Lacrosse falls short at Harvard, 11-7
A valiant effort by Michigan today. They started out well and let the opponent go on a run as usual, but they fought back and did not let harvard go on a run the rest of the game.
Coach Paul talks about building culture, they are right now. Never giving up.
Updated ECAC Standings
| School | ECAC | Overall | This Week |
| 1) #4 Loyola | 3-0 | 7-0 | 3/31 W 8-7 vs Ohio |
| 2) #15 Fairfield | 2-0 | 8-1 | 3/31 W 9-8 at Bellarmine |
| 3) #10 Denver | 2-1 | 6-2 | 3/31 W 15-8 vs Hobart |
| Ohio | 2-1 | 4-6 | 3/31 L 7-8 at #4 Loyola |
| 5) Air Force | 0-2 | 5-4 | 3/31 W 20-4 vs Mercer |
| Hobart | 0-2 | 2-4 | 3/31 L 8-15 at #10 Denver |
| 7) Bellarmine | 0-3 | 3-4 | 3/31 L 8-9 vs #15 Fairfield |
| 8) MICHIGAN^ | 0-4 | 1-9 | 3/31 L 7-11 at Harvard |
^ Michigan is an affiliate member for the 2012 season, therefore, their wins/losses against ECAC teams do not count towards their conference standings because they are ineligible for the ECAC Championship. Wins/losses against Michigan for ECAC teams do not count towards their standing as well. Michigan will become a full-member in 2013.
So bad. I'm kind of in disbelief.
I guess the jump from club to varsity is a very large one.
Any other club team out there that would have made the jump from MCLA to D1 in one season would have not even come close to winning a game this year. Michigan ran their club propgram as a D1 program without the scholarships. Even the best MCLA teams (Arizona State, Chapman, BYU) would have been literally detroyed by Harvard today.
Yes it will take probaly 5 years for Michigan to be a good team, and probaly a decade before contending for a NC in lax. However, each week Team One is showing they are growing.
It wasn't going to be easy. People predicted 1-3 wins for this team this season.
They nearly had 2 wins but lost to jacksonville in OT back at the start of the month.
Help is on the way though, the recruiting class coming in has a very special player from Canada that will start immediately most likely.
March 31st, 2012 at 11:13 PM ^
Come on, man. If you were expecting them to go .500 this year, you either don't know what you're talking about or were crazily optimictic. This is where we thought we'd be. We won one game (in impressive fashion, no less) took another team into OT, and have had 3 (I think) games now where we lost by only 4 goals (meaning the game was never really out of reach).
We've been beaten well by the good teams we've played, and we've had a couple others where we didn't play mediocre teams as closely as we should have. But all in all, the season is going pretty closely to where people expected it to. And that's OK, because it's our first year. Give it a year or two and we'll look a lot different.
For those of you who were curious on this board, MDen has confirmed with me that they will be selling lacrosse jerseys.
They also will have a ton of great looking gear at the Post-Spring Game Lacrosse Game against ohio.
March 31st, 2012 at 10:30 PM ^
Sounds like they were at least in this one. They are gaining extremely valuable experience, and unlike a number of other teams currently at the bottom, Michigan will always have a schedule that will give them a shot to be in the conversation once they start winning games.
But as QK said in his podcast on InsideLacrosse this week, talk of the best club teams being able to compete with D1 programs was a pipe dream. Michigan's experience this year should put an end to that kind of speculation.
JP is clearly very confident in the team's abiltity to develop and sustain culture, even in the face of these losses. Not an easy task - it speaks to his ability as a coach.
March 31st, 2012 at 10:39 PM ^
I agree - this doesn't seem like Michigan's strongest team. It seems like the D and faceoff are lacking compared to past years. As you mentioned, the team with Freid anchoring the defense and Kohlitz holdin it down on faceoffs probably would have fared better against Division 1 competition.
I don't think the gap between club level and Division 1 is as great as everyone thinks it is. And I think Michigan has let a few slip through their fingers this year. In the games I've seen, I noticed a lot of unforced turnovers and avoidable mistakes from - the kind that hurt a growing team in close games. But, that's part of growing as a program, I guess.
But, I really don't think that Michigan is too overwhelmed by the jump. They've been in almost every game and held leads in most of them (plus its a really tough schedule). But, people will just see the record and assume that they got wiped out at this level, which isn't entirely true.
Bunch of us went to the game today.
Thought they looked good other then that 5 minutes or so when Harvard scored those 5 goals.
It was nice to sing The Victors though. Crowd was about 75% Michigan.
I hope the team can make it a normal thing to come out and play at Harvard.
11-7 vs Harvard is a very encouraging result. I think they're gearing up for an upset of ohio in the Big House.
For those of you unfamiliar with lacrosse, there are some great games on ESPNU today to help you get acquainted. #6 ND plays St. John's (and former U of M d-man, Harry Freid) at 1 pm. #8 Duke plays #14 Syracuse at 4 pm and then #12 UNC takes on #1 Hopkins at 6:30 pm.
These are perennial Final 4 contenders and will showcase a ton of talent and great coaching. Enjoy!