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February 17, 2005
Michigan Men’s Lacrosse
2005
Weekly Release #1
Upcoming Schedule
● Friday, February 18, 7:00pm EST
- vs. Missouri – Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
● Saturday, February 19, 7:00pm
EST - vs. St. Vincent – Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
● Monday, February 28, 7:00pm MST
- vs. Arizona State – Tempe, AZ. (Sun Devil Band Field)
This Week – Early Tests
After two weeks of practice and studies since their scrimmage with
Wittenberg, the University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team will open
their regular season schedule with two home games this weekend, with
contests vs. #19 Missouri on Friday, February 18, at 7:00 pm and on
Saturday, February 19, at 7:00 pm vs. Division II opponent St. Vincent.
Both games will be played in Ann Arbor, at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.
The two games will mark the last time the Wolverines play a contest at
home until a month later when they return to take on Eastern Michigan on
Friday, March 18. After this weekend, the Wolverines will head out to
Arizona and Utah for a three-game, non-conference road trip vs. Arizona
State, #5 Arizona, and vs. long-time rival, #3 Brigham Young.
Last Week
The last time the Wolverines’ took to the field vs. another opponent was
two weeks ago vs. the Division III squad, Wittenberg in a pre-season
scrimmage. The Wolverines faired well in the contest, scoring 12
un-official goals while holding the Tigers to only four.
Head Coach John Paul was pleased with his squad’s first effort against
another opponent. “I thought we did a nice job in our first game out.
We wanted to stress three things. First was playing proper team ‘d’,
which we did. Second was to come out with a good intensity and hustle
to the ball and I felt we did that. And finally, to get some flow and
structure to our offense. We did ok there but not bad for our first
time out,” Paul said. He added, “If our goals come because of multiple
passes then we are doing the right thing – you saw that at times
tonight.”
Coach Paul found highs in junior midfielder Jim Constantine
(Troy, Mich./Seaholm) and senior long-stick midfielder Dave
Silverman’s (Potomac, Mich./Churchill) games. Paul noted,
“Jim really showed some flashes tonight of what he’ll be able to do for
us all year and Silverman was all over the field. We don’t keep stats
on take-aways but I’m sure he had quite a few tonight.”
A number of freshman and first-time players were also able to see the
field with freshmen attacker Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids,
Mich./Forest Hills Central) and freshman midfielder Paul Kang
(St. Louis, MO/Parkway Central) earning early praise from the
head coach. “It seems like Krauss gets hit every time he carries the
ball to the cage but he just pops right back up. I was impressed,” Paul
remarked. “We recently moved Kang over to midfield but once he learns
the position he’ll be fine. He made some excellent dodges tonight,” he
added.
All four goalies were able to see time with senior Dan Webber
(Weston, Mass./Weston) starting the first half. Sophomore Ryan
Kaufman (Olney, Md./Magruder) played the third quarter while
freshman Graham Townsend (Williamsville, N.Y./Williamsville
East) played the fourth. Red-shirted goaltender Danny Grossman
(New York, N.Y./Trinity) played in the additional fifth
“quarter”.
Scouting the Opponents
#19 Missouri - A member of the Great Rivers Lacrosse Conference (GRLC),
the #19 ranked Missouri Tigers are currently 0-2, after facing off last
week against two tough, early-season opponents in #5 Arizona, and
Arizona State. The Tigers opened their season with a 13-6 loss to
Arizona in Tucson, followed by an 8-6 loss to ASU the following day in
Tempe.
The 2005 Tiger’s will be pressed to account for a number of major losses
due to graduation in 2004. Three All-American’s departed in leading
scorer Mike Brauss at attack, Cole Dimond, the third leading scorer at
midfield, and Chris Krajacic, the team’s face-off specialist. Looking
to fill the void will be sophomore Brad Brown, the team’s second-leading
scorer last year along with the trio of Wolf brothers, Josh, Chris, and
David. Senior captain Tim Cahill will be expected to bring experience
and leadership to the midfield. With 11 underclassmen on the 25-man
roster, the Tiger’s will also be hoping for someone to step up and
provide a spark from the freshman unit.
Kyle Hawkins returns for his seventh season as head coach at Missouri.
In six years, Hawkins has registered a 99-30 record through last
weekend. Hawkins is a graduate of Arizona State and is originally from
Missouri.
http://www.students.missouri.edu/~mulax/index.html
St. Vincent – An NCAA Division II opponent from the American
Mideast Conference, the St. Vincent Bearcats will open their season with
the Saturday contest vs. the Maize and Blue after finishing the 2004
campaign with a 9-3 record.
Leading the Bearcat squad into the 2005 season will be senior captain,
goalie Pete DeSantis and defenseman Tom Duman. Both players are in
their fourth year of starting and have tremendous amounts of experience
to bring to the table in ’05. Senior attackman Bryan Poole and junior
mid-fielder Ian Poole, brothers from British Columbia, will be called
upon to help lead the St. Vincent offensive attack along with
midfielders Bill Leiendecker, a junior captain, sophomore Gavin Bates,
and juniors Tim
Maser and Kevin Thomas. The Bearcats graduated two key players last
year, four year starter at defense, Brian Lacey and freshman midfielder
Rob Van Beek who was the 5th pick in the first round of Professional
Indoor Lacrosse League by the Philadelphia Wings.
