War is not lacrosse, and lacrosse is not war, but having done both, lacrosse is a lot more like war than football.

When the United States declared war on Germany in April of 1917, the United States Army was still largely a frontier police force. Underfunded and underequipped, it was better suited to chasing Pancho Villa in Mexico, small incursions in Central America and frontier garrison duty than it was fighting the might of battled hardened European armies. It had been over a century since the armies of the United States had fought a major European power, and never in Europe. That the United States had recently defeated a Spanish Empire in its death throes was seen more as a condemnation of Spain than a commendation of the United States. America had been victorious in nearly every war it had fought, but as far as the professional blue blooded European generals were concerned, those victories were in the backwaters. Despite being champions of the west, they were far from proven on the battlefields of Europe where the real armies fought.

The first American unit to arrive in France initially did little to alter this perception. The 11th Engineer Regiment, a unit hastily thrown together from volunteer civilian railway engineers from New York, were more a labor battalion than a real combat unit. Nevertheless, they were the first American doughboys to arrive to France under their country’s flag. They were assigned to the British Expeditionary Force to support the BEF’s upcoming offensive near Cambrai.

They got to work repairing and improving railway facilities in the region in the relative safety of the rear, far from the slaughter of the trenches of the Western Front. That all changed on the 30th of November. The Germans, seeing the best way to thwart the British offensive in Cambrai was to launch aggressive counter attacks, identified the untested and unprofessional 11th Engineers as one of their targets. An elite sturmtruppen battalion was selected to ambush and assault the Americans repairing train facilities around Gouzeaucourt, France.

11th Engineers at work

Sturmtruppen about to go to work

On paper, the Germans had absolutely the right target. Under equipped and desperately inexperienced, the Americans often left their rifles in camp when they went to work, believing they were cloaked in the relative safety of the rear area.

The attack came without warning. A fierce German barrage, followed by a quick assault towards their positions meant the United States was finally in the war. And that is when European armies learned the most dangerous part of fighting the Americans: they don't quit. Despite being out gunned, out manned, and caught by surprise, the Americans did the exact opposite of what good sense and every European army would do: They held. With no more than a handful of rifles available, the Americans grabbed whatever weapons they could get their hands on and fought the onrushing Germans with shovels and axes, and on occasion their bare hands. Young men who only months before had been driving subway cars in the Bronx were now fighting for their lives against the pride of the German Empire: and holding their own. Despite it being an absolutely lopsided affair, no one would have considered it a victory, it proved to every European soldier and to the stuffy blue blooded European generals that the Champions of the West had arrived, and they were there to stay.  

Part of the 11th Engineers after the battle

Michigan was not ready for Duke. Not even close. Despite an impressive run of victories to end the Big Ten season, and a surprising defeat of Cornell in Michigan’s firs tournament game in history, Duke was another story. With stud athletes all over the field, Duke’s strategy was clear: force Michigan to match up against their stars, and attack Michigan all over the field. Michigan relies on team work, harmonization and deception. Duke rides their champions. Without getting into too deep of detail (I know MGoBlog readers will someday demand someone UFR a lacrosse game…not it) Michigan likes to play a ball control, two man game from the top or the wing. This is basic 90’s-2000’s era basketball on grass. Force the defense to choose on a pick and roll, when they choose one, drive (dodge in lacrosse) and then shoot or feed for the assist. Michigan loves assisted goals from the doorstep. They aren’t aggressive on the ride, and aren’t particularly sophisticated on the clear, but in the settled offensive end they are terrific.

Defensively, the best way to defeat this is to attack the ball and the pick aggressively and push them out of synch. (Zone defense is more of a gimmick at high level lacrosse). Jacob Jackson’s goal at 2:30 left in the 2nd was a great example of that. Two man game from the wing caused a mix up on the ball defense, dodged, drew the defensive slide, fed the crease, goal. Just like Michigan wants. Almost every other outside shot, or 1 on 1 (including an open field strip at the top of the box that went for a Duke Transition goal) was the opposite of what Michigan wanted. In the end, Michigan was forcing outside shots rather than dodge the Duke defense, and the Duke goalie was far too hot on even the doorstep to give those up.

