Michigan 1, Army 12

So, Michigan had seemed to come around a bit against Hopkins. Sure, they never threatened to win, but aside from faceoffs it certainly seemed like they belonged on the same field with the Jays.

Then this happened. At a neutral-site venue against a mediocre team, Michigan was outclassed, particularly when they had the ball. What the heck happened? Let’s take a look.

Tempo Free

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

Army 2013
Michigan Army
Faceoff Wins 9 Faceoff Wins 8
Clearing 19-25 Clearing 19-20
Possessions 35 Possessions 34
Goals 1 Goals 12
Offensive Efficiency .029 Offensive Efficiency .353

So the offense and defense were both terrible. Yay. Michigan drew better-than-even in possession, but was still run off the field.

To a certain degree, that speaks to the importance of not just the number of possessions, but how those possessions come about. Michigan turned it over six times on the clear. You can bet some of Army’s goals were easy transition opportunities that resulted. As for the total offensive impotence, we’ll have to take a closer look to see what happened there.

Notes

I won’t bury my lede here: Michigan had a slight advantage in possessions, but the quality of those possessions was not comparable at all. Army had 52 shots, 36 of them on goal. That’s in 34 possessions. That’s more than a shot and a half per possession, and more than a shot on goal per possession. Michigan, on the other hand, got of 18 shots, 13 of them on goal in 35 possessions. That’s barely more than a single shot every two possessions, and a shot on goal about every third possession. That’s bad.

It’s weird because the turnover numbers weren’t that different, nor were the GB numbers. Army must have had great backup on many of their shots, and U-M wasn’t doing a whole lot to help Gerald Logan.

Speaking of Logan, he’s going to be a star as the team around him improves. He made 24 saves (a program record to date), stopping two-thirds of Army’s shots despite getting shelled for much of the game. Michigan counts on him to make plays – and he does – but they need to help him as well. Allowing 36 shots on goal isn’t going to win you a lot of games, even with an excellent goalie.

As predicted, Brad Lott won the faceoff outing (Chase Brown was also responsible for one of Michigan’s eight losses), and that’s not against scrubs. More time on the practice field with his wing players should see U-M get above 50% on the year by the end of this road trip.

The clearing game saw Michigan’s first serious struggles of the year. Gerald Logan and J.D. Johnson each had three turnovers, while Charlie Keady added two. Although someone who was at the game mentioned to me that fast-break and transition goals weren’t a huge issue, I’m betting the busted clears did give up some unsettled opportunities.

Of course, it’s the offense that gets the biggest sad face of the day. That efficiency number if nothing short of brutal. Zach Dauch, David Joseph, and Doug Bryant committed a turnover apiece, but that’s nothing compared to three for Will Meter or four for Mike Hernandez. Hernandez also hit cage (or actually keeper, as the case was) on just one of his four shots. He’s young and talented, but with Michigan relying on so many young guys, they’re going to have to live with the growing pains from time to time. Defenses playing aggressively is going to be the gameplan from here on out, and Michigan has to adjust quickly.

As far as the lone positive on offense, five of Peter Kraus’s six shots found cage, but only one of them beat the keeper. His unassisted tally was Michigan’s only positive moment.

Michigan gave up three EMO goals, and committed eight penalties. That seems a little odd for one of the least-penalized teams in the nation coming in, but without seeing the game live, I can’t comment too strongly on it. They were also on Army’s fifth, sixth, and tenth goals, so the game was already well beyond where Michigan ended up.

It would be unfair to recap this game and not mention Garrett Thul. I brought up in the preview that he was pretty much a one-man show, and slowing him down would really slow down the Army offense. That proved to be true… except Michigan couldn’t do anything to slow him down. He scored seven times and assisted on one, giving him a hand in 2/3 of the Army scores.

Here’s something that is really really annoying in hindsight: Michigan (a team from Michigan) and Army (a team from New York) played in Florida. That’s cool. The game was also televised in Florida with no streaming options, so people from Michigan and New York (a.k.a. the people who cared to watch) had no way to watch the game. Media deals are weird, especially for what is essentially a niche sport in lacrosse, but hopefully such issues get hammered out in a better way for fans in future years.

