March 5, 2006

Event:  Men's Lacrosse

Site:  Santa Barbara, Calif (Field-Turf)

Score:  #4 Michigan 8, #3 UC - Santa Barbara 5

Records:  U-M (2-3, 0-0 CCLA), UC - Santa Barbara (5-2, 4-0 WCLL)

Next U-M Game:  Friday, March 17, 7:00 PM - vs. Pittsburgh (Ann Arbor, Mich. - Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Wolverines Defeat Defending Champs Santa Barbara, 8-5

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes I Photos

Santa Barbara, Calif. - The #4 University of Michigan men's lacrosse team grabbed an 8-5 win over the University of California - Santa Barbara Gauchos on Sunday, March 5 in Santa Barbara in front of 245 fans at UC - Santa Barbara's turf field.  Leading 6-3 at half-time, the Wolverine defense along with junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) continued their solid play in the second half, helping U-M finish their road-trip 2-2.      

Sophomore attackman Mark Hammitt (Madison, N.J./Delbarton - Boston College) opened the scoring for the Wolverines in the first, fed from behind the cage from fellow sophomore attackman Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central).  Hammitt received the pass and fired a quick shot just inside the left post.  UCSB answered back immediately following the faceoff on a tally from Nick Stratton to tie the game early on at 1-1.

After a lengthy Gaucho possession eventually resulted in a turnover, the Wolverines cleared the ball up-field set up their offense.  Junior midfielder Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) drove around from behind and fired a low, side-arm shot to give Michigan the 2-1 lead. 

Following possessions for both teams, Michigan received a one-minute man-up opportunity after an illegal body-check call on Damon Conklin-Moragne.  Although the Wolverines weren't able to score on the man-up, they retained possession and increased their lead to 3-1 on Hudson's second goal of the game after he scooped up a loose groundball just outside of the crease and quickly fired back on goal. 

After coming out sluggishly in their previous games on the road-swing, Michigan was happy to have a 3-1 lead heading into the second period, despite some early miscues.  After winning the opening faceoff of the second, Michigan turned over the ball resulting in a Santa Barbara clear and eventually a shot on goal that snuck just inside the left post to draw the Gauchos to within one at 3-2. 

The teams traded goals, including senior captain Jim Constantine's (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) first of the game at 12:13 followed by George Granelli's second of the quarter for the Gauchos. 

With the score 4-3 in favor of Michigan, Constantine struck again.  Dodging in on the left side against Conklin-Moragne, who was having a monster day stripping Michigan players on clears, he beat the All-American LSM cleanly, sidestepped the slide and blasted one low to give Michigan the two-goal lead with just over nine minutes left in half.  A pushing from behind call on the Wolverines resulted in a man-up chance for UCSB shortly after, but the Maize and Blue were up to the task, killing the penalty and holding the momentum.  Michigan kept up the pressure, extending the lead at the 2:20 mark.  After the Wolverines scooped up a loose ball in the UCSB end, they found themselves with a numbers advantage heading in on goal.  Matt Hudson looked in front and found a cutting Krauss, who buried the shot for the 6-3 lead heading into halftime. 

Coming out of the break, both teams' defenses were up to the task, shutting down the opposing offenses and limiting the chances to outside shots from the perimeter.  While the Gaucho defense was creating turnovers and limiting Michigan chances, the Wolverine zone was forcing outside shots from SB that Kaufman was turning away.  Santa Barbara was eventually able to crack the Wolverine defense at the 5:09 mark, drawing within two at 6-4.

Michigan answered back two minutes later on sophomore attackman Evan Fox's (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) first tally of the game on a blast from the left wing, five yards out.  Fox was assisted on the play by freshman midfielder Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice).  The Wolverines shut down Santa Barbara's final charge of the quarter, after sophomore long-stick midfielder Alex Martusiewicz (Troy, Mich./Troy) intercepted a pass intended for the crease. 

The fourth quarter was much of the same, with neither team registering a quality attempt until almost mid-way through the quarter after Michigan earned a man-up chance after another penalty on Conklin-Moragne.  Right before the end of the man-up, Krauss buried his second goal of the game on a shot from just outside the crease to extend the Wolverine lead to 8-4. 

Down by four with the clock running down, Santa Barbara kept the pressure on, firing a number of shots on goal, with goaltender Ryan Kaufman stepping up to the challenge each time, only letting a late, man-up goal find its way past.     

Statistically, the game was fairly even with each team succeeding in different areas.  UCSB out-shot the Wolverines 40-23, but was beaten to the groundballs with Michigan grabbing 36 compared 33, including some key interceptions and groundballs in their own box.  For the third game in a row, sophomore face-off specialist Brekan Kohlitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) dominated, winning 14 of 17 faceoffs and grabbing a team-high 10 groundballs.  Santa Barbara cleared the ball at a better rate than Michigan, finishing 23 of 27, while U-M posted 21-32 totals, mostly due to the havoc caused by Conklin-Moragne in the middle of the field.  Michigan was 1-3 on the man-up, while UC-SB scored once on two attempts. 

