Lacrosse downed by #3 Maryland 13-4 in B1G opener
Michigan's first B1G lacrosse game is officially in the books. Unfortunately for Coach John Paul and the boys the inaugural game was against #3 Maryland and, not surprisingly, we lost.
We looked just okay in the first half, trailing only 4-1 at half time. Despite having 12 turnovers in the half we were able to control long possessions but were not able to get off (m)any good shots on goal – we had a total of 7 shots in the half; only 2 on cage with 1 goal and 1 save. In the good guys goal Gerald Logan looked very strong, making several key point blank saves to keep the Wolverines in the conversation – Maryland got off 21 shots in the half, Logan made 8 saves and let in 4 goals.
Maryland dominated at the face-off all game, winning 15 of 21, and Michigan was forced to put a long pole at the x. Even this only helped delay the inevitable, as Maryland pulled away in the third quarter to cruise to the final score of 13-4. Maryland outshot us by 20 (41-21) and had 11 more ground balls (30-19). The only stats Michigan won were saves (12-7) and turnovers (14-16). The better team definitely won the day.
Michigan falls below .500 for the first time this year at 4-5. Three of Michigan's four remaining opponents are ranked ahead of them via Laxpower (Michigan is ranked #42, Rutgers is #44), and two are nationally ranked in the polls that matter, as noted.
April 5 vs. Rutgers (4-7)
April 12 vs. #14 Ohio State (8-3)
April 18 @ #19 Johns Hopkins (4-5)
April 25 vs. Penn State (3-6)
March 30th, 2015 at 12:03 PM ^
Got to go to the game yesterday. Maryland is a top 3 team for a reason. To be fair, three of Michigan's losses this season are to the current #1, #3 and #10. This is still a much improved team in its fourth year. They just don't have the horses and skill sets that the elite teams do yet.
A few thoughts from this one.
1. Maryland is loaded on offense, but they don't wow you there. They are very methodical. Where they kill you is on faceoffs, where Raffa is a complete animal, and defense/goalie. Michigan didn't get the ball much because of Raffa, and when they did they had a lot of trouble generating quality shots. The Maryland goalie ate up most of the shots they did manage. They are giving up less than 5 goals per game this season, which is insane.
2. Michigan really misses King. As I said, they had trouble getting good shots and then burying them. It can't help to be missing their one legitimate great player on that end, especially against the best defense in the country. I thought the Michigan players were athletic enough to make some things happen offensively, but their sticks let them down a lot with turnovers or bad shot placement, and Maryland jumped all over mistakes like a top-5 team should. Kyle Jackson made some things happen, but he can't do it alone. Shlosser is really fast and explosive, but his stick needs to improve.
3. It was a good crowd, maybe 3,000 or so. Lots of Michigan people. Byrd Stadium is too big for lacrosse, like Michigan Stadium, but they do a good job with the event there as you would expect at a school where lacrosse is really important.
March 30th, 2015 at 12:29 PM ^
Too bad - I would've liked that score to have been a little closer, but there was no way they would be able to hang with the Terps on the road in College Park.
Maryland is probably going to win the Big Ten but Michigan certainly has a chance to knock off Penn State and Rutgers and maybe get themselves into the conference tournament. Ohio State is surprisingly good this year but this is Michigan's best team in a while so maybe they can steal the win.
The Hopkins game is really intriguing to me - they're still ranked but they've lost to everybody this year albeit to top programs like Princeton, Syracuse and UVA. They got back on track this weekend with a win over lowly Rutgers, but only 9-7. Of course, this could be the annual ritualistic slaughter at the hands of Hopkins that we're used to but I'm hoping Michigan can make a game of it this year.
March 30th, 2015 at 12:31 PM ^
I'll be at the Hopkins game at Homewood on the 18th. Hopkins sucks this year -- in the manner of Notre Dame or USC sucking at football, which is to say they're still loaded with talent and not truly bad, just underperforming and generally playing uninspired lacrosse -- and also tends to play to the level of its opponent, so it'll be fun to see if Michigan can give 'em a game.
My GF's family is OBSESSED with Hopkins lacrosse, her dad has gone to ~90% of home games since the early 70's and goes to a fair number of away games each year, and she can rattle off rosters from the 90's like nobody's business. I root for Hopkins by proxy, but I'll be singing the fight song after each Wolverine goal.
Go Blue.
It was definitely cool to see the game at home, in HD on BTN. Maryland was definitely the better team, especially at the X and with their defense. We had a number of poor turnovers to start the game which didn't help either.
Injuries also seem to be hurting this team. King is out, a number of defenders are out, and it looked like Joseph may have gotten hurt yesterday. I know he played early, but then Hernandez ran an awful lot with the 1's. I don't know that I saw the 2nd line middies much either.
It was good to see Tracy pick up a couple points. His dodge from X and goal was impressive. I'd like to see him get some more PT. He seems athletic enough to beat his defenders, which is something this team lacks at times.
This is the real reason why Maryland joined the B1G. They knew they would dominate in lacrosse. Bastards.
I wonder if Jim knows anything about lacrosse? Hmmm