Elsewhere

Lacrosse Magazine liveblog. Official boxscore. U-M site recap. Army photo gallery. Army site recap. Florida Lacrosse News recap.

Up Next

Michigan’s most winnable game of the year looms Wednesday. First-year program High Point has had some really positive moments so far this year, but it’s still a first-year program. If Michigan wants to take the next step forward, a win is absolutely necessary.

It’s a road game on short rest, so the odds are a little stacked against Michigan. Still, U-M pasted Mercer last year, and while High Point is on a different level than the Bears were last year, the stakes are the same.

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Scores and Schedule: March 4, 2013

The UDM women give Marquette what I believe to be the program’s first victory.

Yesterday’s Results

Division-1 Women

Detroit 10, Marquette 11

Division-3 Men

Alma 7, Wilmington 5

MCLA-2

Siena Heights @ Oakland – postponed
Aquinas 5, Georgia Southern 9

Today’s Schedule

MCLA-2

Grand Valley State @ Florida Gulf Coast, 7:30 p.m.

Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.

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Detroit 10, Quinnipiac 12

This was a game that Detroit won on the road last year, and one that they probably should have taken home this year. However, a back-and-forth game ended with a late QU run and a two-goal victory for the visitors.

Tempo Free

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

Quinnipiac 2013
Quinnipiac Detroit
Faceoff Wins 12 Faceoff Wins 14
Clearing 11-13 Clearing 13-16
Possessions 28 Possessions 32
Goals 12 Goals 10
Offensive Efficiency .429 Offensive Efficiency .313

The Titans proved my prediction of a good day on faceoffs to be correct, winning greater than 50%. They also cleared and rode just about even with Quinnipiac. The possessino game was just about even, edge Titans.

It was what the teams did with those possessions that gave Quinnipiac the victory. QU had no real problems putting the ball in the back of the net (despite what appeared to be a stellar day by A.J. Levell), and the Titans couldn’t return the favor.

Notes

Starting with Levell, for in my opinion was easily the UDM player of the game. The first goal that he let in was remarkably soft – a high-to-high floater from the top of the box – but he stopped a lot of good chances after settling in. He saved .500 of shots faced, but that included a few really good looks that QU had no business no capitalizing on.

After getting a chance to watch in person, I’m confident that Detroit will be able to hold their own against all but some of the best teams on the schedule. Corcoran had the most consistent success on the day, and (as is always the case on faceoffs) could have won or lost a couple more based on wing play.

I have no idea what goes through some of the UDM midfielders’ minds when they decide to dodge into three men instead of moving the ball. This wasn’t a one-time occurrence. It was like a six-time occurrence. Very weird thing to struggle with. 22 turnovers (across all positions) on just 32 possessions is bad.

UDM has a rep as one of the country’s most penalty-prone teams, but in all honesty, every time I see them play I get the impression it’s BS. Shayne Adams was called for a one-minute illegal body check penalty early in the game on a completely clean hit. The ref whistled the ball in play on a quick restart, the clearing midfielder didn’t realize it was in play, and Adams lit him up. Evidently the ref was not willing to take the blame for something that was 100% his error, so he called the penalty.

Speaking of Adams, a few commenters have mentioned that he’s banged up, and it’s apparent from watching him play. He doesn’t have the fluidity of motion (and overall energy level) that he did last year, and it’s hampering him.

On a brighter note for the offense, Alex Maini continues to put in serious work for UDM. He racked up five goals and two assists (giving him a hand in 70% of Detroit’s goals). Adams, despite injury, managed to score two goals. Brandon Beauregard had two assists.

A perpetually injured team had a couple players go down in this one. Jamie Hebden and Jordan Houtby both came out of the game at certain points with injuries, though both returned to the lineup.

Elsewhere

UDM site recap. Quinnipiac site recapOfficial boxscore. Photo gallery. Matt Holtz postgame:

Up Next

Detroit tries to end the slide by heading out to Marist for their MAAC conference opener. They split with the Red Foxes last year, winning in overtime at home before bowing out of the conference tournament 10-12.

