October 1, 2005

Event:  Men's Lacrosse - Michael R Breschi Buckeye Classic

Site:  Columbus, Ohio (Woody Hayes Center)

Score:  Michigan 4, Ohio State 13; Michigan 6, Butler 7

Records:  Off-season

Next U-M Game:  Robert Morris Fall Playday - Scrimmages vs. St. Vincent, Wheeling Jesuit, Seton Hill & Robert Morris (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Island Sports Center)

Wolverines Showcase Youth Against Fall Foes

Event Recap I  Notes & Quotes

Columbus, Ohio - The 2005-2006 University of Michigan Men's Lacrosse team had their first taste of live action with two scrimmages on Saturday, October 1, taking on the Ohio State University and Butler University in the MBR Buckeye Classic in Columbus.  The event, named in honor of Ohio State head coach's deceased son Michael Breschi, featured Michigan and three Division 1 programs: Ohio State, Butler and Maryland.

In their opening contest vs. the Buckeyes, the Wolverines played an excellent first half, building a 4-3 lead entering halftime.  Junior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) made a number of quality saves during his half of play, keeping the Wolverines in the contest.  Offensively, sophomore midfielder Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) led the Wolverines early on with two goals in the first half.  In the second half, as both teams began shuffling rosters and Ohio State inserted their veterans, the Buckeyes went on an early roll en-route to the unofficial 13-4 victory.

In their second game, the Wolverines started slowly but came back in the second half against Butler, losing by the slimmest of margins, 7-6.  Down 5-1 after the first half, Michigan clawed its way back into the game, led by sophomore midfielder Mark Hammitt (Madison, N.J./Delbarton-Boston College) who notched his first goals as a Wolverine after transferring from Boston College.  Sophomore goaltender Graham Townsend (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville East) was also an important cog in the Wolverines comeback attempt, holding the Bulldogs to only two goals in the second half.

The Wolverines will practice for the next three weeks before heading to Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday, October 22, for another day of scrimmaging vs. Division 1 Robert Morris and Division 2 Wheeling Jesuit, St. Vincent and Seton Hill.

NOTES

●  2005 leading scorer, junior/sophomore attackman Evan Fox (Suffern, NY/Suffern) did not dress.  He is rehabbing a knee injury suffered over the summer.  Freshman attackman Matt Huspeni (Lakewood Village, Col./Regis Jesuit) was the other scratch due to injury.

●  Sophomore Brekhan Kohlitz (St. Clair Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) looked very good on faceoffs against Ohio State, but suffered a bone bruise late in the scrimmage and was unable to play against Butler.  Freshman midfielder Anthony Hrusovsky (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) needed six stitches between scrimmages to close up a cut suffered on his chin.  Morales suffered a fractured finger in the Butler scrimmage.  He will be reassessed during the week.

●  This was the second straight year that Michigan has faced Division 1 competition in the fall.  Last fall the Wolverines traveled to State College, Pennsylvania for the Nitany Lion Invitational and scrimmaged Penn State and Bucknell, along with then-defending Division II national champion LeMoyne.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On the two games overall:  "For us, we're just so young, we don't have a choice to play everybody, we just play everybody because that's our team.  This is a really good first step for us though.  It was really pleased with our conditioning.  We just played two back-to-back games vs. D-I opponents and we held our own until the end.  The guys also stayed together, especially when Butler rolled us a bit in the first half, we didn't collapse and we got back in it."

On the play of the goaltenders:  "I thought Kaufman played outstanding, and Graham [Townsend] was also excellent.  Graham was in a tough position, coming in for the second half against a pretty motivated Ohio State team, but he bounced back against Butler.  Both showed us a lot today.  They were active and the both played with a lot of confidence."

On the young defense:  "It's going to be a learning process the entire year.  We made a few mistakes today and there is going to be a big learning curve.  We are a little more athletic and a little more physical this year.  We were very vanilla today, but we'll just keep adding things into the fold as the guys get more comfortable.  We have to remind ourselves, we were only six practices in with an entirely new unit."

On the attack:  "We're very deep up front.  We got a lot of guys in, and they showed us quite a bit.  I was very happy with a number of guys.  Riley Kearns and Aaron Hodari both did a good job for us.  I was also very happy with the way Jared Blechman played when he got in, as well as Joe Tan, at the end of the game.  He showed us a lot in just a few minutes.  Our problem this year is going to be finding a way to get a lot of these guys on the field, and that's a good problem to have."

Junior Goaltender Ryan Kaufman

On his play:  "Well, I'm playing for my spot right now.  I think I played alright, but I could have played better.  I think I played better vs. Ohio State, and in the start vs. Butler those two long-sticks just got me. 

On starting off vs. two D-I teams:  "It's a great way to start off this part of my career, and it's a great opportunity to just come out here and be invited.  I think a lot of teams would say, 'Oh it's a club team, we're not going to bring them in here'.  So its nice to see the kind of respect we get from other programs." 

Sophomore Midfielder Bobby Morales

On the team's play:   "I was real impressed by our team.  We came out hard and didn't act afraid against good teams.  We stayed with both of them for almost the entire game."

On the play of the young guys, especially opening vs. a D-I team:  "Youth is just something you have to deal with.  We had to deal with it last year and it didn't slow us down.  It was great to see them contributing, they worked hard and didn't show any fear.  I think now we really know where we are."

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