2013 M Lacrosse Schedule Released; Night Game @ The Big House!

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on

Team Two will play 8 home games this season, with 5 of them being at Michigan Stadium. This will be Michigan's first season as a full member in the ECAC. They are now eligible for the ECAC Regular-Season and Playoff Championship.

Pretty tough. at Hopkins, at Denver, penn state at Oosterbaan. Battle at The Big House II will take place after the spring game which will play be on 4/13.

^Game at Oosterbaan Field House
* ECAC Conference Game
(ex) Exhibition Game

Date Opponent Time
2/2 vs Marquette^ (ex) 1pm
  vs Dension^ (ex) 3:30pm
2/9 vs Penn State^ 1pm
2/16 at Bellarmine* 1pm
2/23 at Johns Hopkins 1pm
3/2 Army (in Miami, FL) TBA
3/6 at High Point 7pm
3/9 at Hobart* 1pm
3/14 at Fairfield* 7pm
3/17 Colgate (in Flushing, NY) TBA
3/23 vs Loyola* 3pm
3/30 vs Air Force* 3pm
4/6 at Delaware Noon
                  Battle at The Big House II
4/13 vs Ohio* TBA
4/17 vs Detroit 7pm
4/20 vs Saint Joseph's 1pm
4/27 at Denver* 3pm
                  ECAC Tournament (Geneva, NY)
5/3 Semifinals  
5/5 Championship Game  

 

laxalum

November 6th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^

The Army game is in Sun Life Stadium.  The Colgate game is at Citi Field.  Two reasons those games are happening in those stadiums and their names are Ross and Wilpon.  I was at the Rutgers game last year, and our fans outnumbered and outcheered the home team by a pretty wide margin.  Should be a great UM crowd on Long Island.

I also don't expect the team to be significantly better yet.  Am hearing about a lot more talent on offense (hello, Kyle Jackson), but will still struggle defensively and much of the talent is very young.  Also, the new rules do not favor less talented teams.  You can't slow it down any more, and Michigan's famous 10-man ride will be harder to get into with the quick restarts.  Faceoffs should be a little better, and goalie will probably be about the same with Logan but an injury there puts them right back where they were when Weiss was out last year...screwed.  They need experience and depth, and that will take some time to build.

michlaxref

November 6th, 2012 at 1:50 PM ^

This is pretty typical for many northern teams.  They take the Spring school vacation and make a southern trip out of it where they get a chance to practice outside and get a couple of games in against schools that are down there or other teams that have traveled as well.  As Devotee points out this is what they did last year playing Jacksonville and Mercer one weekend in Jacksonville.  Gets the kids out of Ann Arbor and into hopefully some decent weather.

Add to that the exposure to recruits from the area and it is a good plan.  The club team used to hit California, Florida, Arizona for their spring trips.  Hell, when we played club ball in the 70s we used to go drive to Miami.  I always thought it was nice when they asked to see our U of M ID cards, like they were expecting us.

 

justingoblue

November 5th, 2012 at 4:47 PM ^

I'm not sure what you're talking about in your first clause. As for the second, why not? It's not like they're rescheduling a football game or anything; the NHL had a one-day lease on the building, hockey has used it, lacrosse has used it before, ect.

MaizeNBlu628

November 5th, 2012 at 4:52 PM ^

Why?? I feel like if any team really wants to have a game there to boost the team and the sport, they should do it. I actually wouldn't even mind if the soccer team played a game there, I believe the big house was on a short list to host a World Cup game when we were trying to host the 2018 World Cup.

weasel3216

November 5th, 2012 at 9:28 PM ^

One lacrosse is a spring sport, so they aren't interfering with football.  Second, The Big House is field turf so lacrosse won't destroy the field like if it was grass.  Third, these kidas get to play in the one of the largest stadiums in the world for a lacrosse game.  For those of us that played lacrosse in high school and college, we were lucky to get a few hundred people at our games.  These kids will get to play in front of thousands, great experience for them.