Marist has started the year 3-0, with those wins coming against Stony Brook, Sacred Heart, and Lafayette.

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Scores and Schedule: March 3, 2013

Both D-1 teams took it on the chin (albeit in different ways), but it was otherwise a pretty good day.

Yesterday’s Results

Division-1 Men

Detroit 10, Quinnipiac 12
Michigan 1, Army 12

Division-3 Men

Albion 5, Wooster 12
Adrian 13, Aurora 10
Calvin 5, Defiance 4
Hope 14, Baldwin-Wallace 9

MCLA-2

Siena Heights v. Michigan-Flint – postponed
Aquinas 5, Reinhardt 15
Lawrence Tech @ Carnegie Mellon, 4 p.m.

Today’s Schedule

Division-1 Women

Detroit @ Marquette, 1 p.m. (Milwaukee, Wisc.)

Division-3 Men

Alma @ Wilmington

MCLA-2

Siena Heights @ Oakland, 1 p.m. (Stoney Creek High School, Rochester Hills, Mich.)
Aquinas @ Georgia Southern, 3 p.m.

Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.

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Scores and Schedule: March 2, 2013

I’m assuming – perhaps incorrectly – that I’ll be talking about Michigan’s first win of the year right about here.

Yesterday’s Results

Division-3 Men

Alma 2, Mount St. Joseph 8

Today’s Schedule

Division-1 Men

Detroit v. Quinnipiac, 11 a.m. (Titan Field) – Game preview and information.
Michigan v. Army, 7 p.m. (Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Fla.) – Game Preview and information.

Division-3 Men

Albion v. Wooster
Adrian v. Aurora
Calvin @ Defiance
Hope v. Baldwin-Wallace

MCLA-2

Siena Heights v. Michigan-Flint, 1 p.m. (Adrian, Mich.)
Aquinas @ Reinhardt, 3 p.m.
Lawrence Tech @ Carnegie Mellon, 4 p.m.

Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.

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Michigan Preview: Army

Michigan’s long road swing continues, and is soon to pick up the pace with mid-week games the next two weeks, as well.

Army

Army Black Knights lacrosse

Sword not strung to 2013 spec.

7:30 p.m. EST March 2, 2013
Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Fla.
Live Stats. @UMichLacrosse.
Airs on Sun Sports Sunday at 3 p.m.

Tempo-Free Profile

Army is one of the few teams that have played more games than Michigan’s three so far. That gives us a reasonable base of data to draw conclusions about team quality. Thus far, they’re .500 on the year, but that doesn’t say a whole lot. VMI and Manhattan account for the wins, while ranked UMass and Syracuse teams have dealt them losses.

Army 2013
Army Opponents
Faceoff Wins 42 Faceoff Wins 48
Clearing 65-69 Clearing 70-89
Possessions 130 Possessions 141
Goals 39 Goals 38
Offensive Efficiency .300 Offensive Efficiency .270

Army is running on a pretty big possession deficit this year, thanks for the most part to having far fewer clearing opportunities than opponents. Even though they’re making the most of those chances, they’re still running at 48% possession, which would have been just outside last year’s bottom ten.

Their offensive efficiency, then, is impressive (again, thanks in part to not wasting any possessions on failed clears). They’re making more of their possessions than opponents.

Offense

The offense is led by a well known name nationally in senior attackman Garrett Thul, a third-team All-America selection last year. He’s joined atop Army’s scoring chart to date by midfielder John Glesener at 14 points a pop. Sophomore midfielder Alex Newsome isn’t far behind with 12. Thul is almost exclusively a finisher, as has been senior middie Alex Van Krevel to date this season, with three total goals. Everyone else on the roster is pretty balanced.

Michigan doesn’t have the top-notch No. 1 defenseman to completely shut down a particular player, which it seems would otherwise be the strategy against a player like Thul. That Army is assisting on nearly 70% of goals is troublesome as well, given Michigan’s early-season woes with slide-and-recovery.

Defense

Defensively, Army’s numbers are pretty good, but that’s partially due to: a game against Syracuse in the dome wherein the Orange only score six times but were never even remotely threatened by the Black Knights, and games against two of last year’s worst overall teams and offenses.