At the end of the first half, Michigan had four goals from four different players, Duke’s star Brennan O’Neil had 5 shots, and 4 goals…and Duke had the lead.

Michigan had squandered their Man-Up opportunities, but equally as important, had squandered free possessions before on the delayed penalty, failing to generate any sort of decent looks. Michigan missed goals from the doorstep on rushed shots, turned the ball over, and let Duke take them out of their rhythm. All things experienced teams do not do.

Michigan also played wide eyed on defense. After failing to slide to the body on O’Neil goal after goal, they came off him and almost surrendered a back breaking goal at the end of the first half. Michigan’s defense fell into a haze of uncertainty, too shell shocked to slide fast to the strong Duke dodges. The biggest example other than the failure to account for O’Neil, was on Duke’s first Man-Up of the day. Duke had the ball at around 10x10, perfect shooting position and Michigan defender Andrew Darby froze. Playing positional defense, he put his stick into the shooting lane, but didn’t close the gap with his body. He expected the Duke Attackman to feed, and wanted to be in position to rotate. It was a mistake of the moment, one the graduate student and seasoned athlete wouldn’t make on any other stage. But Duke isn’t any other team. They saw the mistake, and buried the ball into the back of the net.

If you watched the game, or read MGoBlog, you will know that Michigan transitioned from a club team to a varsity team, and has struggled with the transition since. I however, remember Michigan Lacrosse from when they played in the Central Collegiate Lacrosse Association (CCLA) as part of the Major Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA). Michigan was a powerhouse. They dominated the CCLA for decades, only losing two conference games since 2000 (where my ability to track ends). One to an equally talented and well coached Michigan State, and one to a pre-transfer portal but loaded with D1 level talent Oakland in the 2004 CCLA tournament.

I was there Gandalf, 3,000 years ago. 

Michigan was the shark in the small pond. With a huge operating budget, professional staff, and even game day programs, Michigan was a perennial contender for the MCLA crown. Playing in the dirty and dark Oosterbaan Fieldhouse, Michigan’s deep and vastly more talented roster wore other MCLA teams into the ground and won championship after championship to bring home to Ann Arbor.

Just missing Punt/Counter Punt

Michigan climbed the MCLA ladder, hammering teams into submission along the way, and made themselves into the premier program in the country. Michigan’s NCAA team has now reached that Rubicon. They won a tournament game their first time out, victories over Penn State, Johns Hopkins, and the once feared but still hated Ohio State are now regular occurrences. Michigan has arrived, and they will soon be as much of a fixture in the tournament, and hopefully Championship Monday as they are in almost any University of Michigan athletic program.

College Lacrosse and Memorial Day weekend have gone together for as long as I can remember. As the sun set at the battle around Gouzeaucourt, seventeen soldiers of the 11th were missing. Post war prisoner releases revealed that eleven of those soldiers had spent the remainder of the war as German prisoners, and the rest, were either confirmed dead, or like Private Dalton Ranlet: missing and presumed dead. At 17 years old, Private Ranlet had lied about his age to join the Army. He is believed to have been killed retreating during the initial shelling, but his body was never found (not an uncommon occurrence with artillery). That is until 1955 when two bodies were discovered during excavation of a basement across from the rail depot in Gouzeaucourt. Judging from the boots and perfect teeth, one was definitely American. The remains were sent to the US Army garrison in Landstuhl, where a match was made to Private Dalton Ranlet. Private Ranlet was buried with honors at the American cemetery on the Somme.

Private Dalton Ranlet

In 2007, Private Ranlet’s great-grandniece discovered his name on the cemetery registration while doing genealogy research. Despite having identified him in 1955, the Army never informed the Ranlet family. The family visited his grave in 2012, and for the first time in nearly a century, Private Ranlet was with his family.   

Have a great Memorial Day weekend, enjoy three more lacrosse games, and raise one to the fallen. Go Blue