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

November 5th, 2012 at 5:13 PM ^

I see two games in which we could well be favored: High Point, a brand new program, and St. Joe's.  St. Joe's is perennially horrendous.  Otherwise, that's a very, erm, ambitious schedule.  I wouldn't predict any other wins until I see the team in action.  Losing Emil Weiss is a big step back, unfortunately, which makes it a lot harder to guess how we'll do in games like Bellarmine, Hobart, UDM.

Also, what's with the resistance to using Michigan Stadium?

Wolverine Devotee

November 5th, 2012 at 5:21 PM ^

People need to get with the program here and support it. What better way to get attention than to open up Michigan Stadium? It is only the temporary home to the Men's and Women's (beginning 2014) programs until the Lacrosse Stadium is built and ready for the 2015 season.

Then Battle at The Big House will become a very special event. The largest crowd to ever see a Michigan Lacrosse game was at last years. Don't be surprised if Michigan pulls it out against ohio. They only came up 3 goals short last year.

lhglrkwg

November 5th, 2012 at 5:20 PM ^

been living in DE for 2 years and didn't get a chance to see the lacrosse team last year. Now I'm scheduled to move from here soon and they're playing twice within 45 mins of me. Goo figure

WolvinLA2

November 5th, 2012 at 6:29 PM ^

It would have been nice to have another gimme on the schedule in addition to High Point, like a Mercer, Wagner, VMI, that sort of thing.  Even a game like Jacksonville like we had last year (although I guess that's St. Joe's this year).  I'm all for the tough scheduling, but we want these guys to get a little bit of confidence too, and you'd think the other new teams/bottom dwellers would want to schedule each other.  At least for a few games a year.

mlax27

November 5th, 2012 at 8:21 PM ^

Even new program high point could be a challenge. They tied NCAA tournament team Colgate last month in a scrimmage. Scrimmage yes, but sounds like they've got some talent.

Having watched the intra squad scrimmage, michigans offense should give them some opportunities to pull off some upsets this year. The defense is very young, and it may be a while before they play together as a team defense, so until that happens may we have trouble keeping pace with some teams. Hopefully that happens by the end of the year in time for the UDM game.

weasel3216

November 5th, 2012 at 9:33 PM ^

I see maybe three wins, with a potential upset to get us four.  Will be fun to play a night game, maybe ESPNU will show it as there are not too many night lacrosse games.

kevin holt

November 6th, 2012 at 9:20 AM ^

Defending national champs at home, JHU away, holy shit this schedule is just diving right in. We ain't fuckin' around so to speak. I love it. wish I could be back for a game or two.

mgolax

November 6th, 2012 at 12:34 PM ^

Unfortunately I see us holding steady with last year's results. The schedule is a bit tougher, and the recruiting defensive cavalry has not yet arrived. Three wins is probably the ceiling.

However, I am excited to see some of the instant impact freshman. Been hearing good things about Kyle Jackson in the midfield. I think WolvinLA2 is correct also that Gerald Logan may be a (slight) upgrade in goal.

Attendance at the OSU game was horrendous last year due to crappy weather (it was not great for the football game either). Here's hoping we get a strong turnout this year. Anyone else surprise OSU is coming back to AA?

Here's this year's opponents, arranged by end of year power ranking from 2011 (Laxpower). I've also included last year's result in parentheses, if applicable:

2 Loyola (L 8-15)

5 Denver (L 5-17)

10 Hopkins

12 Colgate

19 OSU (L 9-12)

20 PSU (L 9-16)

23 Fairfield

26 Army

33 Delaware (L 7-11)

35 Air Force (L 6-15)

37 Hobart

39 Bellarmine (L 9-13)

50 St. Joe's

52 Detroit (L 9-13)

NR High Point

Last year I thought Detroit was a huge missed opportunity, and ditto for Bellarmine. OSU was definitely in reach as well. I see us picking off 3 of the bottom 5 and maybe giving another 2 or 3 teams a run for their money. Seems to be the consensus here.

michlaxref

November 6th, 2012 at 1:16 PM ^

The Detroit game will be a nice event.  It's late in the season so the weather will be decent.  It is on a Wednesday so since high school teams ususally play on Tuesdays, Thursdays or Saturdays they will be able to come.  Should be a crowd that will rival the OSU game with a lot of kids and parents that would be at other games on a Saturday.