March 8, 2008

Event:  Men's Lacrosse

Site: Minneapolis, Minn.  (Augsburg Dome)

Score:  #7 Michigan 12, #3 Minnesota-Duluth 9

Records:  U-M (5-0, 0-0 CCLA), UMD (2-2, 0-0 UMLL)

Next U-M Game:  Friday, March 14, 2008, 7:00pm EST -- vs. Central Michigan University - Mount Pleasant, Mich.

Wolverines Collar Bulldogs, Open '08 5-0

Event Recap I Boxscore I Notes & Quotes I Photos

Minneapolis, Minn. - The University of Michigan men's lacrosse team faced a unique set of circumstances leading up to their contest vs. #3 Minnesota-Duluth on Saturday night (March 8) in Minneapolis.  Despite departing Ann Arbor at 4:30am the day of the game and arriving in the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" by flight just a few hours later, the Wolverines were able to shake off the travel cobwebs and find a way to earn a 12-9 victory, their fourth straight against a top-10 team on the road.

Building off their success in previous weeks, the Wolverines opened the scoring on their first possession of the contest, working the ball around before senior Peter Vasher (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer) drove hard and buried a shot to take the early lead.  Vasher extended the Maize and Blue lead to 2-0 with his second of the contest at the 4:44 mark of the first quarter.  The Bulldogs managed to score with under two minutes left in the quarter to draw within one goal as the teams entered the second quarter. 

Michigan was awarded a man-up opportunity early in the second quarter and was able to capitalize, as junior attackman Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) helped U-M regain their two-goal lead only to see Duluth answer back moments later after a failed Michigan clear attempt resulted in a transition opportunity for the Bulldogs.  UMD knotted the game at 3-3 under a minute later on a dodge from the right wing as the Augsburg Dome rocked with a packed crowd of Bulldog faithful. 

Two minutes later, another man-up opportunity for Michigan led to their fourth goal of the game as senior attackman Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) and senior midfielder Mark Hammitt (Madison, N.J./Delbarton - Boston College) faked an exchange at the top of the box before Krauss fed Riley Kearns on the doorstep for the wide-open goal as the net-minder still believed Hammitt was dodging from the opposite wing.  U-M returned the favor, getting called for a slashing penalty on UMD's next possession, and the Bulldogs evened the game at 4-4 midway through the second quarter. 

Michigan regained the 5-4 lead on a transition tally from senior Doug Bell (Troy, Mich./Troy) before Vasher notched his third of the game on a dodge from the left wing as Michigan regained their two goal lead late in the first half.  UMD won the ensuing faceoff, and the see-saw scoring continued on a broken play in front of senior goaltender Graham Townsend (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville East) before the Wolverines finished the scoring in the second quarter on the first of Kevin Zorovich's (Massapequa, N.Y./Massapequa) two goals.

After multiple possessions for both squads in the opening minutes of the third quarter, the Wolverines opened the scoring as Bobby Morales darted in on the right GLE on the transition before zipping a pass through the crease to an open Nick Standiford (Ann Arbor, Mich./Huron) who was parked on the far post.  Standiford quick-sticked the shot in for the 8-5 lead.  Freshman Trevor Yealy (Upper St. Claire, Penn./Upper St. Claire) added his lone tally of the game at the 6:18 mark on the Wolverines next possession as U-M built their largest lead of the game at 9-5 mid-way through the third quarter. 

The Bulldogs finally answered with 3:16 left in the quarter after a lengthy possession in the Wolverine end, followed by a transition attempt late in the quarter that was thwarted by Townsend.  Following the Townsend save, the Maize and Blue regained momentum headed into the final quarter as Peter Krauss scored with 22 seconds left in the period as Michigan took a four goal lead into the fourth.

UMD flipped "Big Mo" in the early moments of the fourth quarter, scoring the first two goals of the fourth and drawing within two at 10-8.  Michigan kept their poise however, putting together two lengthy possessions followed by a successful ride that resulted in Zorovich picking off a pass from the goaltender and dumping the ball into the open cage for the 11-8 lead with just over six minutes left in the game.

The Bulldogs didn't cave in, scoring another transition goal on a failed Michigan clear to make it 11-9 with just over two minutes left.  The Wolverines' defense buckled down in the waning minutes however, and UMD was unable to put together another solid scoring opportunity as the Wolverines earned their fifth win of the season, and the fourth road win in a row. 