Michigan will now return to Ann Arbor and have a much-needed weekend off before taking on CCLA opponent Pittsburgh in a non-conference tilt on Friday, March 17 at 7:00 pm EST at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.

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NOTES

● Peter Krauss and Matt Hudson led the Wolverines in scoring with two goals and one assist in the contest.    

● Junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) finished with 19 saves in the contest including nine in the decisive fourth quarter.  The total is a career high for Kaufman, besting a 15-save performance vs. Brigham Young on February 25.

● With another solid effort on faceoffs (14-17), Brekan Kohlitz has gone 45 of 63 in his last three games.  He also led the Wolverines in groundballs for the third straight game with 10, which also set a career high.  His previous high was nine vs. UC - San Diego on February 27.  He also leads the team with 37.      

● The Wolverines improved to 2-1 vs. USL-MDIA opponents on the season, and avenged last season's National Championship semi-final loss to UC - Santa Barbara with the win on Sunday.     

● Playing a zone defense, Michigan gave up 40 shots on goal, although the majority were from the perimeter, as intended. 

● The five goal total was the lowest goal-total the Michigan defense has allowed this season.  Their previous low was seven vs. UC - San Diego on February 27. 

● The Wolverines did some line-up juggling before the contest, with sophomore attackman Thomas Lehman (Beverly Hills, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) moving into the starting line-up and junior midfielder Matt Hudson moving back to midfield.  Freshman attackman Jared Blechman (Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) saw his first action as a Wolverine entering the contest at the beginning of second quarter.

● Due to rain throughout the week in the Southern California area, the contest was moved to the UCSB Field-Turf field.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On his general impressions of the game:  "It was a big win for us.  We needed to finish on a good note.  We were 1-2 (on the trip) coming in, and the two games we lost we felt like we were right in those games.  We knew we just had to get over the hump and we knew we had to finish like this." 

On the play of goaltender Ryan Kaufman and the defense:  "Kaufman had a great game.  One of the parents came up to me after the game and said he made the saves he had to make and made some that you don't expect him to make.  And that's the sign of a good goaltender.  He's got to make the saves he supposed to and then come up big on some other ones - that's what he did today.  Our defense did a nice job also, funneling the shots to the outside and when they did get something inside we were on their sticks and made it difficult for them.  I think as a group they are really starting to come around."

On the play of the offense:  "We've still got some problems offensively.  But that's really the theme of the year.  All of the top teams lost a lot of players and we're all pretty young.  The story of this year is going to be who is going to mature the fastest.  You can see that in the difference with this game and the last two games we played with these guys.  It was a much sloppier game for both teams.  We needed it though.  We were really proud of this win but we're still not happy with the way we're playing."

On returning to the CCLA schedule:  "We are looking forward to it.  This was a great trip for us, but it was a long trip.  We need to get back home and maybe get into a comfort zone.  We've got a proud tradition in the CCLA.  Some of the teams in the conference have improved dramatically, and we're looking forward to being challenged.  Our schedule is going to help us improve and get to where we need to be by the end of the year."

On the win today helping the overall feeling of the trip:  "It doesn't completely get the bad taste out.  It was a great win but we still need to put it in perspective because we know we're still not at the level we want to be at.  We lost a couple of close games, and with close games, you never really get the taste out of your mouth because you think about a guy making a play here or there or a different coaching decision you could have made."

On the start of the game:  "I still wasn't completely sure how we'd come out after warm-ups, and offensively I'm not sure if we ever got our heads into it.  But it was important getting up early, 3-1 after the first quarter.  It allowed us to play with a lot more confidence the rest of the game."

Junior Defenseman Abdulrahman El-Sayed  

On finishing off the road-trip with a win:  "The fact that we came out and grabbed the win after such a long road trip is huge.  It was also big because we came into their house and we know they've got some hostile fans.  It's nice because now we've got two weeks so we'll be able to go home and heal ourselves and get into our CCLA schedule."

On the defense on the day and coming together in general:  "We came out in a set that we don't usually run a whole lot, and I think the fact that we were able to pull that out through the game was huge.  I think Whittier was the turning point - we really grew up in that game.  Coming back from the seven-goal deficit was big."

Junior Midfielder Matt Hudson

On moving back to midfield:  "It's always fun to try new things.  I think that everyone on my line is moving back there for the first time.  For all of us it's a new experience and I think it adds a new flavor to our offense." 
 

On the offense in general today:  "We had our sparks but we're still not grinding it out on all cylinders yet and I think when we do we'll really light it up.  All of our goals came from solid offensive movement so that's a good step for us."

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