Lacrosse Falls to #10 Hopkins in the Big House, 19-13

Submitted by L'Carpetron Do… on

Lacrosse has a chance to pull an upset against Big Ten rival Hopkins today in the Big House at 5:00 PM.  I don't know what its like in Ann Arbor but its a nice day for a game here on the east coast so if you're in town you should head down and check it out.  According to Inside Lacrosse, game will be aired on Big Ten network.

Hopkins is ranked high right now largely based on wins over Syracuse, Towson and Navy.  They're beatable though - they needed one goal games to get past Ohio State and Penn State the last two weeks and lost to a bad UVA team.  Plus they have plenty of kids with awful lacrosse names like "Shack Stanwick", "Wilkins Dismuke" and "Holden Cattoni".

In the unpredictable, topsy-turvy parity-filled world that is this year's college lacrosse season, one thing is certain: Michigan still sucks.  They've been blown out by really good teams and they've lost to some of the worst.   They've shown an ability to hang with some good teams but can never manage to pull out a victory.  It's been a very disappointing season.

This one is not likely to go Michigan's way either.  But, I'm the eternal optimist and always hold out hope they can do it.  In almost every week this season a top 10 team has gone down to an unranked opponent - maybe today is Michigan's day.

Go Blue!

UPDATE: Michigan hung with Hopkins for most of it, just out of striking distance for most of the game, even cutting the Jays lead to 3 late in the 3rd.  But, letting up 19 goals, even to a good team like Hopkins is not good. 

They are now eliminated from making the Big Ten lacrosse tournament and will likely finish the season 3-10. 

The good news: 2,784 fans came out for a beautiful senior day. 

 

Wolverine Devotee

April 23rd, 2016 at 4:36 PM ^

That's the athletic department's fault. They botched this transition beyond belief, in so many ways.

I also don't think building an outdoor stadium was the best idea. I'll happily eat crow if we attract people, but the weather has terrible for almost every home game this season. That won't change playing the games down the road. 

 

MGoBender

April 23rd, 2016 at 4:50 PM ^

Explain how they "botched this transition beyond belief."

It seems to me every post you make is OUTRAGE over something.  There's probably a dozen mitigating factors to what you think they should have done, but I'm still genuinely interested in why you think it was botched and what could have been done better.

Wolverine Devotee

April 23rd, 2016 at 4:59 PM ^

Jumping straight from club to varsity

Not conducting a coaching search

Scheduling ridiculous games for a roster of club players to play when they already were guaranteed to play powers like Denver and Loyola every year. Losing by a million to teams isn't a confidence builder when starting from the bottom. 

I'm not trying to OUTRAGE, it would just be nice to actually be where we should be in year 5 while younger teams with no big names are moving right along past us.

I want all sports at Michigan to be great. I understand it was going to take some time. I remained optimistic and saw some progress after 2014. But getting kicked in the face every game shouldn't be happening at this point in the process. 

 

L'Carpetron Do…

April 23rd, 2016 at 5:51 PM ^

Yeah - there was no middle ground.  As we've mentioned before the club was likely an asset to the team's development rather than a detriment.  And it's not like the club players were total scrubs, a lot of them could've played for a varsity team if they wanted to but chose to come to Michigan.  Lacrosse is not like football or basketball - there is a lot of great talent out there that doesnt make it to the top of D-1. 

The transition is no longer a factor.  Its the idea that the team is going backwards now and that's a problem. 

(For the record, I was one of the people who said they would be good very early on, possibly going to the Final 4 within a few years.  Boy was I wrong).

MaizeAndBlueWahoo

April 23rd, 2016 at 5:56 PM ^

It was either jump from club to varsity or shut it down for a couple years.  Shutting it down for a couple years would not have made it any better this year.  If it had been done the way you wanted, this wouldn't be year 5, it'd be year 3, and we wouldn't actually be all that much farther along, if any.

John Paul built the program from the ground up.  It would have been the world's biggest dick move to tell him to fuck off now that the program is taking the leap to varsity.  You're always posting about how That Is Not Michigan - well, that would've been the most un-Michigan move ever.

It may be very true that JP isn't a varsity level coach.  But whether or not you're trying to OUTRAGE UNACCEPTABLE, that's exactly what you're doing, especially by saying the word "botched" in literally every lacrosse game thread..  There is no logical or rational way to argue the transition was botched.

phjhu89

April 24th, 2016 at 9:47 AM ^

To add to what Wahoo is saying, JP drove the fundraising to take the team varsity.  It was his relationships to donors, based on his credibility as the club coach that enabled him to raise the sum required to demonstrate to the Athletic Dept. that lacrosse could be viable from a development standpoint.  The donors were motivated to make the investment in no small part by the idea of an immediate jump.  In addition, they were trusting a known actor, JP, rather than an unknown.  

WD I agree that Michigan needs a new coach.  But if the progam had hired an outsider, and been shut down for a year, the transition from club to varsity never would have happened.  

Wolverine Devotee

April 23rd, 2016 at 5:01 PM ^

That really bothers me if that's true. Jim Hackett did not need a year to make a hire.

The candidate for Hockey is as obvious as the one for Football was. Our Hockey program isn't a really good comparison, but the Lax program is. 

My guy is the Denver DC, John Orsen. I think he'd do great here. 

Doc Brown

April 23rd, 2016 at 5:43 PM ^

Since this thread is a waste. FIRE KEN HOLLAND. If that jabroni is kept, then I am boycotting the wings. It pains me as a lifelong diehard Wings fan.