Lacrosse falls to #17 penn state, 16-9 on the road
Michigan plays their first ever road game and first ever ranked opponent.
Follow along here:
February 18th, 2012 at 1:12 PM ^
Are these guys ever gonna be on TV?
February 18th, 2012 at 1:13 PM ^
SCORES!!! Vasileff from Steenland at 6:46 of the first!
Michigan leads 1-0!
February 18th, 2012 at 1:15 PM ^
penn state responds on the ensuing faceoff. 1-1
February 18th, 2012 at 1:21 PM ^
Dang thing isn't updating -- keep the updates going ;)
February 18th, 2012 at 1:24 PM ^
When we play top 20-25 teams this year, what is an estimated expected score?
Not meaning to be inflammatory - can we expect a close game or are we rooting for mostly learning/moral victories?
February 18th, 2012 at 1:26 PM ^
penn state scores in the final seconds of the quarter to take a 2-1 lead.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:27 PM ^
A team like PSU, we should be very happy staying within 5-6 goals on the road. UNC on the road, avoiding a double-digit loss would be a moral victory.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:46 PM ^
We lost to Detroit by five, and they just picked up a few garbage-time goals to end up losing 17-8 to Carolina.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:27 PM ^
SCORES!!
Vasileff again! Meter with the assist at 12:51 in the second.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:31 PM ^
Penn State leads 14-4 with 8:40 remaining in 2nd
February 18th, 2012 at 1:32 PM ^
Seems we're having a helluva time clearing.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:36 PM ^
Other Michigan Sports Updates:
Baseball trails seton hall 0-1 in the top of the 2nd in St. Petersburg,FL in the B1G/Big East Challenge. Michigan lost last night after leading 8-4 in the 8th, losing 9-8 to pittsburgh.
Softball will take on #22 kentucky shortly in Boca Raton,FL.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:42 PM ^
PSU has a guy named "Tom LaCrosse" on their team -- we're doomed!
February 18th, 2012 at 5:29 PM ^
Tom went to the same high school I did, Canandaigua Academy. His dad was a hell of a player in the 80's too. UM needs to start to recruit upstate/western NY players. AA is only about 7-9 hours away which is not bad at all for parents to travel to home games. The physical play in these parts will help them out.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:43 PM ^
penn state scores on a man-up.
February 18th, 2012 at 1:49 PM ^
penn state nets one at the end of the quarter. Michigan trails 2-4 at halftime.
Michigan is playing well right now. They aren't behind that far and lacrosse isn't that hard of sport to come from behind in.
GO BLUE!
February 18th, 2012 at 2:02 PM ^
penn state gets a man-up goal again at 13:07 of the 3rd. Michigan trails 2-5.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:06 PM ^
Michigan almost had a man-up goal, but penn state capitalizes off of missed shot and scores.
Michigan trails 2-6 in the 3rd.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:13 PM ^
penn state nets another to make the score 7-2 but....
SCORES!! Meter from Greiner, McCormack off a faceoff.
Michigan trails 3-7.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:25 PM ^
I was pretty excited to see 3-2 score in stat tracker. Must not be updating properly
February 18th, 2012 at 2:26 PM ^
GameTracker isn't working so well for me. How are you getting most of the info? Through the twitter account?
This game is not out of the question, they get one or two more and the 4th quarter
gets really interesting
February 18th, 2012 at 2:28 PM ^
Oy. penn state has absolutely blown this one open going on a 6 goal run.
Michigan has SCORED! two to make the penn state lead 13-5 in the 4th.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:28 PM ^
Oh boy , never mind - looks like Penn State just blew it open
February 18th, 2012 at 2:36 PM ^
Wolverine Devotee - how are faceoffs going today?
February 18th, 2012 at 2:43 PM ^
16-8 Penn State now, under 5 minutes left according to Twitter
February 18th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
Each team scores 3 goals a piece. Michigan trails 8-16 with under 4 left to play.
Meter scored the most recent goal on an amazing no-look shot.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:45 PM ^
The game is almost over, but since the Gametracker isn't working you can see periodic updates at
@UMichLacrosse
Latest tweet is:
4:38 to play in the game. Meter scores on no-look shot facing away from goal. 16-8 PSU.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:51 PM ^
Bryant scores one in the final minute but it isn't enough.
