|
April 15, 2006
Event: Men's Lacrosse
Site: Ann Arbor, Mich (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
Score: #3 Michigan 13, #17 Oakland University 5
Records: U-M (11-3, 4-0 CCLA), Oakland (9-5, 3-1 CCLA)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, April 22, 7:30 PM - vs. Michigan State
(Forest Hills Central High School, Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Wolverines Down the Grizzlies on Senior Night
Event Recap I
Boxscore I
Notes & Quotes I Photos
Ann Arbor, Mich. - On a night when the three senior captains were
honored for playing in their final home game, the #3 Wolverines once
again relied on their youth to provide the brunt of their offensive
punch, as the Maize and Blue squad defeated CCLA rival, #17 Oakland
University by a score of 13-5 on Saturday, April 15. In front of a
packed Oosterbaan crowd, Michigan jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead after
one quarter on goals from five different Wolverines, extending their
lead throughout the first half, and holding on down the stretch en-route
to their 10th win in a row.
Michigan got on the board just 1:30 into the game on a tally from
sophomore midfielder Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills,
Mich./Brother Rice) who dodged in on the left wing and fired a high
shot to give U-M the early lead. 2:50 later, sophomore transfer,
midfielder Mark Hammitt (Madison, NJ/Delbarton - Boston
College) gave Michigan the two-goal lead on a blast from the top of
the left wing that snuck just inside the left post.
The hot combo of freshman attackman Riley Kearns (Bloomfield
Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) and senior captain Jim Constantine
(Troy, Mich./Seaholm) continued the Wolverine onslaught, netting
a goal apiece at 8:05 and 4:06. Sophomore attackman Evan Fox
(Suffern, NY/Suffern) got in on the action with just over two
minutes left, firing a bouncing shot from 10 yards out to give Michigan
the 5-0 lead entering the first-quarter break. Junior goaltender
Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) was very sharp in the
first quarter, stopping five shots, including a number of close-up
opportunities.
Junior midfielder Matt Hudson (Libertyville,
Ill./Libertyville) opened the scoring for U-M in the second quarter,
finishing a feed from freshman midfielder Aaron Hodari
(Bloomfield, Mich./Country Day) at 13:35.
Oakland finally cracked through midway through the period on a tally
from Nate Reynolds just outside the crease to cut the Wolverine lead to
6-1. Hammitt responded for the Wolverines 3:43 later on a high-light
reel goal as the midfielder scooped up a loose ball just inside the box,
immediately spun off his defender and fired a high shot while tumbling
to the ground.
Freshman attackman Jared Blechman (Setauket, NY/Ward Melville)
closed the scoring in the first half, finishing a pass from fellow
freshman Riley Kearns as Michigan entered the locker-room with the 8-1
lead.
Michigan didn't slow down a bit coming out of the break, scoring just
1:04 in on a tally from Constantine, assisted on the play by Morales.
The teams then traded goals at 9:50 and 9:18 as sophomore attackman
Thomas Lehman (Beverly Hills, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit)
added his first of the game, before Nate Reynolds added his second, as
Michigan led 10-2. Lehman followed with his second at 7:00 minutes
exactly, before Fox added his second at 3:57, fed on the play from
senior captain Eric Rimmke (Portage, Mich./Portage Northern).
Oakland finished the scoring in the quarter as the Wolverines led 12-3
entering the final frame.
In the fourth, the Wolverines started to clear the bench as Bobby
Morales added the lone Michigan goal of the fourth quarter and Oakland
tacked on two more, with the final score, 13-5.
Statistically, Michigan won every major category, totaling 44 shots
while holding OU to just 23. U-M scooped up 34 groundballs to the
Grizzlies 19 and faired better on the faceoffs, finishing 17 of 22.
Michigan was 17-24 on clears, and performed well on their rides, as
Oakland finished only 10-23 on their clear attempts. The Wolverines
struggled on the man-up, finishing 1-5, while OU went 0-2.
Michigan will compete in their last regular season game of the 2006
campaign next weekend as they travel to Forest Hills Central High School
in Grand Rapids, Mich. to take on intra-state rival Michigan State on
Saturday, April 22, at 7:30pm EST. Playing in front of a potential
crowd of thousands, and in front of Comcast Local's television cameras,
the Wolverines will be looking to wrap up their CCLA schedule with a win
en-route to a top-seed heading into the CCLA Championships.
NOTES
● Bobby Morales led all scorers in
the contest with two goals and two assists. The four points are a
season high for Morales.
● Junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman
(Olney, Md./Magruder) finished with 11 saves in the contest.
