Willie Steenland photo courtesy of GLS amigo Clark Bell. Check out his photos here.
It was evident from start to finish that Loyola was a vastly more talented team. For the Wolverines to play pretty evenly for large stretches of the game was a victory of the moral variety. Yeah, nobody’s happy about having to look to moral victories, but that’s the way it’s going to be for this year’s Michigan team.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Loyola 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Loyola | Michigan | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 17 | Faceoff Wins | 10 |
| Clearing | 15-20 | Clearing | 14-20 |
| Possessions | 43 | Possessions | 35 |
| Goals | 15 | Goals | 8 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .349 | Offensive Efficiency | .229 |
Michigan didn’t play Brian Greiner, choosing to concede the faceoff and get immediately into their defensive sets. Austin Swaney (2/4) and J.D. Johnson (8/23) actually didn’t perform that poorly, given that their directive was to avoid a fast break at all costs.
Loyola is a super-talented team on both offense and defense, so Michigan’s efficiency numbers are nothing to be ashamed of. After halftime – the Wolverines only “lost” the second half by one goal – things looked even better. On 18 possessions, the Wolverines scored 6 of their goals.
Weak stretches have been Michigan’s bugaboo all year, and they’re to be expected even more against top competition like Loyola. Michigan opened scoring in the game – as they have in every contest this year except against Denver – but the Hounds were up 8-1 before the Wolverines got back on the board.
Notes
Thomas Paras and Willie Steenland had the best offensive days for Michigan, with two goals and an assist apiece. Steenland, however, committed six turnovers, including a few unforced in the first half that helped Loyola extend their big run.
Alex Vasileff was the only other multi-point Wolverine, with a pair of goals. He also picked up a couple GBs for a more well-rounded day than the other two.
As mentioned above, Brian Greiner was healthy, but didn’t face off for gameplan purposes. The strategy mostly worked out for Michigan, which only gave up a goal or two in transition directly from the faceoff.
Emil Weiss went the distance in net, and didn’t look as impressive as he did over the weekend. That’s bound to happen when your opposition goes from Mercer to Loyola. Mike Sawyer from Loyola (5 goals and 2 assists) is the best opposing player I’ve seen for Michigan or Detroit all season.
Austin Swaney and J.D. Johnson were the unsurprising leaders in ground balls. That’s bound to happen when you’re facing off. Swaney also caused four turnovers, again partially a result of taking faceoffs.
Quotes
From Michigan coach John Paul:
“As in every game we’ve played this year, we played 60 minutes. We lost by one in the second half against the No. 9 team in the country. It continues to show that one, we’re going to play hard until the final whistle, and two, we have to play perfectly to play with teams like this, but when we do put some things together, we can. For us, it’s just being able to sustain that for an entire game.”
“We want to do everything we can to make the parts that we can make great right now, great. That’s what they’re doing, and you see that when we’re playing as hard as we are until the final whistle, and you’d see that if you’re here every day in practice, and you’d see that in the culture that we’re building.”
From senior midfielder Alex Vasileff:
“Going into every game, we don’t expect to lose. We think we’ve got good game plans going into every one, but it’s going to take four quarters.”
From junior midfielder/attackman Thomas Paras:
“We felt that we left a lot out there, but we felt that we had stretches where we played great. Loyola’s a great team, hats off to them, they proved why they’re a top-10 team. We need to keep getting better; we’re getting better each game and that’s all we can really focus on right now.”
“Obviously we got outscored by one in the second half, and they’re a top-ten team and we proved we can hang with them. We’ve just gotta tighten up parts of our game and things will come together.”
Elsewhere
Official site recap and photo gallery. Highlights. The full box score (also linked above). Loyola site story.
Up Next
After their fifth game in 12 days, Michigan has a long break – at least from competition – before they’ll be on the field again. Bellarmine will travel to Ann Arbor and play in the Big House on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17.
The Knights were a regular opponent for Michigan’s club team (and the Wolverines beat them from time-to-time), so it will be interesting to hear about the differences in Michigan from the Bellarmine players and coaches.