Michigan Lacrosse Season Finale Saturday To Be Live On ESPN3
Team One's final game of the season will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
Michigan will take on the #5 north carolina tar heels in Chapel Hill at 7pm EST.
The ECAC Tournament will take place Wednesday and Friday. 1 seed loyola will take on 4 seed denver at 8pm EST, and 2 seed ohio will take on the 3 seed fairfield. The tournament will be played in denver. The championship game will played Friday at 7pm on ESPNU. The winner gets the ECAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The tournament will expand to an 8-team format when Michigan becomes a full-member.
FINAL ECAC Standings
| Team | ECAC | Overall |
| 1. #3 Loyola | 6-0 | 10-1 |
| 2. #18 Ohio | 5-1 | 8-6 |
| 3. #16 Fairfield | 4-2 | 10-3 |
| 4. #12 Denver | 3-3 | 8-4 |
| 5. Hobart | 2-4 | 4-7 |
| 6. Air Force | 1-5 | 6-7 |
| 7. Bellarmine | 0-6 | 4-7 |
| 8. MICHIGAN | 0-5^ | 1-12 |
^Michigan is an affiliate ECAC member for the 2012 season. Therefore, Michigan's record in the ECAC box is their record against ECAC opponents. They do not count as conference wins or losses for Michigan or their respective opponents. They will become a full member in the 2013 season.
I hope we go 3-4 in the ECAC next year.
Also, outside of us because we didn't play everyone, how perfect are those standings? Every team is one game behind the team in front of them.
That may be very optimistic. I think getting 1-2 conference wins next year is a realistic goal.
Somewhat optimistic, but not very. We lost to Bellarmine and OSU by 3 and 4 goals this year, respectively, and we didn't play Hobart. Bellarmine and Hobart should be expected wins in year two, and then we'd just have to pull off one of Air Force, Fairfield, or Ohio State.
I think 2 conference wins is the realistic expecation. Three is the goal.
EDIT: Although we got smoked by Air Force this year, the game was in Denver (away atmosphere plus elevation) and it was early on when we were really green, the day after getting pummeled by Denver. If we played Air Force today it would be a close game we'd still likely lose, but we could be as good as them (or close enough to pull one off) next spring.
So will next year be the first recruiting class, or did they already have one last year.
We've had recruiting classes every year. That's how they put players on the team.
Snark aside, the answer is that next year will be the first year with a freshman class of players that was recruited to a D-I team and not a club team. Although a few of this year's freshmen were probably aware of the eventuality of a varsity team as the possibility had been bounced around for a little while before the announcement.
I don't think any wins can be assumed yet for next year. They will have their first D1 recruiting class playing, but half the team will be freshmen. And it's not like this is a top 20 class either. They were way too late to the recruiting game to put together a highly regarded class. Team 3 will be much better positioned to win games, and it's going to be team 5 or 6 before the ECAC tournament should be a realistic expectation rather than a hope.