|
March 8, 2004
Michigan
Men’s Lacrosse
2004
Weekly Release #4
Upcoming Schedule
● Friday, March 12, 7:00pm EST - vs.
Western Michigan – Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
● Saturday, March 13, 8:00pm EST -
vs. #6 Arizona – Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
● Saturday, March 20, 7:00pm EST -
vs. Oakland – Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
This Week – Double Dip
This upcoming weekend the University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team will
face off against the Western Michigan Broncos and the Arizona Wildcats in
back-to-back games. Michigan will square off against CCLA rival Western
Michigan on Friday, March 12, at 7:00 p.m. and take to the field again on
Saturday, to take on #7th ranked Arizona of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse
League (WCLL) at 8:00 p.m. Both games will take place at the
Oosterbaan Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
These two games represent the second and third games of a four-game
home-stand for the Wolverines in which they will look to improve on their
3-1 record before taking to the road for a meeting with fellow CCLA opponent
Pittsburgh. The Western Michigan contest is also the second game of a
streak where Michigan will play four of five games against CCLA opponents,
their toughest conference stretch during the 2004 season.
Last Week
Last week the Wolverines faced off against the University of Buffalo Bulls
in the first game of the Wolverines CCLA regular season conference
schedule. Michigan defeated Buffalo 17-4 in front of roughly 500 fans at
Oosterbaan Fieldhouse on Saturday, March 6 to bring their record to 3-1, and
1-0 in CCLA play.
All three Michigan captains, Jeff Hanna, Justin Gal and Ray Lombardi each
tallied at least three goals in the contest with Hanna leading all
Wolverines in the contest with four goals, while Clark notched six total
points with 2-4-6 totals. After struggling in the faceoff category in the
game versus Brigham Young University on February 28, the Wolverines bounced
back vs. Buffalo going 19 for 25 in faceoffs, while also going 3-4 while on
the extra-man advantage bringing their season total to an impressive 12-22.
Justin Gal’s three first-half goals helped the Wolverines to a 7-2 halftime
lead. After Buffalo scored the first goal of the third quarter, the
Wolverines answered quickly with two goals from Lombardi to give the
Wolverines a 10-3 lead entering the final frame. Through out the fourth
quarter head coach John Paul began emptying his bench with freshman Mark
Idzenga (Rivervale, N.J./Bergen Tech) notching two goals, and
fellow freshman Joe Grimberg (Lakewood, Ohio/St. Ignatius) and
Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) each tallied
their second career goals.
Both Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) and freshman Ryan
Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) saw time in the game, with Kaufman
replacing Webber in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. Webber made
seven saves in his three and half quarters of play and kept the Wolverines
in the game early, allowing the Wolverines to build a sizable lead. Kaufman
made four saves in his relief of Webber including two saves during a
scramble in front that resulted in two quality Buffalo chances.
Scouting The Opponents
Western Michigan
Broncos – Fellow CCLA
member Western Michigan is currently 1-0 after a 16-3 victory over Central
Michigan University where every member of the Broncos saw playing time and a
total of nine players scored goals for WMU. Five of the Bronco’s goals came
with the man-up advantage. Their game against the Wolverines will be only
their second game of the year and will also be their first CCLA Division A
game this season.
Western Michigan returns first team All-CCLA goaltender, senior Nate
Sullivan for his final season with the Broncos along with second team
midfielder John Mauer. WMU lost second team attacker Fern Kidder to
graduation.
Last season the Bronco’s gave Michigan their tightest CCLA game in five
years, narrowly losing to the Wolverines 7-6 on March 26, 2003. They
finished the 2003 season with a 4-6 record.
Arizona Wildcats – A member of the Western Collegiate Lacrosse League
(WCLL), the #6 ranked Arizona Wildcats come to Ann Arbor with a 4-2 overall
record and a 0-1 conference record and is coming off a 9-8 loss to an 8-0,
#2 ranked UCSB team. Through six games, the Wildcats are led by Adam Paris
who currently leads the team with 26 points along with 21 goals. Greg
Polheber leads the team in assists with 14 and is second on the club with 24
total points. Charles Salemi currently holds a .622 save percentage through
six games.
Last season the Wildcats finished with a 9-8 overall record along with 4-3
conference record.
Injury Update
Three Michigan midfielders missed the Buffalo game to rest injuries.
Bobby Groenke (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) missed his second
straight game with a separated shoulder that occurred in the game vs.
Florida. He will continue to be evaluated through the week. Jim
Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) also missed the game due to a
deep thigh bruise that forced him out of the Brigham Young game two weeks
ago. He will also be evaluated throughout the week. Freshman Mike Best
(Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) contracted a bad case of food poisoning
before the Buffalo game but should be ready to play vs. Western Michigan on
Friday.
