Michigan's 2012 Lacrosse Schedule is available
Michigan hasn't posted it on their website, but the 2012 lacrosse schedule was published in a propaganda publication called "NCAA Champions Magazine." The schedule can be seen on page 47 here:
http://catalog.proemags.com/publication/78bd5822#/78bd5822/46
Sunday, February 12: vs Detroit (at Pontiac)
Saturday, February 18: at Penn State
Saturday, February 25: at Denver
Sunday, February 26: vs Air Force (at Denver)
Friday, March 2: at Jacksonville
Sunday, March 4: vs Mercer (at Jacksonville)
Wednesday, March 7: LOYOLA (MD.)
Saturday, March 17: BELLARMINE
Saturday, March 24: MOUNT ST MARY'S
Saturday, March 31: at Harvard
Saturday, April 7: DELAWARE
Saturday, April 14: OHIO STATE
Saturday, April 21: at Rutgers
Saturday, May 5: at North Carolina
Michigan plays 5 of their 7 ECAC opponents (full conference play doesn't start until next year). A few marquee games, although only the Ohio State game is a marquee home game. Disappointing that Notre Dame isn't on the schedule, but maybe next year.
I assume the first game is at the Silverdome (?) I don't know where else you could play lacrosse in Pontiac in mid-February. The Ohio State game, I think, will be at Michigan Stadium, or at least that is the rumor. The other home games I guess will be at Oosterbaan, although that is a far from ideal venue so maybe the soccer stadium could be used--I don't know.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:38 PM ^
This was on Tim's blog last week. The UDM game isn't at the Silverdome, and all the home games but one will be in the Big House. The OSU game coincides with the spring football game.
http://www.greatlaxstate.com/2011/2012-michigan-lacrosse-schedule
October 20th, 2011 at 7:44 PM ^
I thought a lax field was being constructued around where Elbel Field is? Wasn't that the plan?
October 20th, 2011 at 7:47 PM ^
Nothing will be ready by the spring. Don't know when they plan on having it ready, actually, but certainly not by 2012.
October 20th, 2011 at 9:36 PM ^
Why no build two more locker rooms and share a facility with the soccer team? Seems like a waste of money and space to build a dedicated separate place.
October 20th, 2011 at 8:10 PM ^
I saw that after I posted the schedule--thanks!
I don't know that I like using the football stadium for a non-special lacrosse game. The 3,000 or so people in there for the Bellarmine game will look very, very lonely. Ohio State, fine--great idea. Bellarmine & Mount St Mary's not so much. I guess there's no middle ground between Oosterbaan and Michigan Stadium, so better to have a too-big stadium than a not-big-enough stadium.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:40 PM ^
Anyone know if the BTN is going to broadcast lacrosse games? I'd like to watch them for sure. I don't know much about lacrosse, but have seen some games over the past few years. It seems pretty cool.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:40 PM ^
Our ECAC mates are Denver, Loyola (Md.), Fairfield, TSIO, Air Force, Hobart, and Bellarmine, so we get 3 of the 5 conference games at home. It would be great to get the Big House for a lacrosse match with the Buckeyes!
LINK: http://www.ecaclacrosse.com/index
October 20th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^
To further clarify, there are two other ECAC teams we're not playing, so we're not eligible this year for ECAC playoffs or anything. Not that we'd be likely to go anyway.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:41 PM ^
Mercer, Jacksonville, Detroit and Bellarmine at home should be our likeliest wins. We should be able to beat Mercer for sure, they got smoked by both Jacksonville and Bellarmine last year.
The rest of the games range from pretty tough to very tough, with Rutgers and Air Force likely being the most winnable of the next bunch.
For those who know better than me - a goal or 4 wins? I think we should be very happy with anything above 4 wins, and even finishing at 4 makes for a successful first season.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^
But I remember a few years ago we got smoked by Jacksonville. Obviously this was as a dominant club team playing a new varsity program, but now we're a new varsity program playing a slightly more seasoned varsity program. Apples to...different breed of apples? I don't know.
So based on that single out-of-date (and questionable anyways) data point, I'll be ecstatic if we win four games. Frankly I'll be ecstatic for our first faceoff so sorry to give you absolutely zero worthful insight.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:54 PM ^
Yeah, I guess I shouldn't have said Jacksonville is a likely win, just that their one of the likeliest we have on the schedule, if that makes sense.
I agree four wins would be great, but that's why I said that it's our goal, as opposed to what we expect. I should have clarified.
October 20th, 2011 at 7:53 PM ^
Four would be pretty outstanding. I think three is the most likely. UDM is probably better than you think and likely to be a very strong contender for the MAAC title. That said, there are six non-Mercer games on the sked with various degrees of winnability, so taking two of them would be a decent start, and taking three would be a big deal.
October 21st, 2011 at 10:22 AM ^
I'm expecting 2 or 3.