Anyway, Jon Burk, Pat Hart, and Brendan Buckley have started all four Army games to date. Buckley leads the unit with six caused turnovers and six ground balls. The other two have a single caused TO between them, so this hasn’t been much of a takeaway unit to date.

In goal, two players have nearly split time, with Sam Somers getting three starts to Bobby Sincero’s one, even though Sincero has played about a half hour more game time on the year. Somers is by far the superior option based on the stats, despite playing the entire game against Syracuse while Sincero’s full game played is Manhattan.

Special Teams

Matt Mezer and Alex Daly have mostly split faceoffs, with Daly slightly above .500 and Mezer slightly below. However their attempts are low enough still that some of that is just noise. This should be an opportunity for Brad Lott to pick up where he left off at halftime against Bellarmine.

Army’s clear has been outstanding this year… as has their ride. They have had far more opportunities to practice the latter than the former (thanks mostly to getting lit up by UMass). Michigan’s clear was awful last year, but things have really tightened up, and they’re no longer inept. The ride – with fewer deployments of the 10-man – hasn’t been as excellent as it was last year. This one reads like a stalemate.

Army has committed an equal number of penalties to opponents, and converted at about the same clip. Michigan is playing a pretty clean brand of lacrosse (as they did last year), and like Army, is converting at about the same rate – exactly 3/11, actually.

Big Picture

Michigan wasn’t expecting to come off last year and suddenly play tournament-caliber lacrosse, but the Bellarmine result, at least, was disappointing. If anything, the Penn State and Johns Hopkins games could be considered encouraging.

However, moral victories each count as 0% of an actual victory, and Team Two is still seeking its first of the latter. This would be a huge victory to get, given that Army appears to be a decent – if unspectacular – squad.

Predictions

Michigan is coming off a week-long break before starting (continuing, as it were) a fairly grueling road trip. Army’s tough stretch is in the rearview, but it’s also prepared the Black Knights to play a relatively easy opponent like Michigan. The Wolverines also have the year’s most winnable game up next, so it’s odd to call this one a “trap game,” but it kind of is.

  • For the first time this season, Michigan wins the faceoff battle. Brad Lott is back, has been practicing with the team for a couple weeks now. Against a mediocre faceoff team, that should finally pay off in results.
  • Michigan’s defense will have serious struggles against a fairly potent Army attack. Thul wouldn’t be out of place on the Johns Hopkins offense that tore the Wolverines to shreds, and there are certainly the supporting pieces present to make the Wolverines’ slow-reacting defense struggle.
  • Michigan – as they have in every game so far – will give up a stretch of 2-3 goals or more, most coming in transition and leaving Gerald Logan out to dry.
  • The U-M offense will have a surprisingly effective day. The Wolverines’ freshmen are starting to come around, and even if Thomas Paras isn’t back to health, they should be able to start capitalizing on flashes of that potential.

Michigan has more potential to improve over the course of the year than most (Marquette and High Point), but there’s still a ways to go to reach Army’s level. The Wolverines will come as close to a win as they have this year, but fall short in a 13-10 Army win.

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Detroit Preview: Quinnipiac

Detroit has started the year with a couple games against tough opposition, and things lighten up a bit with today’s trip to the Pittsburgh area. However, Robert Morris is no pushover, either.

Quinnipiac

Quinnipiac Bobcats Lacrosse

This bobcat is looking extra-fierce

11 a.m. EST March 2, 2013
Titan Field, Detroit – free admission.
Live stats. GLS Tweet.
Gameday Central from UDM. UDM site preview.

Tempo-Free Profile

Quinnipiac is one of the few teams out there that played its only game thus far last weekend. That means we don’t know a whole lot about whether the Bobcats are any good or if Brown is bad. Given that Brown was about a .500 team in pythagorean win expectations last year and Quinnipiac was one of the worst teams in the nation… well, either one team got a lot better or the other got a lot worse.

