Michigan drops first game of the year at BYU by one goal.
For Immediate Release
March 5, 2005
Event: Men's Lacrosse
Site: Provo, Utah (South Field)
Score: #5 Michigan 6, #3 BYU 7
Records: UM (3-2, 0-0 CCLA), BYU (3-2, 0-0 RMLC)
Next U-M Game: Friday, March 18 -- vs. Eastern Michigan University (Ann Arbor, Mich.; Oosterbaan Fieldhouse), 7:00 p.m. EST
Provo, Utah: The 5th ranked University of Michigan men's lacrosse team was defeated by the slimmest of margins on Saturday (March 5) afternoon vs. #3 Brigham Young, losing by a score of 7-6 in front of 390 fans at the South Field in Provo, Utah. In another tight contest between the two rivals, Michigan was unable to overcome a late, two-goal deficit and lost for the second time in a row to the Cougars.
BYU came out firing in the first quarter and controlled possession for the majority of the first 15 minutes. Michigan had trouble clearing the ball early and was out-muscled on groundball attempts by the larger Cougar squad. It was also apparent that the natural field surface was giving the Wolverines (a team that practices and plays their home games on field turf) some trouble with groundballs. Two even-man, unassisted goals from Mark Davis and Jon-Michael Dreher opened the scoring for the Cougars and gave BYU a 2-0 lead entering the second quarter.
Michigan struck early in the second quarter however as senior midfielder Mike O'Leary (St. Louis, MO/Clayton) notched his seventh goal of the season at the 13:33 mark. The Wolverines began to settle in and were far more successful in the second quarter when clearing the ball, successfully completing all five attempts. The two teams traded goals before the half, entering the locker room with BYU ahead by a score of 3-2.
The third quarter followed suit with both squads registering two goals apiece. Freshmen Tom Lehman (Beverly Hills, Mich./Univ. of Detroit Jesuit) and Bobby Morales (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) found the back of the net in the third period to help the Wolverines keep pace with BYU.
Entering the final frame trailing 5-4, another freshman came to the rescue, this time in the form of Peter Krauss (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central). Krauss opened the period with a goal at 9:09 on an assist from fellow freshman Evan Fox (Suffern, N.Y./Suffern) to draw the Wolverines even at 5-5. After two BYU goals at 3:49 and 2:17, it would be Krauss again, this time unassisted, to once again bring the Wolverines to within one. After gaining possession again after the goal, the Wolverines were able to run through their offense one remaining time before the game clock expired. The Maize and Blue were able to muster two shots, but were not able to beat BYU goalie Glen Makechnie to tie the game.
Keeping the Wolverines in the game throughout was senior goaltender Dan Webber (Weston, Mass./Weston) who recorded 12 saves in the contest including four in the pivotal fourth quarter. Brigham Young won every statistical category along with the final score, notching 37 shots to Michigan's 33, and scooping up eight more groundballs, 38-30. The Cougars ability to possess the ball was also evident in the box score with BYU winning 10 of 17 faceoffs and clearing the ball at a better rate than the Wolverines, finishing with 13-20 totals compared to 13-24 for U-M. Neither team was successful on the man-up with Michigan totaling 0-6 and BYU failing on all four of their attempts.
The Wolverines will have a week off before taking on local-rival, Eastern Michigan University on March 18, at 7:00pm EST at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
NOTES
-- 34 of Michigan's 58 goals scored on the season have been scored by a freshman. Freshman Evan Fox currently leads the team in goals and points with 13-6-19.
-- Michigan has never defeated BYU on the road. Last season, U-M dropped an 8-6 contest to BYU in Orlando, Florida on February 28.
-- After two games, the Wolverines had a faceoff record of 34-8. In their last three games the Wolverines are a combined 20-22.
-- Senior defenseman Kirk Kozel (Barrington, Ill./Taft, Ct.) and senior long-stick midfielder David Silverman (Potomac, Md./Churchill) both led the team with four groundballs in the game.
-- With two weeks before their next game, the Wolverines should have some time to heal some wounds and get some bodies back on the field. Senior Ryan Clark (Summit, N.J./Summit) (knee) and junior Jim Constantine (Troy, Mich./Seaholm) (shoulder) will benefit the most from the time off and both may be ready for the March 18 contest vs. Eastern Michigan. Senior midfielder Brian Vincent (Farmington Hills, Mich./Univ. of Detroit Jesuit) (knee) will be re-evaluated and will receive another MRI on the team's return to Ann Arbor. He may also be available vs. EMU. Sophomore attackman Matt Hudson (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville) is also shooting for a late March, early April return. Constantine and Hudson were both injured in practice just before the first game of the season, and have not played yet. All four are starters.
QUOTES
U-M Head Coach John Paul
On the game itself: "We definitely had some issues with possession. We had trouble getting the groundballs for a number of reasons. They have some very talented midfielders who gave us some problems and they were bigger and playing more physically than us. It was also obvious we were having trouble with the surface. The ball reacts differently on natural grass than what we play on [Field Turf] and there are some things our guys weren't doing in terms of playing the ball. We will have to get back to some fundamentals over the next two weeks."
On the play of the defense: "Today I really don't think we played our best game defensively. They have some great middies who made our job pretty difficult, but we pride ourselves on our defense and we made some mistakes we don't normally make today. There were some adjustments we made, but there were also some execution issues that we haven't had to deal with in the past few games. Out of everybody back there I'd have to save Webber played the best. He made some really clutch saves."
On the play of the freshman reserves stepping in for the injured: "These freshmen are playing great. We are just throwing them in there and they are coming up huge for us. For most of the last three games, we are playing with five freshmen on the offensive half of the field. We are going to be a very deep team when all the starters return. The offense will be completely different considering all the time the young guys have had to play in big games. They are gaining some really valuable experience against good opponents. We did miss Jimmy [Constantine] a lot today, though. His size could have really helped us against a team like BYU."
On the entire trip out west: "We considered this entire trip a three-game tournament and we just got to the finals and lost in the championship. We need to learn how to finish these things off and take that next step. This is something we are going to have to get over."
Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493, jjhennes@umich.edu