M Lacrosse vs Jacksonville (on ESPN3) open thread
The 3-1 Wolverines are back at D.B. Milne Field--the site of their first win in program history which took place in 2012 against Mercer.
Jacksonville is 1-1 on the season. Their loss was a 20-4 blowout to current #9 Army with their win coming against St. John's by a score of 12-11 in OT.
Michigan played Jacksonville in 2012 two days before they played Mercer in the neutral site game at Milne Field, but they lost to Jacksonville 9-8 in OT. That would have been Michigan's first win had JU not scored in OT.
First televised game of the season. Live on ESPN3.com for free. Faceoff at 7pm.
Man sounded like a weird game. I just skimmed over the update posts. How did they have the lead at halftime and then get beat so bad? Did they get outscored 9-1 in the 2nd half? Yikes.
Hiring the club guy seems to be from the don't stir the pot and hurt people's feelings mantra that has plagued us. The Buckeyes just care about winning. If we always hired the best options and started the best players, we'd be that way too.
A few observations without the stat sheet: (Edits with stat sheet)
JU's guys are bigger than our guys. Maybe not faster, more athletic, or skilled but bigger.
We looked flat. First game away from home, outside, on spring break, whatever it was we didn't look good even in the first half when we were winning on the scoreboard.
JU got 3, 4, 5 shots almost every time down the field. Lots of second, third, etc. chances. Akin to offensive rebounds in basketball, multiple shot possessions tire out the defense and lead, ultimately, to goals, and easy goals tonight. (Edit: Shots - Michigan 28, JU 52)
We couldn't get those ground balls. Lots of chances, lots of scrums, lots of Dolphins coming up with the ball. (Edit: Ground Balls - Michigan 23, JU 35)
We couldn't get those face offs. See ground balls above. (Edit: Face Offs - Michigan 10-25, JU 15-25)
We didn't take open shots when we had them. Lots of midfielders driving an alley, hands free, good angle, but then passing back upfield or behind to x. Guys, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
I can't believe we lost to a team named the Dolphins. SMH.
I don't think this was an x's and o's coaching thing. I don't think it was a coaches motivating the palyers thing - well at least I don't think there was a lack of having a good game plan or not trying to motivate the guys. I don't think we got outcoached. We didn't execute, we got down, and we got outplayed. Plain and simple. Losing at the x, losing the ground balls, giving up lots of shots on many long possessions, not taking good shots, giving up too many good shots, too many unforced errors, too much looking forward to Universal Studios and bikinis will all add up to a big fat ugly loss. And tonight it did.
Edit: Stat sheet tells the story of an ugly game. A terrible, true story.
Turnovers: Michigan 15, JU 7 -- so many lost opportunities
Penalties: Michigan 9 (NINE?!?) for 6:30 lead to 3 man-up goals for JU (I refuse to say EMO); JU 2 for 1:30 lead to 0 man-up goals for Michigan.
Shots in the second half: Michigan 11, JU 30 -- tough to come back being outshot like that.
Ground balls in the second half: MIchigan 10, JU 21 -- tough to come back being outhustled like that.
JU top scorers: Miller-5G 0A, Moore-4G 2A, McIntyre-3G 2A... when I played once someone got 2 goals we played ball denial on them. Rarely did anyone ever get 3, let alone 4 or 5. I guess JU has some guys we just couldn't hang with.
I've seen plenty of movement in prior games. Not sure if we were trying something new last night or not, but I have a feeling the lack of possessions really got us out of synch.
I think the big ten is going to be rough for this team for a long time. Hopkins and Maryland are just have too many horses and Michigan just doesn't have the talent or discipline to run with that. Penn state and OSU also have more advanced programs with better coaches and players. You are looking at probably max 2 more wins this year and that probably involves an upset and I don't see that changing in the near future. Freshman can have a big impact on lacrosse especially at middie or attacker, Maryland's best player last year was a freshman.