We lost to Providence in exhibition - a 3 win team from a bad league.
October 21st, 2011 at 11:10 AM ^
The Big East is a bad league? It had two of the top teams in the country last year (Cuse and ND) and two other top 15ish teams in Villanova and Georgetown. Top to bottom, only the Ivy is probably better, not including the four team ACC.
I'm just saying, if the Big East is bad, almost every league is bad.
October 20th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
October 20th, 2011 at 10:48 PM ^
we won't be surprising Denver. After so many years of club-varsity lax dominance this is going to be a long year. At least our unis will look better than everyone else's (as always).
October 20th, 2011 at 8:21 PM ^
Using last year's Laxpower ratings (kind of like the Sagarin ratings), and using 1.31 goals for the home field advantage, here is our schedule in order of strength, from the easiest game to the hardest--
vs Mercer (82.30)
Bellarmine (90.32)
vs Detroit (91.62)
Mount St Mary's (92.53)
at Jacksonville (92.61)
Delaware (92.85)
vs Air Force (93.16)
Ohio State (94.49)
Loyola-Maryland (94.49)
at Rutgers (94.56)
at Penn State (96.47)
at Harvard (97.43)
at North Carolina (98.70)
at Denver (99.82)
So a 4-win season would mean our targeted wins would be Detroit, Mercer, Bellarmine and Mount St Mary's. One point in the ratings is one goal in predicted margin.
October 20th, 2011 at 11:29 PM ^
That would be awesome if they could play Ohio right before the Spring Game in the Big House! I'm not sure how long a lacrosse match is but if they could put it in between the football activities it could be the most attended in lacrosse history (another world record). Also it's another opportunity to hate on Ohio.
October 20th, 2011 at 11:51 PM ^
full disclosure: I am not a lacrosse junkie, lol.
I just did some research and this has been done at Ohio and Syracuse. The lacrosse/spring game double header drew 20,000 fans (for the lacrosse portion) in 2008 at Ohio. I was also reading that the lacrosse community has been talking about this being a natural fit for more than a decade. I think this would be a cool thing to try at least once.
October 21st, 2011 at 12:19 AM ^
Lax games are about as long as hockey games, you're not gonna just squeeze this thing in at halftime. The record for lacrosse attendance is about 70,000 or so - I wouldn't get too many hopes up for a world record, U-M fans don't show up in those kinds of droves for the spring game yet, and I seem to recall the weather being an issue in some of these and driving the attendance down to about 30,000.
Edit - and I'm glad you think it'd be a cool thing to try at least once, to join up a lax game with spring football, because that's been the plan basically ever since varsity lacrosse was announced. Really, lots of teams do it.
October 21st, 2011 at 9:40 AM ^
I think the plan is to play before the spring game every year. Ohio State does that, and it's a pretty big deal for them down there. They set the regular season attendance record in 2010 with about 31,000 according to the internets. I hope they will also play OSU in the Horseshoe every other year before their spring game. That will be a brutal atmosphere for them, especially before they get good for the first few years, but what a neat opportunity.
The word is they are building two lacrosse facilities. Both will be down near soccer. One outdoor and one indoor. They need a turf field and space for fairly large crowds, so soccer isn't really an option. Lacrosse wrecks grass fields anyway, and I'm assuming the soccer stadium was never built with the infrastructure to handle more teams. Schools that have invested in lacrosse (see Notre Dame and Denver and now Penn State) have built or are building lacrosse-only facilities.
I'm biased, but I think over time lacrosse can become a big-time sport at Michigan. Kind of at the level of hockey. That's what Brandon keeps hinting at. Dedicated facilities are a big part of that.
Two or three wins this year would be amazing considering what they are working with. This can be a top-20 program in a few years though. Especially with the right facilities.
October 21st, 2011 at 5:14 PM ^
It can and will become a big time sport in Michigan. Just a matter of time. It's an incredibly fun sport and the physicality of the game (like hockey) lends itself well to football fans.
I covered the record setting game hosted by Ohio State against Notre Dame in 2009 for Inside Lacrosse. Was a lot of fun to see 30k+ fans at the game, and they were pretty into it in the first half but after ND went on a 7-0 run in 3rd quarter they got pretty darn quiet, which was disappointing. Can't imagine what the game will be like between Michigan and Ohio State before spring football games... Michigan is probably about 3 years away from really being able to compete with Ohio State, but they'll get there. Michigan is already recruiting pretty well and will continue to pick up steam over at least the '13 and '14 classes as kids look for early playing time.
Hope that either the University of Michigan or some donors pony up the money for facilities. ND was lucky enough to have the Arlottas donate the best lacrosse only stadium/facilities in country... and it really does have a wow factor on recruits who see how much better things are in South Bend than at some east coast power houses like Duke and UNC. Johns Hopkins is just now starting to build new facilities to keep up.