Statistically, the Wolverines won every category.  U-M outshot their opponent 30-26, and recorded 34 groundballs to the Bulldogs' 19.  U-M was 15-24 on faceoffs, and finished 14-19 on clears, while UMD struggled to clear the ball at a rate of 13-28.  Michigan finished 3-6 on the man-up, while Duluth scored on both of their attempts.  

The Wolverines will be back in action next Friday, March 14, when they hit the road again to battle CCLA opponent Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan at 7:00 EST.  

NOTES

● Senior captain and faceoff specialist Brekan Kohlitz (St. Claire Shores, Mich./Notre Dame Harper Woods) finished 14-23 on faceoffs while sophomore David Reinhard (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) won his lone attempt.

● The Wolverines featured another spread scoring attack, with seven players scoring goals and four with multi-goal games, including Peter Vasher who led all goal scorers with three.

● Kevin Zorovich notched his third multi-point game in a row with his two goals and one assist.  In his last three games, he has recorded five goals and five assists. 

● Nick Standiford's third-quarter goal was the first of his career.

● Senior captain Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) led all Wolverines with six groundballs.

QUOTES

Head Coach John Paul

On his general impressions:  "This was obviously a big win for us.  We've been known as a team that struggles on the road, but so far this season we are 4-0 against ranked opponents on the road.  For us, that was a big hurdle to overcome.  Today it was especially difficult because of the travel and it's never optimal to fly in and play on the same day.  I thought the guys really bore down and got it done despite playing a pretty sloppy game.  We've been preaching that if you do the little things consistently it can carry you through games where you may not be playing so consistently otherwise.  We did that tonight."

On another solid third-quarter effort:  "That's obviously been a theme this year for us.  These seniors can look back at last year and see how horrible we were in the third quarter so I think these guys understand how important it is to come out strong in the second half.  It's also important that when you have a team down, that you keep them down.  And that's easy to say, but it’s a lot harder to just go out and do it.  This team is doing it so far."

On the team's spread scoring:  "That’s how our team is this year.  It's not really one or two guys, or even four or five guys that teams say they need to stop.  You need to stop everyone on this team.  That's been a theme for us, and it will continue to be a theme.  Everyone is taking advantage of it."

On lengthy Bulldog possessions:  "We were turning the ball over a little too much tonight and we were giving them a lot of possessions through unforced errors.  To their credit, they were doing a great job on initial rides and they were very quick to loose balls.  They did a great job forcing things.  We also decided that we wanted to play fairly conservatively on defense, and we wanted to focus on technique which is something we worked on all week.  We did a nice job on one-on-one matchups."

On the upcoming schedule:  "It's always going to be a challenge for us to keep our intensity going during the CCLA schedule but I think this team gets it.  I don't think these seniors will let this team relax.  I'm really looking forward to see how the team gets up for Central Michigan on Friday.  If we are playing the way we should be playing on Friday, I'm going to be very excited because I'll know this team has what it takes."

Sophomore Kevin Zorovich

On his play of late:  "It definitely was going to take a little time to come to a new team, and it takes time to gel.  But I'm starting to get that chemistry with these guys and things are coming together.  Coming here and only knowing one person made it a little hard to adjust, but thank God I had lacrosse, but it gave me a type of family here."

On the team's spread scoring:  "Some teams try to shut down Hammitt but it's great because he doesn't get frustrated and on any given day one of us can get hot and have a great day.  If you have a bad day, someone is going to pick you up."

On continuing to improve as a unit:  "We can't pick up any bad habits and we can't get lazy if we're going to be successful during these next couple of weeks.  We can't forget about what made us successful."

Junior Peter Vasher

On the overall team effort:  "They can only have four poles out there and with everybody dodging and scoring and moving the ball the way we have been, everyone has been able to get in on the action.  We're so deep that whoever has the shorty is going to have success."

On the team's energy and focus:  "It was a weird day coming in and going back to sleep, so I think there were some times during the game we didn't have the focus we needed.  We hung together though and battled through and our confidence pushed us through."

On keeping up the intensity:  "We're going to see a lot of guys get some solid game experience in these next couple of weeks and I think with their excitement and our senior leadership we're going to improve as a team.  I think it'll be a good challenge for us to see how we respond in these next couple of weeks."

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