Quinnipiac 2013
Quinnipiac Opponents (Brown)
Faceoff Wins 12 Faceoff Wins 8
Clearing 21-27 Clearing 23-27
Possessions 43 Possessions 41
Goals 9 Goals 7
Offensive Efficiency .209 Offensive Efficiency .171

So the teams were about even in possession, and all things considered, about even in goals. There’s not a whole lot separating these two units in this game, and until we have more data on each of them, it remains a mystery.

Offense

Attackmen Brendan Wilbur (3G), and Michael Sagl and Dylan Webster (2G, 1A apiece) led the team’s offense against Brown. Oddly, Webster is listed as an attackman, but is the starting faceoff specialist, as well. Additional offense came from the midfielders (one point each for Chris Messina, Basil Kostaras, Matt Diehl, and Pat Mulligan), but this is clearly an attack-driven offense through one game.

Of course, whether that continues depends in part upon how teams defend them going forward. Coming into the season, I would have said Detroit’s first-team close D was a matchup strength, but that hasn’t borne out across the lineup quite yet. This should be another chance to prove them.

Defense

The starting close defense against Brown was J.B. Marston, Greg Pendergast, and Chris Kendall. That’s a junior, sophomore, and freshman respectively, so they’re an inexperienced unit, that’s for sure. It appears as though PAt Mulligan is primarily a defensive midfielder, despite his goal against Brown. This early in the season, it’s tough to tell.

In net was Gill Connors, who made 20 saves(!) while allowing only seven goals. Either Brown’s shooters were totally incompetent or the junior is doing some Gerald Logan-like standing on his head to start the year.

Special Teams

Webster won 12 of 19 faceoffs against Brown, and with two straight years of better-than-.500 win percentages, it’s safe to say he’s just pretty good at it. I’m of the opinion that Detroit will hover around .500 this year, but given that they’re facing some who has a history of success, expect them to be just below that mark tomorrow.

Quinnipiac’s clear was kinda bad against a Brown team that didn’t seem to be any good at much of anything else. This Detroit team, for all its emphasis on forcing turnovers, hasn’t been a heavy-riding team this year, but it will be interesting to see if they can change that against a squad that struggled in its only game to date.

The penalty game, as usual, should result in the Titans taking more penalties than Quinnipiac does. However, QU did play a dirtier game than Brown (three penalties to one), so maybe UDM can clean things up a bit. Brown was 2/3 converting EMO opportunities while Quinnipiac failed to convert on their only chance.

Big Picture

Well, I’ll keep saying this until it actually happens: Detroit needs a win in the worst way. The Titans have been close, and they’ve been not so close. They’ve been dominated, and they’ve fallen just short. Regardless of how it’s happened, each game so far has resulted in a loss.

Quinnipiac was one of the games that the Titans managed to come away with a W last year, and doing the same this year could help get the season turned around with conference play fast approaching (and a mediocre Bellarmine team up next).

Predictions

Each loss that piles up is more and more frustrating. There’s not a whole lot of data out there to determine if this Quinnipiac team is similar to the one that gave UDM a victory last year.

  • Like he did last year, Dylan Webster will take home greater than 50% of the faceoffs. However, this UDM team appears to have improved in the metric, and things will be better than last year’s 37% effort against him.
  • The UDM offense still looks stagnant, outside of the top contributors. Shayne Adams and Alex Maini have good days, how the unit performs as a whole depends on who else can step up.
  • The defense comes to life in the first game at Titan Field this year. Last season, UDM forced turnovers on 27.5% of opponent possessions. This year, they’re moving along at a 25.8% clip. Expect them to move back toward last year’s number.

I like Detroit in this game, but I felt the same way about the Titans last week and they were mostly uncompetitive against Robert Morris. Home field advantage can be big in Division-1 lacrosse, though, especially for a team that has struggled in early road games. A home field advantage can, at the very least, be a big emotional boost. Playing the worst opponent to date doesn’t hurt, either. Titans win, 13-11.

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Scores and Schedule: March 1, 2013

MCLA scrimmage action! Snow! Not an excellent mix!

Yesterday’s Results

MCLA-2

Northwood v. Saginaw Valley – Canceled

Today’s Schedule

Division-3 Men

Alma @ Mount St. Joseph

Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.

