Michigan(s) Weekend Preview: BC and UCSB

Yet another double-dip of road-tripping teams for the Wolverines and Spartans this week, as UC-Santa Barbara and Boston College will both hit up the mitten over the weekend. Spartans have a Thursday-Sunday docket, whereas Michigan faces the teams in Oosterbaan Friday-Saturday.

UC-Santa Barbara

Michigan State – Thursday 7PM, Ralph Young Field
Michigan – Saturday 7PM, Oosterbaan Fieldhouse
Record: 6-2 (1-0 SLC North)
Rankings: 10 (adidas), 10 (Prodigy), 9 (LaxPower), 16 (Computer).
Common Opponents: None.

Schedule

UCSB is off to a strong start, and they’ve been rewarded by entering the top 10 in all human polls. Their only two losses are an 11-12 nailbiter at Cal Poly, and a competitive 7-13 game against Colorado State (one of the trio of teams, along with Michigan and Arizona State, atop the MCLA world right now).

Their wins aren’t too impressive, with close decisions over Cal, Utah, and Santa Clara, and a trio of 15-9 victories, over UC Davis, San Diego State, and Claremont. All of those teams, save perhaps Utah, are likely to be on the outside looking in come tournament time.

Personnel

UCSB has five players averaging 2 points a game or better, led by redshirt junior attack Jamie Bridgman with nearly 5 points per game, evenly-distributed between goals and assists. After Bridgman, there’s a big drop to junior/freshman middie Aaron Hemeon at 2.375 points per game, mostly coming on goals. CJ Jacobs, Ethan Mantel, and Blair Bennett are all at 2PPG.

Junior LSM Jonathan Kintzele is second on the team in GBs, and sophomore defenseman Kenny Smith is also up there. Redshirt freshman defensman Dan Nevitt also seems to get a lot of run. Redshirt freshman goalie Andrew Noto gets the majority of time between the pipes, and he’s saving .591 of shots faced.

UCSB doesn’t have published faceoff stats, but I would guess Oisin Lewis is the guy there. He has 33 GBs to lead the team, and only 1 goal from midfield. He’s either a FOGO or a defensive specialist in the midfield.

Boston College

Michigan – Friday 7PM,  Oosterbaan Fieldhouse
Michigan State – Sunday 1PM, Ralph Young Field
Record: 2-1 (0-0 PCLL)
Rankings: 14 (adidas), 13 (Prodigy), 14 (LaxPower), 20 (Computer).
Common Opponents: None.

Schedule

The Eagles have started 2-1 (plus a scrimmage win) with victories over Texas A&M and ArizonaA&M is mediocre – and plays in the bad LSA – and Boston College smoked them 20-6. Arizona has a decent record, but has lost to most of the decent competition they’ve played, including a 6-4 Boston College victory.

Arizona State is the closest thing to Michigan in the MCLA this season (along with Colorado State). On a semi-neutral site in Scottsdale – effectively an ASU home game, just a few miles from their campus – The Sun Devils smoked BC 14-5.

Personnel

Despite a 20-point victory over Texas A&M, the Eagles don’t have any standout scorers. That’s partially because they share the wealth, with 16 different players finding twine so far this season, led by junior attack Matthew O’Sullivan with 4 goals. Senior attacks Falco Christian(!) and Donald Conway also average over a point per game, and Falco leads the team in scoring with 3 goals and 2 assists.

Justin Katchis and Ryan Galvin are leaders of the defense, and near the top of the team in ground balls (along with midfielder Michael Hannify). Zachary Citarella and Nick Shea have played the majority of time in net, with the sophomore Shea performing better so far.

Predictions

I think both Michigan and Michigan State earn the sweep this weekend. Tomorrow night’s MSU-UCSB contest could be the game of the weekend, with both squads in the back half of the MCLA’s top ten teams. In that contest, I think home field advantage carries the Spartans to a 2-goal victory. Michigan should have an easier time with the Gauchos, winning by more than the 6-goal margin that Colorado State did.

Against BC, I think both Mitten teams have the overwhelming talents advantage. Both Michigan and Michigan State should be able to walk off the field with comfortable wins, the Wolverines’ coming by at least 10 goals.