positioned on the right wing.  Fox fired and beat the goaltender to the far-side and drew Michigan within three at 8-5 going into the half-time break. 

 

Michigan continued to maintain momentum coming out of the half with sophomore midfielder Brekan Kohlitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) winning the opening faceoff and setting Michigan up in the Whittier box.  After a shot from senior captain Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) was saved, Krauss scooped up the rebound and fired low for the goal.  Michigan continued pressing, quickly adding another goal from Hammitt on a dodge from the left side just under two minutes later to draw Michigan within one goal at 8-7 for the first time since the opening moments of the game.

The combination of Fox and Krauss continued to produce, combining for another goal at the 6:13 mark, tying the game at 8-8.  After working the ball around the box, Krauss found a cutting Fox who quick-sticked a shot for Michigan's sixth unanswered goal heading into the final frame. 

The first chance for either team in the fourth came after an illegal body check call on Whittier three minutes in resulted in a one-minute man-up opportunity for the Maize and Blue.  Fox continued his goal-scoring barrage, putting away another quick-stick goal after being fed from Constantine from behind the cage, giving Michigan their first lead of the game at 9-8 with 11:45 left in the fourth. 

Whittier responded with their first goal since the 6:30 mark of the second period on a tally from Mike Prickett to knot the game up at 9-9.  Whittier then re-gained the lead under three minutes later with the help of a Chuck Wagner goal and then extended the lead to two goals at 5:20 on a tally from Alex Chaudry.  With the two-goal lead, Whittier whittled down the clock in the final five minutes despite allowing a man-up opportunity to U-M in the final moments of the game.  The Wolverines never seriously threatened again, and had to watch their chance at evening up their record disappear. 

According to the numbers, outside of the first period, Michigan played rather well.  The Wolverines out-shot Whittier to a tune of 36-28, including 26-5 in the second and third quarters.  Groundballs were fairly even with Michigan scooping up 29 to the Poets' 26, while U-M was slightly more successful clearing the ball at a rate of 12-15 compared to 20-27 for Whittier.  U-M was excellent on faceoffs, led once again by sophomore midfielder Brekan Kohlitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) who finished 16-24.  The Maize and Blue also found success on the man-up, going 3-5, while Whittier finished 1-3. 

Michigan has one game left on their California road swing, battling #3 UC-Santa Barbara on Sunday, March 5, at 12:00pm PST in Santa Barbara.   The Wolverines will then return home to Ann Arbor, Michigan and Oosterbaan Fieldhouse to take on CCLA opponent Pittsburgh in a non-conference tilt on Friday, March 17 at 7:00 pm EST.

NOTES

● Fox led the team in scoring with 5 goals and 1 assist.  This is the third time in four games he has held the team lead in points.    

● With another solid effort on faceoffs (16-24), Brekan Kohlitz has gone 31 of 46 in his last two games.  He also led the Wolverines in groundballs for the second straight game with seven, and leads the team with 27 overall.    

● Hammitt recorded his first assist on the season, feeding sophomore attackman Thomas Lehman (Beverly Hills, Mich./University of Detroit - Jesuit) for the opening goal of the second quarter.

 ● Junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) finished with 10 saves in the contest. 

● With the losses vs. Kenyon and Whittier, U-M is now 0-4 in their last three games vs. D-II or D-III opponents dating back to 2003.  Last season Michigan lost a 9-8 decision to St. Vincent, and in 2003, dropped a 23-7 contest to Whittier team.  Michigan's last regular season win against varsity competition was a 13-4 victory over Division I Siena in 2001.  The Wolverines did not play a varsity team in the 2002 regular season.

● Whittier used four different goaltenders in the contest vs. Michigan. 

● Sophomore midfielder Mike Shearman (Madison, N.J./Seton Hall) sat out the contest due to disciplinary reasons.  He will return against UCSB this Sunday.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On his general impressions of the game:  "Obviously we dug a big hole.  I was having flash-backs to three years ago when we came out here and got killed by a very good Whittier team.  I think a lot of that 7-0 run was our fault and we just came out really flat.  I don't think our heads were in it.  In our previous games we've had breakdowns and we've played great at times and poorly at others.  It's where our heads are at.  We're not doing the little things that make a team good.  It's like we need to get a kick in the butt to start doing it.  Today it was getting down 7-0."

