Men's Lacrosse Kicks Off Season @ #1 Virginia, Noon Today on ACCN
GAME TIME!! Michigan men's lacrosse travels to Charlottesville to take on the mighty #1-ranked Virginia Cavaliers at noon today. The game will air on the ACCNetwork/ESPN Veinte-Ocho. I believe this is not an ESPN+ game and should be available to most subscribers (I've already watched a Duke gaemand
Virginia is #1 in the preseason polls and is absolutely stacked. They boast the country's top player and favorite for the lacrosse Heisman, attackman Conor Schellenberger. In total, they have 9 (NINE!) preseason All-Americans, including the entire starting attack, 2 starting midfielders, 2 starting defensemen, their faceoff man and another short stick defensive mid. So, I'm guessing the good news is that their goalie and other players on the field AREN'T All-Americans? Virginia is led by Lars Tiffany, one of the best coaches in the game and they play a fast and physical style that is fun to watch.
But- BUT- there is reason to hope here for Michigan. Despite a massive imbalance in talent against most opponents, Virginia is prone to the occasional upset, especially early in the season. In 2019, they were upset by a High Point team in a February game. And last year, they lost to Richmond (although they were actually pretty good). So, the Hoos are not completely unbeatable.
Michigan, however is coming off a very weird 2022 season. Last year they raced out to a 7-0 record, against a soft schedule and then finished...7-8 including a handful of 2-goal and 1-goal losses down the stretch. Coach Conry wants to turn it around this year and put Virginia on the schedule in the hopes that playing a tougher early OOC opponent will help them in B1G play. Well, they literally couldn't start with anyone tougher!
Michigan brings back all-time points leader Josh Zawada who put up 77 points last year. But more importantly, they get back Bryce Clay, who missed all of 2022 with an injury. Zawada's numbers dropped off against better competition, largely because Michigan didn't have another playmaker on offense, allowing defenses to key in on Zawada. But Clay's return should provide them with more opportunities. Michigan's goalie Shane Carr is excellent and they boast one of the best faceoff men in the country in Nick Rowlett.
Here goes nothing. GO GET 'EM BOYS!! GO BLUE!!!!
February 11th, 2023 at 10:04 AM ^
(My cat stepped on my keyboard and f---ed up that sentence. But what I meant to say is that I've already caught a Duke game and a Syracuse game on the ACCNX/ESPN app on my Roku TV so I think this one should be available).
February 11th, 2023 at 10:28 AM ^
Thanks a lot for this informative update. Excited that lacrosse is starting up again. It would be really cool if Conry could get this program rolling and generate some excitement. I agree that getting Bryce Clay back will be big.
February 11th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
UVA lacrosse's NIL game must be 🔥
February 11th, 2023 at 1:15 PM ^
Win some more face-offs in the second half and they'll have a shot at the upset.
February 11th, 2023 at 1:15 PM ^
My Xfinity package doesn’t allow me to view ESPN/ACC coverage of the game. Will have to rely on Twitter updates. I’m impressed that we’re running with the #1 team in the country through the half, down 7-9
February 11th, 2023 at 1:19 PM ^
February 11th, 2023 at 1:41 PM ^
Great fight down the stretch here
Edit: Oops, thought there were only 3 periods like hockey
February 11th, 2023 at 2:07 PM ^
February 11th, 2023 at 4:38 PM ^
I was only able to watch a replay just now and...holy shit. They could've won that game.
On paper, that was the most talented team Michigan will play all season. But, on the field Virginia didn't exactly blow me away with all that talent. Michigan seemed comparable athletically and they hung with UVA the whole way. If Michigan can bring that sort of effort against every other team on their schedule, they should win a lot of games.
And that's with giving up a bunch of easy goals, most of them in transition and semi-transition. Despite that I thought they defended pretty well 6-on-6. And that was probably the worst game I've seen Carr play; I really don't think he was seeing the ball, especially early on. And Michigan had a handful of inopportune turnovers and botched clears but they seemed to take care of the ball better than they did last year. And they got screwed on a bad penalty call in the 4th after a really hard fought ground-ball scramble/body check knocked the ball out of bounds off UVA. That was a crucial possession.
It's crazy to think that a few plays here and there and Michigan pulls off the upset over a hot-shot Virginia team. But it's true. I just hope they get a lot of confidence from this and go crush everybody else they play. GO BLUE!!!
February 11th, 2023 at 4:44 PM ^
Also - I'm psyched they put Virginia on the schedule. These are the big time, juicy matchups a lot of us were hoping for when they jumped to Division 1. This was the first time they ever played Virginia. They have built in conference games vs. Maryland and Hopkins and ND is on the schedule most years. But they still have never played official games vs. blue blood powerhouses Syracuse, Princeton and Duke. And I think they've only played Cornell and North Carolina once a piece. (Duke ALWAYS loses an early season game; they lost to Jacksonville today. So maybe Michigan should put them on the schedule next year!)