This was definitely not one of the games mentally marked as “winnable” coming into the season, and that was borne out on the field. Playing against a Jeff Tambroni team – albeit just in his second year at the helm in Happy Valley – is a tall task for a first-year program.
Although Michigan managed to keep the score relatively close through much of the contest, Penn State had too much firepower to ever be at serious risk of falling victim to the upset.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Penn State 2012 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Penn State | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 14 | Faceoff Wins | 14 |
| Clearing | 9-21 | Clearing | 15-17 |
| Possessions | 37 | Possessions | 43 |
| Goals | 9 | Goals | 16 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .243 | Offensive Efficiency | .372 |
After being controlled by a pair of mediocre faceoff men against Detroit, Michigan’s Brian Greiner actually impressed against Penn State, winning more than half his draws (freshman Alex Marcus lost his only two). Part of that comes from facing the backup – PSU’s primary faceoff specialist, Brother Rice alum Danny Henneghan, won nearly two-thirds of his attempts.
With a stalemate in the middle (again, an improvement and a positive sign for the future), Michigan’s possession deficit arose from the ride/clear game. I thought Detroit would exploit Michigan’s inexperience with a heavy ride, and they didn’t. Penn State wasn’t so kind, and the limited stick skills and exposure to Division I lacrosse on Michigan’s roster struggled with it.
In terms of efficiency, it’s no surprise to see Penn State dominate. Again, they have a solid defense (and Michigan may have overachieved, even), and at the other end of the field, it’s no secret that Michigan’s defense is shorthanded for the D-1 level and frankly not good enough to win games against good competition.
Notes
Trevor Yealy’s adjustment to the D-1 level is going to be a storyline to watch this season (and not necessarily through any fault of his own, because opponents would be wise to take him away), and this game was a struggle. He put in a single goal, and it came after the game was well out of reach.
As for positive scoring lines, Will Meter, Alex Vasileff, and Doug Bryant each had two goals and an assist. David McCormack and Thomas Paras both had one of each. That’s a pretty balanced scoring effort, and it includes good performances by a couple young guys, so the future, at least on offense, looks a little brighter.
On D, Dyland Westerhold (from the box score only) looks like he was in large part responsible for the trouble clearing. He had four turnovers on his own, and you’d expect a freshman keeper to struggle against a tough ride. He made nine saves while allowing 13 goals, actually a pretty good performance.
Brent Kirshner and Austin Swaney were the only Wolverines who caused multiple turnovers while managing to avoid turning the ball over themselves. Michigan’s going to need those experienced guys to be solid in order to improve over the course of the year.
A few of Penn State’s goals – especially on the third-quarter run – were of the fast-break or slow-break variety off of faceoffs. We saw Detroit get buried in the third against Ohio State, and it looks like a similar fate doomed Michigan on Saturday.
Michigan actually played a much cleaner game than Penn State, with five extra-man opportunities to PSU’s three. Even more notable, two of Michigan’s were procedure issues, by way of a delay of game and a too many men call, so the play was even cleaner than the scorecard will show. However, despite Michigan’s advantage in opportunities, each team converted on two – you’d expect the Nittany Lions’ man-down to be pretty good under a defensive-minded coach like Tambroni.
In news of opponents from Michigan, the aforementioned Danny Henneghan of Brother Rice won 13 of his 21 faceoffs, picking up three GBs in the process. He also took one shot and recorded an assist on Penn State’s ninth goal. Fellow Warrior alumnus Nick Dolik scored a goal on three shots, and caused two turnovers while committing one.
Elsewhere
Official recap from the Michigan angle, and the Penn State viewpoint via LaxPower. The Centre Daily Times with some lacrosse coverage(!). Photo gallery from Lax.com.
I’m not sure if I got around to mentioning this last week, but this was game one of a three-game series between Michigan-Penn State-Ohio State. If a team wins against both other teams, the Big Ten Creator’s Trophy will be awarded. Michigan is already eliminated from this season’s competition, but can at least play spoiler for Ohio State on April 14.
Up Next
The (immediate) road doesn’t get any tougher. The Wolverines travel to Denver for games against the Pioneers Saturday afternoon and Air Force on Sunday morning.
The Falcons are one of the few teams that Michigan might stand a chance against (although competitive results in their first two games, despite a lack of wins, might indicate they’ll be competitive later in the year), but Denver will be angry after falling to Ohio State last weekend.