May 15, 2007

Event:  Men's Lacrosse

Site:  Dallas, Texas (Pizza Hut Park - Dr. Pink Field)

Score:  #4 Michigan 4, #13 Northeastern 15

Records:  U-M (12-4, 7-0 CCLA), Northeastern (17-2, 8-2 PCLL)

Attendance:  187

Next U-M Game:  MCLA National Championship Tournament Consolation Game - May 16, 1:00pm CST vs. Georgia - Dallas, Texas (Pizza Hut Park)

One and Done, Wolverines Fall to Northeastern in MCLA Opener

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes I Photos

DALLAS, Texas - The University of Michigan men's lacrosse team saw their hopes of a National Championship come to an end, losing 15-4 to #13 Northeastern on Tuesday, (May 15) in Dallas, Texas in the opening round of the MCLA National Championship Tournament.  With the game knotted at 3-3 at half-time, Michigan was out-scored 5-0 in the decisive third quarter, and was never able to mount a comeback in the fourth.  The Wolverines now await the loser of Georgia-Santa Barbara. 

Northeastern opened the scoring at the 7:58 mark on a blast from the far left wing before sophomore midfielder  Peter Vasher (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) evened the game just over 30 seconds later on a feed from senior attackman Evan Fox (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern).  Fox earned Michigan's first lead at the five-minute mark on a tally from just outside the crease, faking high before rolling the ball in under NU goaltender Craig Sini.  Northeastern answered at 2:27 on a transition goal started on a clear, before grabbing the 3-2 lead with just 0:31 left in the quarter on a shot from close on the left wing.

The squads traded possessions for much of the second quarter, with Michigan earning two man-up opportunities in the first eight minutes, but failing to covert both times.  It took Michigan more than 13 minutes to finally score their first second-quarter goal, an Evan Fox blast from close on the right wing, fed from behind the goal-line extended by freshman midfielder Jamie Goldberg (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown).  With under a minute left in the quarter, Michigan was called for back-to-back penalties resulting in a two-man opportunity for the Huskies, but Michigan held strong, killing off the first penalty as the first half expired. 

Northeastern scored just 15 seconds into the third quarter; still on the man-up from the previous quarter to take the 4-3 lead.  Michigan earned their own man-up after the ensuing faceoff, but failed to register a shot.  The man-up opportunities continued as Northeastern earned another chance at the 12-minute mark, capitalizing on a beautiful goal from just outside the crease as Foster Malcolm caught the entry pass, jumped and fired all in one motion. 

Northeastern continued their solid play, scoring two more goals in a three-minute span to up their lead to 7-3 with just over nine minutes to play.  Northeastern increased their lead to 8-3 at the 3:47 mark on a shot from the left-wing that snuck inside the far-side post.  NU held onto the five-goal lead for the remainder of the quarter as the Wolverines had just 15 minutes left to salvage their season. 

The Wolverines didn't make the task any easier as Northeastern notched the first goal of the final frame, extending their lead to 9-3 on a tally from just outside the crease just under two minutes in.  Northeastern banged home two more goals in a thirty-second span at the twelve minute mark as their lead bulged to 11-3.  The Wolverines finally answered with their first goal since the second quarter at 10:15 on a tally from sophomore midfielder Anthony Hrusovsky (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest).  Any hopes of a come-back were quickly dashed as NU answered at 8:46 to make it 12-4.  The Huskies added three more down the stretch, walking away with the 15-4 win.      

Statistically, it was a mixed bag, with NU out-shooting Michigan 34-28, while the Wolverines scooped up 39 groundballs to the Huskies' 37.  The Wolverines were 14-22 at the "X", and cleared the ball at a higher rate, finishing 14-17 with Northeastern posting 24-33 totals.  One telling stat was the extra-man opportunities where Michigan failed to score on three attempts while allowing three NU goals on four attempts.

Michigan will be back in action tomorrow afternoon when they take on the loser of Georgia-Santa Barbara at 1:00pm CST.

NOTES

● Junior faceoff specialist Brekan Kohlitz (St. Claire Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) finished 10-17 on faceoffs.  Freshman David Reinhard (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) was 4-5. 