On the team's comeback:  "I was really, really proud of the guys, because some teams, down 7-0 would just pack it in and say ‘We're done'.  We didn't, and I don't know if I've ever been part of team that's come back like that.  We were getting buried and then we came back and completely dominated in the second and third quarters and took control of the game for awhile."

On what to take from the game:  "I think it's a combination of both, positive and negative.  I have to be proud of guys after the way they fought back after playing so poorly in the first.  I loved the tenacity of the team.  I love the way our sideline got back into it.  Obviously we're in shape because the guys played four quarters and we really pushed them.  So, yeah, I take a lot of positives out of it.  But that said, you sort of have to scratch your head in a game like this.  You're down seven and then you outscore a very good team 9-4 the rest of the way.  What happens if we don't come out flat?"

On learning from the game:  "I think the great thing about playing a team like Whittier is that they pushed us to our physical limit the entire game.  So when we go out and dominate in those second and third quarters we were working as hard as we've ever worked to do it.  So we say, if you guys can put that kind of effort in every day, right when we get off the bus, and give that motivation and energy in our practices we'll get very good, very fast.  But we're just not there yet.  I hope that now they see this what they've got to do."

On the team's early game struggles recently:  "I really think its part of our youth.  Its learning to play at a championship college level.  They proved in a game like this that they can do it, they can get it done.  I think there are some things we can do in warm-ups to get the guys a little more hyped in the pre-game, working a little harder so that they're at this peak right when the game starts."

On who impressed today:  "Brekan [Kohlitz] was amazing again.  The faceoff guy they had was pretty good.  Even when BK was beat he was really fighting to get back on the ball and not giving away any clean pick-ups.  Fox makes it look easy sometimes with his style of play, and he even got a couple of goals off his dodge tonight, which is rare.  Krauss, as usual, was just flying all over the field and making a lot of things happen for us.  And although he didn't score for us, Tommy [Lehman] comes in and gets things going.  I thought Hammitt had a good game.  Some freshman are really starting to come on also." 

Senior Captain, Midfielder Eric Rimmke

On the Wolverine's troubles early on:  "To be honest, I'm really not sure what happened there at the beginning.  The captains tried to communicate to the guys how important this game was and we thought that everybody understood that.  Its really just unacceptable that we came out so flat, with such a lack of energy and focus.  So we're just going to have to find a different way to motivate the guys at the beginning of the game to get them going. 

On the team coming back from the deficit:  "I think it really shows the tremendous character of this team.  We put so much work and effort into our fall practices and our pre-season work that when situations like tonight come up we can draw upon those experiences and pull something out that a lot of teams might not be able to do."

On learning what it takes to win:  "I think this trip is a great learning opportunity for us especially considering the quality of the opponents we're seeing.  The amount that we're going to grow up in the 11 days that we're out here is going to be significant.  I think when we get back home we're not going to have any problem getting up for games.  When we look at tonight and the second and third quarters we saw what we're going to need to do to compete at the level it's going to take to win a national championship."

Sophomore Attackman Evan Fox

On not loosing confidence early on:  "I remember they had seven goals, and in that period of time we possessed the ball twice.  And those two possessions were decent possessions - they weren't long possessions, but we got some good opportunities.  I knew all we needed was the ball.  Once we got it, we were able to do some damage."

On his five-goal effort:  "Krauss was really seeing the field well, keeping his head up and dodging well.  Same with Hammitt, and along with Jimmy [Constantine].  I didn't finish some I should have.  I also wanted to dodge a little more tonight.  I think I only got one or two in there."

On coming out strong vs. UC-Santa Barbara:  "The coaches said it, we need to come out and play four quarters as hard as we can.   We can't keeping digging these holes and expect to get out of them.  We need to come out strong from the beginning and hit our shots early and we'll be fine.   We can't have these early-game debacles where we give up three or four, and then we edge back, and start trading goals."

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