St. Vincent is coached by Peter Tulk who is entering his sixth year as a
head coach at St. Vincent, and earned a 35-30 record over that span.
http://www.stvincent.edu/sports/mlacrosse/mlacrosse.html
Injury Update
The Wolverines will open the season with two
significant losses up front. Sophomore attacker Matt Hudson
(Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) is continuing to rehab from an
ankle injury suffered during fall practices and will be sidelined for
another month. Hudson was the team Rookie of the Year in 2004 after
finishing with 20-6-26 totals, first amongst freshman and fifth
overall.
Junior midfielder Jim Constantine, another
crucial element to the Wolverine’s 2005 offensive plans, suffered a
separated shoulder this week in practice and will be out for 3-4 weeks.
Constantine finished with 9-3-12 totals last season.
Kicking Off at Home
Unlike the last four seasons in which Michigan has begun playing the
majority of their games on the road, the 2005 campaign will open with
two home games vs. Missouri and St. Vincent. In 2001 and 2002 U-M
played three of their first four on the road, while the 2003 Wolverines
played their first six contests on the road. Last season, Michigan
opened up with three contests away from home, finishing 2-1 with wins
over Central Florida, and Florida, and a loss vs. BYU.
Pre-Season Q&A with
Head Coach John Paul
With the strength of the team on defense, and considering some of
the losses up front to the offense, where are you looking for the bulk
of the scoring to come from?
It will be pretty spread this year. I'd be surprised if we have one or
two guys who emerge as our clearest threats. We're fairly deep
offensively, but we don't have any real superstars, which is kind of
similar to last year.
The Wolverines will face another difficult regular season
schedule, taking on a number of top-25 opponents throughout the year.
How do you think a difficult schedule like this prepares the team for
the USL-MDIA Championships?
Of course, it helps. We aren't playing UCSB or CSU this year, which is
disappointing, but we have some other outstanding teams on the schedule,
about half at home and half on the road. We have to become a better
road team, and this spring trip and our Texas trip later in the year
will go a long way toward showing if we can do that.
With an interesting combination of 12 seniors and 17 freshman,
which “unexpected" player from each class do you think might step up and
surprise everyone?
It's a unique mix for us. I think anyone who steps up for us on the
offensive end, other than maybe Ryan Clark, will be a surprise to anyone
not familiar with our program. We've graduated the "name" guys. We
have some guys I fully expect to step up, but I'd like to hold off on
naming names until they emerge on their own.
Having two full seasons under his belt, what can we expect from
Dan Webber in his last shot at a championship?
Dan has consistently improved every year. His confidence is very high
right now. He started to get some recognition at the end of last
season, so I don't think he'll surprise anyone. We expect him to make a
real difference for us this year. If he plays with consistent focus,
he's going to be hard to score on. One of the key areas he's really
improved is his clearing. He's deceptively fast, and he's worked hard
on his outlet and
passing skills. He's also worked hard on his strength. Dan is going to
be a real key for us this year.
Which team(s) do you think might be able to take the next step this year
and become a legitimate national power?
I think Arizona is poised to take that step. Our game there on March 2
is pretty big. We beat them here by one last year in a come from behind
win, and they beat us down there by one three years ago. They are well
coached and talented. Colorado, who we play here March 25, is also
right there. There are other teams like Oregon, Florida, Georgia Tech
and Florida State that are getting close, but getting there and staying
there for awhile are two different things - and all of those teams have
yet to prove themselves over a long haul. I also think Oakland has a
real shot a making some noise nationally this year. If they're going to
do it, this is their best chance. Our game with them on April 13 is
probably going to be the most anticipated CCLA contest ever. A lot of
people question our ability to go farther than we have, so I guess you
can lump us in there as well. I like our chances, but it's early to say
how we match up.
Michigan in the Polls
The Wolverines, who were ranked second behind Oakland in the pre-season
CCLA poll (six votes to five), were ranked #6 in the USL-MDIA pre-season
poll, ahead of #10 Oakland. The next poll will be released on Monday,
February 21 on
www.uslia.com. Polls are released every two weeks throughout the
season.
Current USL MDIA Top 25 (preseason poll)
1. California-Santa Barbara
2. Colorado State
3. BYU
4. Sonoma State
5. Arizona
6. Michigan
7. Florida State
8. Oregon
9. Colorado
10. Oakland University (MI)
11. Cal Poly SLO
12. Boston College
13. Texas A&M
14. Minnesota-Duluth
15. Simon Fraser University
16. Virginia Tech
17. Georgia Tech
18. Miami (OH)
19. Missouri
20. Texas
21. Florida
22. Chapman University
23. Chico State
24. California-San Diego
25. New Hampshire
Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493 – jjhennes@umich.edu
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