MICHIGAN LACROSSE IN THE MCLA CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - WATCH ONLINE
All, the Michigan Men's Lacrosse team is once again in the national championship game (2nd year in a row) and it will be a rematch of last year's classic against Chapman. You can watch and cheer for the team online at the following website:
http://msn.foxsports.com/video
There are pages of videos that you can watch, but look for the one that says "MCLA Lacrosse". It will be the closest game Michigan plays all year as the last two games against Chapman have been decided by a total of 5 goals.
Michigan is also on two historic streaks - a 39 game winning streak (new record) as well as going for back to back undefeated seasons - never done before. These two records are different in the fact that the 39 game winning streak spans three years.
Please support the team tonight as I'm sure they'd appreciate it. You can also follow the team with Twitter and CBS College GameTracker - just go to umich.edu/~menslax for the links.
Thanks and GO BLUE!
What time do they play? I would love to watch them play. Hell if they were in the national championship marble competition I would love to watch them play.
Looks like they play at 9pm according to this link:
www.msn.foxsports.com/other/story/9535302/Men's-Collegiate-Lacrosse-Cha…-
I don't think Chapman has an anwer for the three-headed monster of Trevor Yealy, Peter Vasher, and Zach Elyachar.
How does this compare to NCAA tourney with Duke, John Hopkins, ect... Go Blue!
it doesn't compare. This is club (no scholarships) vs the teams you mentioned (Division 1 recruits with scholarships).
Even still though, it's an accomplishment that should be honored.
Go Blue!
Top-level MCLA (which this is) is generally comparable to a lower-tier D-I team or better D-II or III teams. Because Michigan has been heads and shoulders better than the MCLA for the past 2 years, they're somewhat better than that.
It seems playing Duke, Maryland, or Syracuse would be more significant than playing Chapman.
There's more information here about the differences between MCLA and NCAA lacrosse: http://www.umich.edu/~menslax/information.htm
Michigan would have the resources to become a dominant team in Division 1... the problem is finding the necessary funds to make it happen. If you look at a lot of the middle-tier teams in Division 1 lax, many aren't fully funded and some don't even offer any athletic scholarships (especially in the Patriot League and the MAAC). Many of these schools are insanely expensive, and a quarter or half ride scholarship at Michigan (contrary to popular belief, a full-ride lacrosse scholarship is rarely given out) combined with the academics would attract top flight recruits once the foundation was laid (it will be interesting what happens with the club players during the transition period).
Lacrosse is a sport where more emphasis is placed on academics when recruits are choosing a school... that's why Ivy League schools like Princeton, who had the #1 recruiting class this past year, can still compete. Unless Michigan's version of T. Boone Pickens steps up, don't expect Michigan to go D1 for at least five more years, unless the Women's Rowing team gets caught hazing the shit out of a freshman.
There's also Title IX to deal with. So if Women's anything hypothetically gets caught hazing a freshman, we'd need another source of athletic scholarships for women (likely two teams) to catch up, if men's lacrosse was added.
Men's lacrosse only allows 12.6 scholarships (they're generally split up among players - nobody gets a full ride) and Women's lax allows 12. That's if they're fully funded, which is a policy of Michigan's AD. While Michigan's Women's team hasn't been as riotously successful lately as the Men's, they're still quite good (5th in their National Tournament this year).
So, if you added both, it wouldn't really alter the Title IX implications at all.
Title IX didn't really help anybody out either. For one thing they didn't help many girls out at all really. They made some girls that play two sports have to drop a sport because the seasons got changed around. They also screwed up scholarships with it. With the need for even scholarships, Michigan is put in a tough spot for more mens teams. I would love to see a men's lacrosse team at Michigan, though.
Honestly, it's going to happen. It's just a matter of time.
Some of the club players would survive, but many would not. Fundamental lacrosse skills would have to become more consistent. (a lot of field hockey being played in that Championship game tonight)
What about the coaches? I could see Michigan getting a hot DI assistant or mid-major coach - people who can recruit out of the hotbeds, and more importantly, would have the personal connections to get a few high-quality opponents on the schedule. DI lax is driven heavily by strength of schedule, and the traditional teams (JHU, ACC teams, Syracuse, Ivies) tend to primarily play each other, which leaves the newer programs out in the strength of schedule wilderness. On the other hand, Paul was able to get Hopkins and Army to come out for some fall ball a few years ago.