● Kohlitz and junior Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) each scooped up a team-high six groundballs.

● Senior goaltender Ryan Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) finished with seven saves in the contest. 

● The third quarter was Michigan's second worst quarter of the season, getting out-shot 10-5 and getting out-scored 5-0.  Vs. BYU on April 14, the Wolverines were out-scored 6-0.

● The opening round loss to Northeastern marks the Wolverines' earliest exit in the MCLA National Championship Tournament.  Previously, their earliest departure had come in the quarterfinals. 

● Evan Fox led all Wolverines with two goals and one assist.

● Michigan's four total goals was their lowest scoring game since scoring three goals vs. UC-Santa Barbara in the 2005 MCLA Semi-finals. 

● Michigan fell to 5-4 vs. ranked opponents in 2007.

● With only three goal-scorers, this afternoon's contest marks the lowest amount of goal-scorers on the season.

● Michigan fell to 1-1 overall vs. Northeastern.  Their previous game was a 13-6 Michigan win in the opening round of the 2005 MCLA National Championship Tournament.

● Michigan is 3-2 in neutral-site games this season.

QUOTES

U-M Head Coach John Paul

On the game itself:  "We were physically and mentally flat.  We had to battle just to make it a 3-3 tie in the first half.  That took a lot out of us for sure.  We didn't respond or answer the bell in the third quarter and they did.  I don't really have an explanation for it.  They were a good team but I can't explain how we just fell apart like that.  I thought we were ready to play."

On going into the half:  "We looked really physically spent with no jump in our step.  We weren't riding or getting to the groundballs, and we weren't moving off-ball on offense which is a sign of a team that's legs aren't there.  Emotionally I thought we were ready.  I'm not sure why the heat affected us so much with only one really hard practice.  The things we were doing well in the past two Michigan State games just weren't there today.  Setting up the offense, getting our guys in the right spots, and executing the offense; those things weren't there today.  We weren't recognizing situations.  We were taking poor shots, and we weren't moving the ball.  But you can't move the ball well when no one is moving off ball."

On the defensive effort:  "We played ok defensively in the first half.  They were kind of like Arizona State and Colorado State in the sense that they don't do a ton of structured things, but they've got six guys out there who are talented and can find the open man and finish.  We struggled vs. teams like that this year.  In the first half we did a pretty good job forcing them outside, but in the second half they got a lot cleaner and were finishing.  We just gave up too many back-side opportunities and easy scoring opportunities where they didn't have to make a spectacular play to finish.  Kaufman didn't have a chance on a lot of them."

On the half-time message:  "We needed more off-ball movement, and more intensity on offense.  Even against some of the really good defense teams we played this season, we were still scoring 9-10 goals a piece.  At this point in the season I'm at a loss for why that happened.  The guys amongst themselves were talking about how third quarters were our downfall this season and how they wanted to come out and put together a really solid third quarter.  One of the disappointing things was that when we got down there, there wasn't much sense of urgency.  As a team I don't like the way we reacted today once we got down.  They smelled blood and came in for the kill and did an outstanding job of putting us away."

On the play of the seniors this year:  "This is always hard going out on a loss.  It's never been this early though.  But I was really proud of the job they did this year and it's always difficult to go out like this.  They've given so much.  We had a meeting after the game and one of the things we talked about was that the rest of this week was about turning this team over to the juniors and now it's their team.  Hopefully you'll start to see that happen this week."

On the consolation games:  "Obviously these are two games that right now nobody wants to play.  I've asked the guys to focus on playing well these two days.  We're going to play everybody tomorrow but Thursday will be more like a traditional game because I want the seniors to play the whole game, and hopefully make it a good finish for those guys."

Looking ahead:  "We've got an outstanding class coming in and I think we'll have some outstanding leadership amongst the seniors next year.  Getting Riley Kearns back will also be very important for us.  We'll be a better team on paper, but I still think we need to find that missing ingredient to get us over that hump.  I think one of the advantages we'll have is having a big senior class that can see the end of the road.  We had 12 seniors two years ago and they were incredibly driven.  It helps to have a large group out in front pulling everyone forward."

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