Michigan Beats BYU, Faces Chapman In Semis

Submitted by Tim on

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, there WILL be a CoverItLive chat for tonight's game. Find it here.

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With a 16-11 victory over rival BYU, the Michigan Wolverines have advanced to the semifinals of the MCLA National Tournament, where they'll face the #4 seed Chapman Panthers.

The game against BYU started with the Cougars controlling the run of play early, though they were unable to earn a substantial lead. Midway through the first and into the second, Michigan's faceoff specialist David Reinhard took over the game, winning several consecutive faceoffs (some of them procedure violations against BYU) and giving Michigan the vast majority of possessions. That led to a 9-5 halftime lead for the Wolverines.

[ed: Thrilling conclusion + Chapman preview after the jump.]

BYU wouldn't go down without a fight, however, as they scored a pair of quick goals in the third quarter to draw within two. The teams traded goals through the early 4th quarter, until BYU netted a couple in a row, bringing the game within a 1-goal margin. That was as close as they'd get, however, as Michigan rebuilt the lead to 14-10 before the Cougars could score again, and Michigan closed out with game-sealing goals from Trevor Yealy and Clark McIntyre.

Yealy regained his Player-of-the-Year form in this game, scoring seven goals for the Wolverines. Freshman Thomas Paras notched four goals of his own, along with a pair of assists. Five other Wolverines (David Reinhard, Anthony Hrusovsky, Josh Ein, Jordan Kirshner, and Clark McIntyre) scored a single goal. Reinhard won only 16 of 31 faceoffs, though as mentioned above, he scooped up several in a row to get momentum early in the game.

Andrew Fowler and Mark Stone once again split time in net, though Fowler didn't get the start as Coach Paul seemed to imply he would the other day. Stone played the first half and saved 69% of 16 shots faced, while Fowler's second half was more of a struggle, saving only 33% of 9 shots faced. It will be interesting to see if the platoon continues (especially considering each has outplayed the other at least once in recent games) or if the hot hand will continue to play.

BYU's Elliott Grow played most of the game, but he was out of the lineup at times with the shoulder injury he suffered yesterday, and seemed to be fighting through pain during the game.

Official Site Recap.

Chapman

Friday May 14, 7:30PM MDT, Dick's Sporting Goods Park (Main Stadium), Denver CO.

TV: Fox College Sports.

Record: 14-2 (5-0 Southwestern Lacrosse Conference).

Rankings: #4 MCLA LaxMag, #3 Prodigy, #4 LaxPower.

Common Opponents: BYU (W 12-11), Colorado (W 13-8), Oregon (L 11-14), Simon Fraser (W 11-8), Arizona State (L 11-12), Minnesota-Duluth (W 15-8)

Previous Meetings: 2008 National Championship Game (Michigan W 14-11), 2009 Regular Season (Michigan W 13-10), 2009 National Championship Game (Michigan W 12-11) Official Site Recap/VB Recap/VB Liveblog.

chapman_96.pngDepending on which poll you use, Chapman is the #4 (MCLA LaxMag/LaxPower) or #3 (Prodigy only) team in the country. As a testament to Michigan's strength of schedule, they're the only squad in the top 7 (LaxMag) or 9 (LaxPower/Prodigy), that Michigan hasn't faced yet this year. The men from SoCal went 14-2 on the year, with the only losses coming to Oregon (11-14 on the road) and Arizona State (11-12 in the SLC playoffs at Chapman).

chapman_96.pngThe Panthers' unquestioned leader is senior attack Connor Martin, who (in addition to being an epic bro) led his team in scoring, brought home his conference's Offensive Player of the Year award, and is a big contender for the National Player of the Year award, for which he'd have to take down Trevor Yealy. Martin, like many non-Yealy offensive powerhouses, did a fair amount of scoring and assisting, leading his team in assists and coming in second in goals by a narrow margin.

chapman_96.pngMartin isn't the only top-notch player for Chapman, however. A pair of defensemen, juniors Spencer Halvorsen and Andrew Salcido, joined him on the First-Team All-Conference list, along with faceoff specialist Chris Small. The second-team all-SLC team consisted of a trio of Panthers. Sophomore attack Andrew Clayton led the team in goals per game, partially by virtue of having played one fewer than Martin, but only recorded half as many assists as Martin. Senior midfielder Blake Whitcomb (second on the team in assists and third in goals scored) and sophomore LSM Matt Walrath, the team's leader in ground balls, joined him.

chapman_96.pngThis should be a great matchup for the fans. Two exceptional faceoff men will battle, with Michigan's David Reinhard out to make up for yesterday's weak (for his standards) performance. Two of the nation's best offensive players will take the field in Michigan's Yealy and Chapman's Martin, and this game is a rematch of the last two National Championship Games.

Unfortunately, I don't have a great feeling about this game. I do think Reinhard will rebound from yesterday, but Michigan doesn't have an offense as spread out as Chapman does, and the Panthers have the defensive personnel to stop Michigan's two main goal scorers (Yealy and Paras). The question is whether other players can step up offensively for Michigan. Clark McIntyre, Josh Ein, and Svet Tintchev will have to carry the scoring load more than they're used to in order for MIchigan to put up enough points for a win. One point of note is that Michigan won't be facing an all-conference goalie - a luxury they haven't had in quite some time. Of course, Michigan's situation in the cage is far from settled, so whoever has stronger goalie play in this game has a huge advantage.