● Sophomore midfielder Lawrence
Okwali (Silverspring, Md./Springbrook) posted a career-high
10 groundballs and a career high 14 faceoff wins, leading the Wolverines
in both categories in the game. His previous highs were six groundballs
vs. EMU (April 9) and 12 faceoff wins vs. Kenyon (Feb. 18).
● The three Michigan seniors were
honored before the game in their final contest at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
Jim Constantine finished with two goals, while Eric Rimmke added his
second assist of the season. Defenseman Joe Stelmark (Grosse
Pointe Farms, Mich./Grosse Pointe South) was instrumental in holding
the Oakland attack to only 23 shots in the game.
● With the victory, the Wolverines
are now 33-2 since 2002 at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
● The Wolverines did a nice job of
shutting down the big scorers from Oakland as Joseph Opron III, Nate
Reynolds and Jayme Brams posted only three goals and two assists
combined in the contest.
● The Wolverines received balanced
scoring on the evening as they have all season long, with eight
different Wolverines scoring goals and six different Wolverines scoring
the first six goals.
● Aaron Hodari recorded his first
multi-assist game of his career.
●
The Wolverines began resembling their opening-day team once again, as a
number of Wolverines returned to the field from injury such as Evan Fox
and Eric Rimmke.
●
Michigan is now 69 -1 in CCLA play since the conference was founded in
1998. The only loss came in 2004 to Oakland.
QUOTES
U-M Head Coach John Paul
On his general impressions of the game: "I was happy with our
intensity in the first quarter. Through the first half we established
ourselves both offensively and defensively. We struggled a little bit
with our faceoffs early on, but once Lawrence got in there, he did a
great job. I think the key to this game was our defense. I thought the
offense played well in the first half but struggled in the second half,
but our defense carried us the whole game."
On the defensive effort: "Uhler had the matchup on Opron, and we
played man to man the whole night, and he did a pretty nice job on him.
Ferriell also did a nice job on Brams. We depended on them to do their
jobs individually and they did."
On the play of those returning from injury: "I was happy at
times. I think in the second half offensively we were really sloppy and
weren't crisp at all. We also weren't playing very smart. We weren't
moving the ball or ourselves, or making the right looks. I'm not sure
if that's rust, or guys not working together a lot lately. Or they may
just have gotten a little complacent."
On the 2004 loss to Oakland: "It's mentioned, we take a lot of
pride in that conference record. But more than anything we talk about
getting better every week and looking towards the National Tournament."
On Kaufman's play: "He's been doing that all year. We depend on
him. Because we're playing aggressively we're going to give up some
opportunities. You can't play that kind of defense unless you have a
goalie like Kaufman. We're really fortunate to have him. He's stepped
up really big to fill that void left by Webber graduating last year."
On "Senior Night": "We talked about it in the locker-room a
little after the game. The guys gave the seniors a round of applause.
But I told them that if we do everything right we've got seven games
left for these seniors. I'm sure it means a lot to them, and it
certainly means a lot to me to have these guys play their last games
here, but we've still got a long way to go. We'll thank the seniors in
May."
Sophomore Midfielder Lawrence Okwali
On his career-game: "I'm not going to lie. It felt pretty
good. Once I got out there I started feeling it. It was a lot of fun.
At first I started a little slow. But Brekan and I really push each
other, especially in practice. We consider ourselves the best
competition we're going to face. That preparation during the week makes
coming out here a whole lot easier."
On his growing confidence after he earns the possession: "It's
one of those things that as the season goes on, and with how hard we
practice, those things are going to start to feel more natural."
Senior Captain, Midfielder Eric Rimmke
On his Senior-Night experience: "I don't think its really hit me
yet that's it my last time suiting up on this field. I'd really like to
thank the guys though for preparing themselves as well as they did to
come out here and play. We didn't play quite as well as we could have,
especially in the second half, but we toughed it out and got the win."
On the intensity early: "I thought we were really intense in the
first half, especially in the first quarter. It was nice to jump out to
that quick lead, that's always great to see. I'm always a little
worried about how we're going to come out, but I thought the intensity
was pretty good overall tonight."
On remembering the 12-11 double-overtime loss to Oakland in '04:
"We actually talked about it a lot this week and before the game we
looked up at the banner and we saw that gap which clearly indicates
where they beat us. We used that as a starting point. We might see
these guys again in two weeks and we'll do the exact same thing."
On the contest vs. Michigan State: "It's a really good
opportunity for us to showcase what we've done and how hard we've worked
this year. It's a tough week because of finals but we need to have some
good practices because you can throw records out the door in a rivalry
game - Michigan State is going to come out fired up."
Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493, jjhennes@umich.edu
|