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Scores and Schedule: Feb. 28, 2013

Alma gives Transylvania its first-ever lacrosse win yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday’s Results

Division-3 Men

Alma 6, Transylvania 7

Today’s Schedule

MCLA-2

Saginaw Valley @ Northwood, 6 p.m. (scrimmage)

Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.

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Lax Links: Feb. 27, 2013

It’s been a minute since we’ve had a Lax Links post, so this could be a long one. As always, the comments section, e-mail inbox, and Twitter account are your ways to get in touch to share any stories I may have missed, news tips, etc.

A new website covering lacrosse in the state has been launched: AllLacrosseMichigan. Mike Costello, coach at Gabriel Richard Greenhills (apologies to Mike for the initial mistake) and formerly writing at the Ann Arbor Examiner is behind the site. Check it out.

Scholarships

The Michigan Chapter of US Lacrosse has announced its 2013 scholarship program. The chapter has six $1,000 dollar grants to issue to graduating seniors playing lacrosse. Visit the website for more details and info on how to apply.

NCAA Men/The Next Level

Are you making it to Detroit‘s home opener against Quinnipiac Saturday morning? If so, two things to remember: bundle up, and bring some canned foods. The Titans’ third annual food drive also hopes to out-raise last year’s event, which reeled in 480 dollars in addition to canned goods.

Mike Costello (prior to introducing All Lacrosse Michigan) profiled Detroit attackman Shayne Adams on the Lacrosse Examiner. Adams has since been named to the Tewaaraton watch list.

Ready for some old pictures? Good. Photos from Detroit’s season-opening loss to Ohio State. Silver lining from that game: Ryan Callaghan was named the MAAC Newcomer of the Week. A couple shots from the UDM-Navy game made the cut for last week’s IL Photos of the Week feature.

Two players with Michigan ties are candidates for the Men’s Lacrosse Senior CLASS award. Penn State’s Nick Dolik (Brother Rice), and Detroit LSM Jordan Houtby both make the cut. UDM release on Houtby’s selection.

Brother Rice alums turned Penn State teammates Nick Dolik and Danny Henneghan reviewed their win over Michigan a couple weeks back in a video piece by the official Penn State site:

Air Force attackman Tommy McKee, a Holt alum, was named to the all-tournament team at the Frontier Airlines Faceoff.

I don’t have nearly the resources to cover non-Division I NCAA programs at length for The Next Level, but whenever somebody passes along some info, I’m here to post it. Florida Tech (of all places) has a strong Michigan connection, with freshman attack Alex Carlson (East Lansing HS) hailing from the Great Lax State. Carlson has started all four games so far this season for the second-year program, and is third on the team in scoring with five goals and six assists.

Uh oh. Michigan is one of five contenders for the College Crosse Reverse Survivor competition. I have a feeling that U-M will not return from their upcoming roadtrip with a win or two in hand, but we shall see. ESPN’s Devon Heinen covers Michigan’s transition from the club level to Division-1.

ESPN’s Paul Carcaterra says to keep an eye on Michigan freshman Kyle Jackson. Michigan is making moves on its dedicated lacrosse facilities. Michigan’s Team Two Tales talks with freshman midfielder Peter Kraus, who has emerged as a contributor in the last couple weeks.

Press release from Hope on the inaugural Division-3 teams in Holland.

Division-1 Expansion/Realignment

This would usually go in a separate realignment bullet, but I’ll keep it contained for now: The Atlantic Sun Conference’s existence will shake up the landscape in Division-1 Men’s lacrosse. More growth: UMass-Lowell will be a thing.

I’m pretty confident than Detroit will stay in the MAAC as long as they’re welcome (though the Catholic 7 will potentially consider them), but I’m also confident that a Big Ten Lacrosse conference is a matter of when, not if, and that could be sooner than some are expecting. It looks like the conference already has men’s and women’s lacrosse websites in the works.

NCAA Women

I often don’t give the ladies enough coverage around here. I know they’ve started their season by now, but how about a video preview of the Titans?

In the first couple weeks of the season, both senior Zaynib Hamze and sophomore Lexie McCormick have earned weekly conference honors.