With all the question marks heading into this game, I have a bad feeling about it. Still, it's hard for me to pick against the Wolverines, given the unprecedented run of success this team has accomplished. I do think this will be a close contest, played in the low double-digits. Trevor Yealy will be held mostly scoreless, but Clark McIntyre will step up for a few big goals when Michigan needs them, and Thomas Paras will finish second on the team in goals while leading in assists (shocking prediction, I know). Michigan will scrape by Chapman with a 14-13 victory - in overtime.

Don't forget, this game will air live on Fox College Sports at 9:30PM Eastern (7:30 local). You can figure out which channel that is, or if you even have it, here (HT: MGoShoe). If you don't have DirecTV, or subscribe to your cable provider's sports package, make plans to hit up your local drinking establishment tonight.

Predictions Update

I finally got a pick wrong, as Simon Fraser continued their upset streak (if you can even call their first-round win over Florida State an upset), knocking off Colorado State by a 12-11 score. Should Michigan advance past Chapman, the winner of the Arizona State/Simon Fraser game would be the opponent in the National Championship Game.

With Simon Fraser advancing past Colorado State, I think Arizona State has a much-improved chance to reach the final. That's one hell of a story for a team that had its season canceled last year due to violation of university policy. I do indeed predict a Michigan/ASU final, and still think (hope?) that Michigan will win. Chapman is probably a tougher matchup than the Sun Devils, so if Michigan can get past the Panthers, I like their chances.

All the remaining teams in the tournament played their first-round games on Tuesday (no rain-outs) so nobody will have the advantage of an added day of rest.

BONUS

I'm considering running a CoverItLive chat for tonight's game. If enough people vote in the comments that they want one, I'll let 'er rip, so get to commenting yea/nay.

Comments

MGoShoe

May 14th, 2010 at 10:41 AM ^

...for the team.  Final Four tonight, bracket here (H/T MaizeAndBlueWahoo).

I'm in favor of a CIL.  Thanks for the offer, Tim.  I know they can be a pain in the butt to moderate when you're trying to follow a game.

The epic bro, Connor Martin apparently has an epic Gramma. 

The feeding was made even more special when Gramma came over drunk and received a celebrity’s welcoming by the team. I guess they’ve seen the videos. Gramma toodled around introducing herself to every one of my teammates, kissing and hugging almost everyone expressing genuine interest in their existence. The lady’s a saint and when you’re 78 you can do whatever the hell you want. She likes wine and would love you! Party on Gramma.

Party on, Gramma.  Party on.

PurpleStuff

May 14th, 2010 at 12:06 PM ^

Chapman's mascot is the Panthers, not the Bulldogs (not that anyone does/should care).  I live just a few blocks from their campus and will be talking trash and possibly setting things on fire all day.

Here is the extremely douchey website for Chapman Lacrosse if you are still ambivalent about getting excited over club sports at Michigan:

http://web.mac.com/chaptownlacrosse/Chaptownlax.com/Home.html

Go Blue!

mgoblue0970

May 14th, 2010 at 3:30 PM ^

I hope folks aren't getting hung up about the "club" label. There are 270 MCLA schools; supporting lax as a sport where its institutions cannot either afford ($$$) to have lax as a varisty sport or because of upsetting the Title IX balance.  This is a big deal, Michigan is going for a three-peat this weekend.  I hope to see all Colorado-based Wolverines there.

 

Go Blue! 

WolvinLA2

May 14th, 2010 at 2:25 PM ^

Is it that sweet?  I haven't spent much time on it, but I've driven by and through it.  It just seemed like a tiny small school type of campus in the middle of Orange County (which is generally pretty boring/suburban).  From what I understand, it's a highly commuter school.

I definitely can't argue with In-n-Out though, I have one right by my house and I eat it all the time.  You just can't get sick of it.

formerlyanonymous

May 14th, 2010 at 2:40 PM ^

I spent a couple days there. The film studies majors  (future directors) were having some huge student group week, as well as their version of Greek Week. The student group I was consulting for is somewhat of a black sheep on campus. So going around and asking people about them was interesting to say the least. You're right on commuter though. I stayed at the groups house, which was about 4 miles from campus through suburban neighborhoods.

PurpleStuff

May 14th, 2010 at 4:56 PM ^

Chapman is basically adjacent to Old Towne Orange.  There are lots of bars/restaurants that are quality and that aren't corporate/strip mall giants.  You have cool old houses that many students live in and lots of stuff within walking distance.  It is a commuter school (like any in Southern California) and you can easily miss the cool stuff if you aren't directly in the neighborhood (you quickly go from quaint college town to suburbia, strip-mall paradise, or the barrio depending on what direction you are headed in).  Still, Chapman probably has the best college-town feel of any school in Southern California that I can think of (though this doesn't say all that much).

UMman316

May 14th, 2010 at 2:56 PM ^

Clark McIntyre scored one of the best goals of the season last night, swimming through two defenders and ripping a lefty shot on the run off the inside post of the top right corner.  Absolutely sick.

This game should be close.  Michigan clawed back from being down 6 to win in last year's championship game.  Two championship losses in a row for Chapman has definitely produced some bad blood.  Former laxers in Chicago will be gathering to watch the game tonight, Go Blue!

WCHBlog

May 14th, 2010 at 3:17 PM ^

Chapman is such a cow college....or a school of hippie egghead nerds. I really have no idea. Either way, I'm sure they suck and Michigan will beat the hell out of them.

zlionsfan

May 14th, 2010 at 9:40 PM ^

it's apparently not starting at 9:30 Eastern. Had to catch the epic collapse by the Bruins and didn't want to miss this if I could avoid it.