April 1, 2006

Event:  Men's Lacrosse

Site:  Ann Arbor, Mich (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)

Score:  #3 Michigan 17, Central Michigan 4

Records:  U-M 9-3 (2-0 CCLA), Central Michigan 4-5 (0-3 CCLA)

Next U-M Game:  Sunday, April 8, 1:00 PM - vs. Eastern Michigan (Ypsilanti, Mich., - Rynearson Stadium)

Wolverines Overcome Injuries, Central

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes I Photos

Ann Arbor, Mich. - The #3 University of Michigan men's lacrosse team finished off their five-game home stand with a 17-4 win over in-state rival, and fellow CCLA member Central Michigan on Saturday, April 1 in Ann Arbor, at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.  Michigan jumped out to a 5-0 lead after one quarter of play and never looked back, as the Wolverines won their eighth game in a row despite more injuries to their front lines.  Although the Wolverines were without their top four attackmen for the majority of the game, Michigan simply rolled out a number of freshmen middies and attack, a group that's looking more impressive by the game. 

The Maize and Blue opened the scoring three minutes in on a dodge from the left wing from sophomore midfielder Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) who left his feet and fired a shot that snuck just inside the right post to give Michigan the 1-0 lead.  Constantine extended the U-M lead with two goals of his own at 8:01 and 5:53, followed by a blast from sophomore transfer, midfielder Mark Hammitt (Madison, NJ/Delbarton - Boston College) to give Michigan a 4-0 first quarter lead. 

Hammitt added another to open the second quarter, finishing a feed from freshman attackman Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) as the Wolverines started building an insurmountable lead.  CMU wasn't about to shut it down that early however, and answered back just 1:17 later on a tally from senior Pat Copus on a transition goal that barely squeaked past junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder). 

High-school teammates got the goal back for the Wolverines as attackman Wes McGowan (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) buried a feed from fellow freshman, midfielder Anthony Hrusovsky (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest).  McGowan was parked just outside the crease and put away the open chance.  Hammitt added his third of the game five minutes later, before Pat Copus scored his second of the game for the Chippewas as the team's entered the locker-room with Michigan leading 7-2. 

With a 7-2 lead coming out the break and the bumps and bruises growing by the second, Michigan started expanding their bench play with a number of Wolverines seeing action.  The combo of attackmen Jared Blechman (Setauket, NY/Ward Melville) and Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) combined on the next three Wolverine goals as the two continued their solid play since being inserted into the starting line-ups due to injury.  Blechman scored the first two before Kearns finished the flurry.  The two players assisted each other on each of the tallies as Michigan led 10-2 midway through the third quarter.

Kearns wasn't done, adding his second of the game just two minutes later on a feed from another freshman, midfielder Peter Vasher (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer).  The Wolverines added three more in the quarter, blowing the game open heading into the final frame with a 14-2 lead.

The Wolverines continued to sub in players in the fourth quarter with back-up goaltender Graham Townsend (Williamsville, NY./Williamsville East) seeing action.  Jim Constantine added two more goals in the fourth, netting a total of four in the contest as Michigan finished off the Chippewas by a final of 17-4. 

The statistics clearly mirrored the game, with the Wolverines completely dominating possession with 74 shots compared to 23, while scooping up 57 groundballs to 39.  Michigan won 20 of 24 faceoffs, and cleared the ball at a rate of 27-34 compared to 19-34.  U-M finished 3-6 on the man-up while holding CMU scoreless on three attempts. 

Michigan will take to the field again next weekend as they travel up Washtenaw Avenue to take on local rival Eastern Michigan in Rynearson Stadium at 1:00pm on Sunday, April 9.

NOTES

● Kearns led all scorers in the game with two goals and four assists.  The six point total and four assists are both career highs for the freshman early in his Wolverine career.  Kearns recorded two goals and one assist vs. Western Michigan (March 19) and posted two assists vs. Boston College (March 26).

● With the top-four attackman out most of the game, the freshman unit of Kearns, Blechman and McGowan finished with five goals and seven assists in the game to lead the Wolverines. 

● Anthony Hrusovsky recorded his first career goal and his first career assist in the contest.  His assist helped his former Lake Forest high school teammate, Wes McGowan, notch his second-quarter goal. 

