One day, Michigan wants to be a blueblood of college lacrosse. That day hasn’t yet arrived (nor does it seem particularly close), so when they do face off against such a squad, things don’t go well.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Johns Hopkins 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Johns Hopkins | Michigan | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 20 | Faceoff Wins | 15 |
| Clearing | 11-13 | Clearing | 17-17 |
| Possessions | 33 | Possessions | 34 |
| Goals | 19 | Goals | 13 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .576 | Offensive Efficiency | .382 |
The high scoring (and resulting high volume of faceoffs) may give a first-glance impression that this was a very fast game, but it really wasn’t. The Blue Jays and Wolverines both just played an extremely efficient game in the offensive end.
Notes
That efficiency number for Hopkins is ludicrous. The Jays consistently boast some of the country’s top offensive talent (though the results on the field don’t always bear that out), and when facing a struggling defense like U-M’s, they can turn that into a flaming scoreboard. Five different Hopkins players notched four points(!), three others accounted for a pair, and four Blue Jays had a single point on the day.
Michigan’s offense had an uncharacteristically impressive day itself. Kyle Jackson returned to the lineup for senior day, and scored five goals. Ian King and Sean McCanna each had a pair of goals and two assists, as well. King became Michigan’s single-season assist record holder, hitting 16 on the year (pretty impressive for a guy whose reputation through his first couple years was “definitely not a feeder). Freshman Decker Curran scored two goals and added an assist.
It was an interesting day on faceoffs for Michigan. Craig Madarasz had a mostly-mediocre year for Hopkins, but was able to chase Brad Lott (3/13) by midway through the second quarter. Then, little-used Mike McConnell entered and won 7 of 13 against Madarasz. Madarasz got putlled for Hunter Moreland (and it wasn’t just Hopkins playing their bench – it was a three-goal game in the third at that point), who had a similar performance during the competitive portion of the afternoon.
Hopkins ended up with a five-possession advantage in faceoffs, but Michigan chipped away at an early deficit over the course of the game. Michigan made up some of that deficit on faceoffs by clearing perfectly, while riding Johns Hopkins into a couple failed clears.
Michigan scored the first two goals of the game – a good start, which we’ve seen from this program even in the first couple years when they were really bad – but allowed Hopkins to score the next seven. That was aided by a couple EMO opportunities for the Jays, and you can really start to see where U-M didn’t stand up to the pressure of playing against a traditional power, yeah? The game was pretty back-and-forth after that, with Michigan slowly eating into that lead, before Hop took command for the final time with a three-goal run late in the fourth to put it away.
Gerald Logan faced a ton of shots (19 shots on goal – which is the number that got past him – would be plenty). He did make 12 saves, and 11 of the Jays’ 19 goals were assisted. He was put in a ton of tough positions, and there’s only so much he could do. Meanwhile, he certainly outdueled JHU’s Brock Turnbaugh, who allowed 13 goals and saved just seven (and again, wasn’t facing nearly a comparable level of talent).
Elsewhere
Boxscore. Michigan recap. Johns Hopkins recap. Photo gallery. Re-watch on BTN2Go.
Up Next
The Maize and Blue wrapped up the season against Penn State.