Final Score: Michigan 9 penn state 16
February 18th, 2012 at 2:55 PM ^
This is exactly what we expected tto happen today. Penn State is program that has been on the rise in recent years. I am just proud that we put up nine against them.
Kepp up the good work Team One.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:58 PM ^
Gulp. Next up is #5 denver IN denver.
Michigan will play two straight games next weekend. Saturday against #5 denver on the road at 11:30am EST and on Sunday, air force at 9am EST.
Altitude might be a problem.
February 19th, 2012 at 2:27 PM ^
For those of you who are interested and want to learn about lacrosse Denver is playing Ohio State on NBC right now. They will be followed by Navy vs Jacksonville.
Also, Michigan has to play OSU, Jax and Denver this year so it will be a great way to scout them out and see what we're in for. They play Denver next week. (Denver is really good). Great way for folks who don't know to familiarize themselves with the game.
This Is VERY rare. To have a double header on national broadcast TV is pretty much unheard of in lacrosse. Not to mention - it doesn't feature the typical marquis teams that always seem to be on TV (and we're all so sick of) like Duke, UVA, ND, Syracuse, Hopkins, etc.
February 18th, 2012 at 2:59 PM ^
Penn State is going to be VERY good in the coming years. They have a new coach, Jeff Tambroni who was at Cornell for a long time and repeatedly had them knocking on the door of a national championship.
It sounds like Michigan controlled the pace of the game and kept it within striking distance for most of it. Its too bad it got away from them in that stretch in the 3rd.
But, a pretty encouraging performance - maybe they'll get some W's coming up soon! Go Blue!
February 18th, 2012 at 3:12 PM ^
February 18th, 2012 at 6:08 PM ^
Just got in as I was at the UDM basketball game today. Took a look at the boxscore and.... wow. 9 for 21 on clears is really horrendous. I mean galactically rotten. I wonder if PSU committed a few extra guys to their ride. That said, 14-14 on faceoffs is encouraging, but I like to beat the drum that faceoffs are overrated and this game is some evidence of that. Still, it's great to see improvement over last week in that department even with a much better opponent.
But the clearing... ewww. Anyone who's a lax newbie, don't get used to that number. Anything below 75% is poor. You have to hand it to the defense for holding PSU to just four goals with that kind of possession dominance.
P.S. later on this evening I'll post some efficiency numbers in case anyone's interested.
February 19th, 2012 at 3:03 PM ^
Tempo-free efficiency stats from last night, and combined with the UDM game for comparison:
- O-rating (PSU game): 12.14
- O-rating (UDM game): 12.29
- D-rating (PSU game): 18.20
- D-rating (UDM game): 18.54
- O-rating (season): 12.20
- D-rating (season): 18.29
For reference, D-I averages for both are about 14.1. So in my book, a very, very similar performance, and against a much better opponent. In a way. The numbers are almost the same, but how we got there is much different. Michigan scored on 9 of 25 offensive possessions for a 36% conversion percentage, which is excellent. Not "excellent for a doormat," it's excellent for anyone, and to do so against a ranked opponent is a fantastic sign.
That said, Michigan was 43% on clears. That's unspeakable. Average for D-I is about 80%. And it was only rescued by a 4-for-4 fourth quarter, when PSU probably stopped caring. In the first three quarters, Michigan was 5-for-17, or 29%. Imagine if you only got the ball across halfcourt 30% of the time in basketball. Had they simply been below-average on clears, everything else being equal they'd have played a much, much closer game and come out of it looking really, really good. PSU had an offensive possession advantage of 41 to 25. Massive. Give your opponent 16 more opportunities on the offensive end, and you will always lose. PSU scored on 39% of their offensive possessions, which is a very high number, but I'm guessing U-M simply tired out from defending so damn much.
IF - a big IF since we're looking at a sample size of two games, and a lot of that offensive prowess came in the fourth quarter when PSU likely let off the gas - IF Michigan can sustain some of that offensive skill, and simply regress in the general direction of the mean on clears, we could possibly widen up the list of beatable opponents on the schedule. After the Denver game are two that are legitimately winnable - not that we'd be favored, but we'd at least be in striking distance - if U-M can fix what ailed it on the clears and maintain success elsewhere.