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March 19, 2006
Event: Men's Lacrosse
Site: Kalamazoo, Mich. (Intramural Field)
Score: #3 Michigan 10, Western Michigan 3
Records: U-M (4-3, 1-0 CCLA), Western Michigan (1-2, 1-2 CCLA)
Next U-M Game: Friday - Sunday, March 24 - 26, Michigan
Invitational (Ann Arbor, Mich. - Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
Fourth Quarter Surge Powers Wolverines Past Broncos
Event Recap I
Boxscore I
Notes & Quotes
Kalamazoo, Mich. - On a cold Sunday night in Kalamazoo, Michigan,
it took the Wolverines three quarters to figure out their opponent, but
when they did, it was clear why the Maize and Blue were ranked 3rd
in the country. After a distinct zone defense stymied U-M for the
entire first half, the Wolverines slowly started to put the pieces
together in the third, and in the fourth, blew the game open with five
unanswered goals en-route to the 10-3 win.
The Wolverines improved to one game over .500 (4-3, 1-0 CCLA) and
grabbed their first conference win of the season in a game that was
slightly reminiscent of a contest the Wolverines played in Kalamazoo in
2003. The Broncos stayed within firing distance in that game until the
bitter end, but although Sunday night's game was close on the scoreboard
for three quarters, it was clear that Michigan was dominating play
throughout the game and it was just a matter of time before their shots
started finding their targets.
Michigan opened the scoring in the first quarter at 13:08 on a man-up
goal from freshman attackman Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills,
Mich./Brother Rice) who was assisted on the play by senior captain,
midfielder Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm). WMU
answered back just over two minutes later at 10:56 on Carlo Tonnon's
first goal of the game. Although the Wolverines controlled the majority
of the possession, Western Michigan produced a few more attempts in the
first quarter, but either failed to produce a shot attempt, or were
thwarted by junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, MD./Magruder).
Michigan continued to keep on the pressure in the second quarter, but
was still having trouble finishing and was hitting multiple pipes, only
producing two more goals before halftime, heading into the locker-room
with only a one-goal lead at 3-2.
The Wolverines came out of the break with a renewed vigor that was
rewarded early on when sophomore attackman Evan Fox (Suffern,
N.Y./Suffern) found the back of the net on a wrap-around attempt
just 50 seconds in. Western scored roughly five minutes later to draw
within one at 4-3 before Michigan started firing on all cylinders
mid-way through the third and into the fourth quarter.
Sophomore transfer, midfielder Mark Hammitt (Madison,
N.J./Delbarton - Boston College) and Jim Constantine each added two
goals in the fourth quarter as Michigan looked more and more comfortable
against the zone defense.
Michigan's ball possession was clear when glancing at their shot
totals. Michigan tallied 57 shots in the game, compared to a paltry 17
for the Broncos. The Wolverines scooped up 46 groundballs to 26 for WMU,
and cleared the ball at a better rate, finishing 21 of 26, while Western
was 16 for 27. Michigan won nearly all the faceoffs, posting 14 for 17
totals and scored three times on eight man-up opportunities. The
Broncos failed to score on seven attempts. Ryan Kaufman finished with
five saves in the contest.
U-M will
practice throughout the week in preparation for the Michigan
Invitational next week from March 24-26 when the Wolverines will take on
three ranked opponents over the course of three days. The Wolverines
open the weekend with a Friday night tilt vs. #12 Arizona with another
night game on Saturday vs. #10 Lindenwood. Michigan then closes the
tournament with a game against #24 Boston College on Sunday afternoon.
NOTES
● Jim Constantine led all scorers
in the game with four goals and two assists. Constantine tied a
career-high in goals and points in the contest. He posted the same
totals vs. Eastern Michigan last season (March 18).
● Mark Hammitt recorded his first
career hat-trick in the contest. He also out-shot the Broncos in the
contest, finishing with 19 shots to their 17.
● Riley Kearns had his first
multi-goal game, and his first three-point game of his career finishing
with two goals and an assist. His previous best was one goal and one
assist vs. BYU (Feb. 25).
● After posting a season-low one
groundball on Friday night (March 17) vs. Pittsburgh, sophomore faceoff
specialist Brekan Kohlitz (St. Claire Shores, Mich./N.D.
Harper Woods) finished with a career-high 12 groundballs in the
contest to go along with his 14-17 performance on faceoffs. His
previous high was 10 set vs. UC-Santa Barbara (March 5).
● The Wolverines dominated
possession throughout most of the game and it was evident in the shot
totals as U-M held the Broncos to only 17 shots, tied for the lowest
amount tallied by an opponent this season with Friday night's effort vs.
Pittsburgh.
● Junior defenseman Abdul El-Sayed
(Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Andover) set a career-high in
groundballs, scooping up six in the game. His previous high, five, was
set last season vs. Missouri (Feb. 18).
● Western Michigan's Carlo Tonnon
scored all three of the Bronco goals in the game while goaltender Kelly
DeNean also impressed, finishing with 21 saves in the contest.
QUOTES
U-M Head Coach John Paul
On finally cracking the Western zone "D": "We were
controlling the ball for the majority of the game, so we had the feeling
we were finally going to break through at some point. We made some
adjustments at halftime and the guys understood what we had to do.
It's not a zone we use, so we can't really replicate it during practice
so we don't get to work against it too often. Coming out of the
break we just simplified things and it started to work out."
On who impressed: "Jimmy [Constantine] shot the ball well. He
took advantage of his opportunities. He's a better shooter when he's
catching and shooting and tonight he was getting those chances. Hammitt
also played well. He was throwing his big fakes and he got them a few
times. They were packing things in and focusing on our attackman.
That was giving our middies open shots from about 12 yards out and he
always has the green light on those."
On the Wolverines' effort early on: "It was a weird day and I
think that sort of got to us because we weren't on our usual schedule.
We left early, had dinner out there at the Rimmke's house, and then had
some time to kill. It was also cold and the field wasn't the best.
They had to do a lot of work with the lines beforehand and it messed up
the tempo of our warm-ups. It was obvious that it carried over a
little early on."
On the upcoming Michigan Invitational and the task ahead: "This
is a huge weekend coming up. We'll practice tomorrow, and Tuesday we'll
watch film and let the guys rest up a little bit and get back to it
Wednesday and Thursday. Right now the focus is completely on Arizona.
As coaches you have to game-plan for the first two games at least this
early, but we won't deal with anything but Arizona in practice until
maybe late in the week. We're telling ourselves that we haven't really
played one "great" game yet. We're saying lets make it [our game
vs. Arizona] our first."
Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493, jjhennes@umich.edu
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