Team Leaders
Through four games, senior Jeff Hanna leads the squad in goals with 14
(14-2-16 totals) and in shots with 26. Second in goals is fellow senior
captain Ray Lombardi who has tallied seven in the young season with 7-8-15
totals. Junior Ryan Clark leads the team in both assists and points with
6-15-21 totals.
Scooping it Up
Junior long stick midfielder Dave Silverman (Potomac,
Md./Churchill) continues to lead the team with 26 ground balls through
four games after picking up only 15 in his freshman campaign of 2002 and 45
last season. Silverman is averaging 6.5 groundballs per game. Goal-leader
Jeff Hanna is second on the team with 21, including an eight-groundball
effort vs. Buffalo (March 6).
Man-Up Success
The Wolverines continued their man-up success vs. Buffalo going three for
four with the extra attacker bringing their season total to over %50 with
impressive 12-22 totals. Jeff Hanna leads all Wolverines with six man-up
goals. Michigan faltered however on the man-down vs. Buffalo allowing two
man-down goals on two chances. Michigan had previously been perfect, going
6-6 in their first three games. Jeff Hanna is also the only Wolverine to
register a man-down goal.
Climbing the Ladder
Jeff Hanna’s four goals (109 career) put him ahead of Tom Burns for fourth
on the all-time goal scoring list. Burns finished his Michigan career with
107. Hanna will next look to pass Chip Thomas’s 118 goals for third
all-time.
Clark Picking Up Where He Left
Off
After a highly successful freshman campaign in which the junior attacker was
named team rookie of the year and notched 54 total points, Ryan Clark was
hampered by injuries during most of the 2003 season, and saw action in only
5 games. 2004 has been a different story however and a healthy Clark has
returned to his freshman form and more, averaging 5.25 points per game -
doubling his rate from his freshman campaign when he finished with an
average of 2.6 PPG.
Second-Half Surge
The Wolverines continued their domination of opponents in the second half in
the victory over Buffalo, outscoring the Bulls 10-2 in the second half. The
Wolverines are now outscoring their opponents 38-9 in the second half of
games this season. This may be attributed to the fact that U-M has recorded
more shots on goal than their opponents to the tune of 55 to 16 in the final
two quarters of games this season.
O’Leary Stepping Up His Game
Junior Mike O’Leary (St. Louis, Mo./Clayton) is averaging 1.25
points per game so far this season, well above his .5 points per game
average during his first two years at Michigan. O’Leary also tied a career
high in the contest versus Brigham Young (Feb. 28), netting two goals and
registering five shots. O’Leary had most recently netted two goals vs.
Buffalo last season and vs. Missouri in 2002.
Quick Start for Freshmen
Four freshman have more than one point in game this season including Mark
Idzenga (Rivervale, N.J./Bergen Tech), Joe Grimberg
(Lakewood, Ohio/St. Ignatius), Matt Hudson (Libertyville,
Ill./Libertyville) and Joe Williamson (Romeo, Mich./Romeo).
Idzenga and Williamson are tied with five points a piece, Idzenga posting
4-1-5 totals while Williamson has 3-2-5. Each player has only seen the
field on two occasions this season.
Clearing Danger
The Wolverines have faired well compared to their opponents this year in
their attempts to clear the ball, tallying a .670 clear percentage compared
to their opponents overall percentage, which is only .457. Last year
however, Michigan cleared the ball at a much better .743 rate.
More Chances, More Goals
The Wolverines are averaging 42 shots a game and are holding their opponents
to only 21.5 shots a game through their first four. Michigan is dominating
in the third quarter this season with 46 shots, while their opponents have
only registered 15. This has led to Michigan holding a 17-5 scoring
advantage in the third.
Faceoff Success
U-M currently holds a .598 faceoff percentage (52 wins, 35 losses) while
their opponents have a .402 faceoff percentage (35-52).
Michigan in the Polls
The Wolverines, who were picked to repeat for their sixth straight CCLA
championship, are currently ranked #5 in the USL MDIA poll. The next poll
will be released on Wednesday, March 24. For the complete Top-25 poll,
go to
www.uslia.com.
Current USL MDIA Top 10 (Regular Season Poll #2)
Place Team Points
1 Colorado State 749
2 Cal-Santa Barbara 717
3 Brigham Young 689
4 Sonoma State 655
5 Michigan 604
6 Arizona 597
7 Minnesota-Duluth 535
8 Florida
527
9 Colorado 466
10 Oregon 446
Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493, jjhennes@umich.edu
|