MCLA

Grand Valley State University lacrosse helmet

Great Lakes swag (courtesy @GVSULax)

Michigan State’s men’s lacrosse program will be hosting its 50th Anniversary dinner April 6, prior to the team’s CCLA matchup against Pitt at 9 p.m. It’s open to the public, and you can check out the full details or RSVP here.

Grand Valley State’s 2013 game helmets are special (pictured at right).

Club/Summer/Camps

The Midwest Regional team for Michigan has been selected for the 2013 Brine National Lacrosse Classic. The Classic takes place June 30-July 3 in Maryland.

The Midwest Lax Bash is looking for teams to register. Check their site for more info.

Grand Valley will host its first-ever lacrosse camp July 29-Aug. 1.

Premier Lacrosse Group will hold a clinic this Sunday from 4-6 at Detroit Country Day’s indoor facility.

Bloomfield Women’s lacrosse will host clinics at East Hills Middle School this week.

Grow The Game

Are you a young player in the Flint/Swartz Creek area? It’s your lucky day, thanks to a new youth program launching in the area. I love to see new areas emerge with excellent youth programs, so check it out if you’re local.

Speaking of new programs, how about a high school program with the combined efforts of Macomb Chippewa Valley and Macomb Dakota? Interested students/parents contact coach Eric Post here.

The growth of the game shall not be slowed! How about St. Clair/Marysville area? Try Blue Water Lacrosse.

Recruiting

If you like to follow lacrosse recruiting, check out TopLaxRecruits.com, which is taking the recruiting focus of PhillyLacrosse.com to a national scale.

Grand Valley State has been on a recruiting tear, picking up commitments from Forest Hills Central longpole Tyler Quinn and FHC attackman Neil Cunningham.

In Division-1, 2014 Holt attackman Paulie Schalau has committed to UMass. Haslett attack Noah Taylor committed to Furman.

In D-3 news, Clarkston attack Kyle O’Grady committed to Albion. Nate Cantin from Detroit Catholic Central will continue his playing career at Aquinas. Haslett defensman Aaron Baetz committed to Otterbein. Romeo senior midfielder Austin Glusac committed to the upstart program at Illinois Wesleyan.

Inside Lacrosse covers Boca Raton (Fla.) St. Andrews 2015 defenseman Jake Bargas’ commitment to Michigan:

Jake Bargas, D, Saint Andrew’s (Fla.) has verbally committed to the University of Michigan. The 6-4, 225-pound sophomore defenseman lettered in three varsity sports as a freshman (Basketball, Football, and Lacrosse). He Attended Jake Reed’s Nike Blue Chip and was a Hot Bed’s All-Star playing for Team Florida. Also considered Penn, Syracuse, Denver and Richmond.

He’s a legacy of sorts – older brother Jordan ended his career due to injury in the 2012 season – and a big pickup.

High School

Warren De La Salle coach Mike Jolly earned the Gerald J. Carroll Exemplary Coach Award from U.S. Lacrosse. Huge honor for a local coach.

Mike Costello of All Lacrosse Michigan sits down with MHSAA Associate Director Tom Rashid to talk about some of the issues in high school lacrosse in the state:

All Star games are frowned upon by the MHSAA – why is there so much concern?
The all-star and nation high school championship prohibition are also regulations which tend to maintain proper scope and perspective in high school sports.

I’ve stumped about this on other platforms, talking about other sports: That’s secret code for “we want control over student-athletes, regardless of whether it benefits or damages their welfare.” If a student wants to participate in an all-star showcase on their own dime, the MHSAA shouldn’t step in and prevent that from happening.

Brother Rice at No. 4 is Michigan’s only representation on the Inside Lacrosse Midwest power rankings.

Highlights from last May’s Forest Hills Central/East Grand Rapids matchup, courtesy Laxx.tv.

Cranbrook will participate in the Fisher House Charity Lacrosse Showcase May 11 in Chesterland, Ohio.

Holt’s varsity and JV schedules are available on their website. Caledonia’s schedule is available on their website.

Posted in division 1, division 3, high school, mcla | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Lax Links: Feb. 27, 2013