I think the question of getting some good teams to play is probably the least of the hurdles. Guarantee you Notre Dame, OSU, and probably Penn State would all say yes. Two of those teams aren't half bad. UVA played the standard run of awesome teams this year but also played Bryant in their first ever D-I lacrosse game, so there would definitely be opportunities for a new Michigan squad.
The question is conference affiliation. There's no Big Ten lacrosse, which is too bad, and three more teams besides U-M would have to join D-I before they ever started it up because of the six-team rule. The four options would probably be the ECAC, CAA, less likely America East, or stay independent.
I don't get your comment about the women's rowing team hazing the shit out of a freshman. They were the last women's team added and have a ton of athletes which help make the AD compliant with Title IX. Another women's team has to be added to allow lax or men's club rowing (which is extremely successful in it's own right) to rise to varsity status. If women's rowing were dropped it would only put lax further away from being varsity.
Sorry about that:
6:00 pm Pacific
7:00 pm Mountain
8:00 pm Central
9:00 pm Eastern
Depending on how the Division II Final goes, the game may get pushed back by a couple of minutes. There should be some decent commentary as I've been impressed that the announcers actually know what they are talking about.
It's unfortunate that funding has to be such an issue, because I bet Michigan would have no problem fielding a Varsity Lax team and an upstart women's team. I don't know if there is a women's club, but it just seems natural that Michigan would be able to come up with good players.
Hooray for completely speculative and dreamlike posts :)
For anyone watching the game tonight or following it on gametracker, know that UM sometimes comes out of the gate slow, but turns it up big time in the 2nd half. Don't get too down if they are losing at half.
Also, I believe they'll go varsity soon enough. After all, the new football training facility on south campus is really primarily a new lacrosse field.
From all I have read, there is no move to go varsity any time soon. On the other hand, something has to change. 40 straight wins shows that they don't have much competition to really play against. On the other hand, they could keep doing what they are doing - it might be more enjoyable than the considerable growing pains that would be felt in NCAA DI lax.
9-6 Chapman w/ 7 mins left in the 3rd quarter.
Down one early in the 4th!
All square with 13 minutes left!
Michigan wins 12-11! As a side note, I saw a couple of my friends from high school playing and celebrating which was cool.
nice come from behind win. The goalie had a much better second half.
rarely has scrolling down the MGoBoard been so suspenseful!
Go Blue!
The lax team has tremendous heart, determination, and pride. No matter the quality of competition, 40 wins in a row is a big deal. There are obviously very few opponents who can give them a game, so it is a testament to them that they A) don't let up against inferior opponents, and B) that they are still prepared to play against the few teams that can give them a game.
So where do they go from here?
They can continue to dominate the MCLA, which, while a well-run shadow league, seems to exist to circumvent Title IX. On the other hand, Michigan really would have the ability to build a pretty successful NCAA program. But moving to a varsity status would mean building an entirely new program - new players, new coaches, etc. So would the current program even be really motivated to become an NCAA program? Its an interesting question.
Well, Coach Paul, for one, is leading the charge. So yes, there is motivation. If you go to their webpage, you can read about their efforts.
Second, the NCAA allows 12 scholarships for lacrosse for a 45 man roster. There are plenty of non and partial scholarship players at every major school.
Third, the idea that we could possibly fill those in one, two, or even three years is wrong. They'd be used to fill outgoing slots.
Why would they get new coaches? Paul has proven he can build a great program. He has proven he can recruit, even at the club level (if he can get the starting goalie at Gilman to commit to a club program, imagine what he could do with scholarships). He has proven he's well connected with their scrimmage schedule over the years against very good NCAA teams. He has national administrative/board experience and international coaching experience. He's proven he can develop professional level talent. He's a great fundraiser (I know this all too well). And he started his career in the UM athletic department on the administrative side.
Steve Burns (men's soccer) and Mark Rothstein (women's rowing) have both done pretty well transitioning straight from club to varsity at Michigan.
I'm assuming with all of his success and connections that Paul has had multiple opportunities to leave Michigan but has chosen to stay. That usually counts for something around here doesn't it? I remember some crotchety old football coach/AD saying once "I want a Michigan man coaching at Michigan!"
Of course, this is all assuminig varsity lax ever happens. Come on UM! See the light!
why don't they go to the ncaa next year? I would love to see another Michigan sports team become a powerhouse! I'll bet they could compete with those duke boys!
I love watching lacrosse too! It's like hockey and football combined in one!
chapman has got to be frustrated. of the 3 times we played them in the past 2 years i think 2 (maybe all 3) of them they had a relatively large lead and then blew it. 2 of those games were for the national title too