Michigan ended its roadtrip to the Carolinas on a good note with a win over Furman. The final score was just a bit closer than the flow of the game might have indicated, but either way, the Wolverines got the W.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Furman 2014 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Furman | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 10 | Faceoff Wins | 13 |
| Clearing | 19-21 | Clearing | 19-22 |
| Possessions | 34 | Possessions | 37 |
| Goals | 11 | Goals | 9 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .324 | Offensive Efficiency | .243 |
Michigan was a bit behind in the possession game, but was relatively dominant in terms of efficiency. The final two Furman scores (when the game was out of reasonable reach) skewed things a bit, but this really was a dominating game in the 6v6.
Notes
For the second game in a row against a mediocre-to-poor faceoff specialist, Michigan struggled to get wins. It’s a total head-scratcher after good or great games against some of the best specialists in the country. Brad Lott did come out a bit quicker in this one, so the possibility of an injury looks more likely. Either way, Michigan has just a few days to refocus and get back to where things were before this week. The team isn’t good enough to win many games the rest of this year without a possession advantage.
Robbie Zonino had yet another good performance in goal, though he gave up at least one softie (to Furman’s faceoff specialist on a clean FO win – to really tie two things together). As we’ve seen over the course of the year, he’s improving and will be a solid performer, but not one who will steal a game.
The Michigan defense looked better than against High Point, giving up fewer looks right on the crease. Sophomore Chris Walker caused three turnovers and picked up five ground balls for a great day on close D. While Furman did have one high-producing attackman (Zach Coker had two goals and two assists), it wasn’t to the degree that we’d seen in the past.
Michigan’s offense was very good, with an accurate day shooting the ball. Some of the shots were too easy to save, making things easier on keeper Jake Gavin, but they weren’t sprayed all over, either. The room for improvement is there (albeit against a new team), so Michigan’ efficiency number can even be improved without too much change.
Thomas Paras led the way offensively with three goals and an assist, fellow midfielder Mike Hernandez had two goal, and attack Ian King had three goals. Dan Kinek rounded out multi-point scorers with a goal and an assist. As you’d assume from the previous bullet, there was not a whole lot of volume-shooting.
What there were plenty of Sautrday afternoon were unforced turnovers. After committing zero against High Point (albeit with 11 turnovers that the Panthers caused), Michigan gave the ball away eight times, with five more forced by the Paladins. Bringing together the positives from the offense across both games – no unforced turnovers from High Point, good shooting from Furman – would continue increasing the potency of the O.
Michigan rode Furman pretty heavy, including a 10-man on several occasions. The Paladins generally chose to launch long shots when Michigan’s keeper was out of the cage, and none of those hit (with even a stolen backup for Michigan mixed in, as well). The other side of that is Michigan’s ride only forced three failed clears out of Furman, and you’d hope for more success with extreme tactics in play, especially against a less-skilled team.
This had the flow of a game that was more like 12-7, but Michigan gave up a couple at the end to draw things closer on the final margin. If Furman had been able to get one more settled possession leading to a goal, things might have become suddenly interesting. As it was, U-M gave up an early lead but was the far stronger team from then until the final three minutes.
This was a pretty dirty game, with eight total extra-man opportunities. Furman received five of those, sort of an uncharacteristic number of penalties for Michigan to commit. They didn’t convert on any, while Michigan scored on one of three chances.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. Tempo-free boxscore. Michigan game recap. Furman game recap. Clark Bell photo gallery. Maize n Brew trip decompression. Michigan Daily talks about the team’s motivation – playing for Miles Root, who passed away prior to the game.
Up Next
Michigan doesn’t have a midweek game (thankfully) and will open ECAC conference play next Saturday in Louisville against Bellarmine. Michigan has improved dramatically from last year, but Bellarmine is pretty good, as well.
The early Tempo-Free Lax numbers say that the Wolverines have about a 20% chance of stealing a road win, and that feels about right at this point. The Knights are an elite defense and a mediocre offense this year, and they’re doing very well in the possession game. It could be an interesting matchup.