● Peter Vasher recorded his first career multi-assist game with two in the match. 

● Michigan out-shot CMU 19-3 and tallied seven unanswered goals in the decisive third quarter.

● Alex Martusiewicz (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) posted a career-high seven groundballs in the game.  His previous high was vs. Pittsburgh (March 17). 

● Martusiewicz and sophomore faceoff specialist Brekan Kohlitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) each finished with a team-high seven groundballs.  Kohlitz finished 12 of 14 on faceoffs.

● Junior midfielder Thomas Groenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) finished 3-3 on faceoffs. 

● Junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) finished with five saves in three periods, while Graham Townsend recorded three stops in his quarter of play.

● With the victory, the Wolverines are now 32-2 since 2002 at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. 

● Mark Hammitt continued his solid play as of late, tying a career high with four goals in the game.

● The Wolverines recorded a season-high 74 shots in the contest.  They previously recorded 61 vs. Lindenwood (March 25).

● The crowd of 655 was the largest at Oosterbaan this season.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On his general impressions of the game:  "Obviously the story of the game is the injuries.  We had to dig pretty deep.  We were starting guys on the bottom of our depth chart on attack.  I was pretty happy though with what the guys did who were playing.  I think we started a little slowly, but once we got comfortable, and once we got going, I thought we cleaned it up quite a bit."

On the second half:  "We certainly played a better second half, and a really good third quarter.  We made a couple small adjustments.  We came out in a different defense to combat what they were doing.  It was a zone we don't run a lot but it really fit what they were running offensively."

On the injuries:  "I'm just really frustrated by the number of guys we've got out now.  Its just unbelievable.  On attack our top four guys are out.  But I was really happy with what the guys like Wes, Riley and Jarred did filling in those roles.  We didn't even plan on playing Riley at attack this season, but due to injuries we've had to move him back up there.  He's a very good attackman but that's not where we want him.  So we've got a lot of guys who are in roles we didn't intend them to play, but I think they're doing a good job."

On getting back in synch:  "We need to get those guys back, but when they get back, we need to get them going on all cylinders for when we need them at the end of the year.  We're going to use these two weeks to really get some guys healthy.  We're not going to overlook Eastern Michigan but we're not going to push anyone back in before they're not ready."

On the offensive effort:  "We've got a lot of guys who can create for us.  We're not having trouble getting shots, just quality shots.  We tell our guys we want them "shooting big" which means either score or miss.  Because if you miss you back up the cage, but you don't want him saving it.  For us, missing the goal isn't such a bad shot.  We're aiming for pipes."

On next week:  "It's going to be a challenge.  We're on the road, without a lot of guys.  We've got to make sure these guys are motivated.  I think more than anything right now we're just trying to focus on getting better every week.  The focus is on us, just trying to get healthy and trying to improve."

Freshman Attackman Wes McGowan

On his play:  "The injury to Lehman put me in a position to step up.  I started with the assist to Hammitt that allowed me to start feeling good.  On my goal, all season I've been waiting to connect with Hrusovsky, because we went to school together."

On finishing his old teammates' assist:  "It's really fun working with Anthony.  It's been going on six years now and we've always had a good connection.  But this year we hadn't come together on anything yet, so it was good to finally get that out of the way."

On seeing more time due to injuries:  "Obviously you never want your best players out.  But it's giving a chance to the younger guys and the guys who haven't seen the field too much.  It's nice to get some game experience.  It's so much different than practice.  It's a pretty big group of young guys but we're starting to come together and starting to know each other.  Lacrosse is mental.  If you're out there thinking, you're not going to succeed.  You need to feel comfortable and just play."

Freshman Midfielder Anthony Hrusovsky

On his first points as a Wolverine:  "I just wanted to go out there and play hard tonight.  When you're a guy coming off the bench you've got to use every chance you can get to prove yourself."

On the freshmen group coming together:  "As we got to know all of the guys, we got more comfortable and you could tell in how we played.   It just makes it a lot easier out there."

On coming out with intensity:  "I think the Boston College game was sort of wake-up for us.  We've had real high intensity since then, but lately it's been just simple mechanics.  So that's the next thing we need to work on.  When we went up against Lindenwood and Arizona we didn't drop a ball.  We've been getting a little lax out there in these games when we start to feel "safe"."

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