Michigan 9, Ohio State 12

Another game, another result close enough to look more than a little respectable, but not close enough to be truly heartbreaking. Coming against decent opposition (which Ohio State is), that’s a huge leap forward from earlier this season. A game like this is one that Michigan will be able to win with another year or two of Division-1 recruiting, coaching, and development.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Considering they were playing against a pretty slow team, the pace of play was right around the national average. Michigan actually won the battle on faceoffs and did pretty well on the clear to control possessions. Time of possession, on the other hand, was probably slanted in the favor of the stall-tastic Buckeyes.

This game was lost for Michigan – as we’ve seen many times this year – on the defensive end of the field. While they didn’t light the world on fire offensively, that number is actually about average on Ohio State’s excellent defense. However, Ohio State scored at will (as have lots of teams this year), and the Bucks were able to respond when Michigan drew close.

Notes

As noted above, this was a pretty good performance for Michigan against a pretty good team. They committed only four more turnovers than the Buckeyes, and though they got of 10 fewer shots, they actually put a greater percentage of them on goal than did OSU. We’re seeing incremental progress that indicates good things for the future. Unfortunately, in the here and now, things are evaluated on the basis of wins and losses, and this goes in the record book as an ‘L,’ no matter how encouraging the performance may have been.

Brian Greiner did an outstanding job on faceoffs against a team that is generally pretty good at winning them – or at least not bad at it. Greiner also had an offensive explosion with goals on two clean faceoff wins. Excellent day for the fifth-year senior.

Other offensive standouts were Alex Vasileff (three goals), Trevor Yealy (two goals) and Willie Steenland (a goal and an assist). Steenland continued being turnover-prone, with four on the day, but balanced it out to a degree with increased offensive production.

Defensively, J.D. Johnson and Austin Swaney both caused two turnovers. Johnson picked up three GBs, while Swaney had five (but balanced it out with a turnover – not uncommon for an LSM – and a penalty).

Emil Weiss had a great performance again. He’s not perfect – he’ll let in a softie every now and then – but given the struggles of the defense in front of him, what with the wide open looks it gives up, etc., saving 50% of shots faced is excellent. With another year of experience and and improved defense next year – along with better health and a bit of competition between the pipes – the goalie situation should be a strong point for Team Two.

One Ohio State goal was scored while Weiss was out of net on the ten-man ride (this is bound to happen when Michigan uses the 10-man heavily, but the payoff is that they held one of the country’s best clearing teams into a subpar performance).

For the Buckeyes, Logan Schuss was the star – shocker – but it took him 13 shots to score three goals (he also had two assists) so it was an inefficient day for him. For Michigan’s defense, holding one of the country’s top offensive players to an inefficient day – especially when no one other guys steps up to fill that void – is a good performance. Of course, allowing 11 different opposing players to find their way onto the scorehseet is no bueno.

Elsewhere

Michigan site recap. Box score. Ohio State site recap. Lacrosse Inside the Game was in the house.

Since the game was in the Big House following the Wolverines’ football spring game, there was much more media coverage than usual. AnnArbor.com game story. Michigan Daily game story. Big Ten Network Highlights:

Up Next

Michigan has one last winnable game against slumping Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights have lost their last three games and five of their last six, with the lone victory coming in overtime against Providence (winners of one game this year – although they did beat Michigan in Fall Ball play). Of course, “winnable” and “guarantee” are not the same thing – and the latter doesn’t exist for this Michigan squad.

The game takes place in Piscataway, N.J. on Saturday at 7 p.m. If Michigan does somehow manage to pull of a win, it will build confidence going into next year (before said confidence is smashed to bits by North Carolina the following week).