Been out of commission all week, so no full previews (and recaps from last weekend’s games forthcoming… at some point). However, a little talk about today’s opponents for the Division-1 men.
Yale
The Elis are a borderline top-10 team, something that Michigan has either had shocking success dealing with (fellow Ivy squad Cornell, non-blowouts against Hopkins and Maryland), or struggled with more in line with what you’d expect. There has also been a tendency of this Michigan team to ride a wave, up one game, down the next. Last weekend’s game – or second half, at least – was a clunker, so you’d think they come out relatively hot today.
Yale is a very good faceoff and possession (plus-level clear, average ride) team. Michigan can either dominate faceoffs even against some of the best in the country, or come out dead flat and struggle against mediocre specialists. I expect a bounceback after two down weeks from Brad Lott. The mental side of the game is something he’ll continue to grasp with experience, and will allow him to be more consistent. For now, you hope for the “hot” side of the hot-and-cold pendulum.
Yale’s offense is actually below-average, but the Bulldogs have some weapons. Junior attack Conrad Oberbeck is a finisher with some ability to dish (23G-8A-31 points), senior linemate Brandon Mangan is balanced, and junior midfielder Shane Thornton is your primary feeder (7G-11A-18 points). The players behind them are all more skewed toward scoring than creating, with junior midfielder Colin Flaherty’s 10 goals and two assists making him the other scary finisher.
Junior Eric Natale has played almost every minute between the pipes, and while he’s saving about .540, much of the credit goes to his defense, which is really good overall and prevents teams from getting off many shots at all, much less good ones (the total volume of shots has been a limiting factor of the Yale offense, to even things up on the other end). Sophomore Michael Quinn and senior Jimmy Craft are the dangerous takeaway guys with 15 and 13 on the year, respectively.
Yale is too strong for Michigan, and even though the Wolverines should play above their heads (as they typically do against tough competition), the Bulldogs win 13-9.
Manhattan
The Jaspers are one of the worst teams in the country, and a Detroit team that is rounding into form (two overtime losses at home to the MAAC leaders stand between them and what would otherwise be a great push to end the spring) should be able to dispatch them pretty easily.
The problems for Manhattan start on faceoffs, where they’re in the bottom-5 nationally… just a couple spots behind Detroit (though the numbers aren’t adjusted for schedule strength there, so a grain of salt is necessary). That says to me that the Jaspers are bad not just with their specialist, but also on wing play. I like Detroit’s Damien Hicks when it comes to securing the clamp, but he and his wings have struggled to corral loose balls. Against a poor team like Manhattan, they should be able to take care of it just fine. Manhattan’s clear is dead last in the country, so Detroit should be able to take advantage there. Even though UDM’s clear is also bad, Manhattan’s ride is bottom-10 nationally, and that issue might not plague the Titans as much as usual.
The Manhattan defense is slightly less bad than the offense, and senior goalie Rich Akapnitis probably deserves most of the credit for that. He is saving shots at a .528 clip, despite playing behind… whatever that is. The Jaspers allow 0.76 shots per possession, one of the country’s worst marks. Senior Dan McGreevy and sophomore Alex Gitlitz, with their double-digit CTs, try to help Akapnitis out, but opponents are still able to put .600 of their shots on the cage.
The problem with the offense is related, in a way. The Jaspers actually put a greater percentage of their total shots on the cage, .604, but they can’t beat opposing keepers. That speaks to a lack of finding good looks as well as a simple inability to shoot hard enough or accurately enough to get it by the goalie. Against a strong – possible freshman All-American – talent like Jason Weber, look for a lot of shots on goal and not a whole lot of them to get by.
POW. Enjoy some lacrosse today, y’all.
After watching Detroit lay yet another stinker in another must win situation.
Looks like the Titans may need some help to get in. 13 for 18 clears just will not cut it 67th out of 67 in clear % is just embarrassing. 18 turnovers? 6 by one player? And its not like it was just a bad game same mistakes all year with little or no improvement from the players or adjustments from the coaching staff.
This team has to much experience and talent yet they play like wide eyed freshmen.
If Detroit happens to back in in the conference playoffs unless things changed and or lineup shuffled it will be a 1 and done i’m afraid to say. Very disappointed with the mistakes and selfish play in key games not sure what corrections must be made but Coach Holtz and his vaulted coaching staff better figure something quick.
Have to agree… Like watching a bad movie over and over again…. 5 Goals!?… That will not cut it… and Manhattan was as advertised… bad… but Detroit, true to form played down to their level… Start with face offs… while Corcran was better early, he faded, and yet, they did not bring Hicks out to take a draw… The Titan face off wing men are getting muscled out and are not getting on ground balls….Other than Bitetti, the Poles are very average or below average… they are often out of position, and slides are late… They have relied on their Freshman Goalie Weber to come up big time and time again, but it was a shooting gallery out there for Manhattan…It was one of the worse games I have seen Birney have, and he could not seem to find the net. Shots were all over the place but on the cage… and at a key moment in the game, he had a short stick on him for once and he dumped the ball to a wing…Maini was equally disappointing in a big game, and I am sure for him, a problem with his family and other NYers in the stands… But he hung on to the ball too long and took ill advised shots… 6 turnovers again for him… Drummond, and Masterson, and Adams were OK… but in crunch Time, I think Adams must be the go to guy…. Maini and Birney are not getting it done and it cost them…. Two other glaring areas of problems continue to be the LSM position and the 2nd line Mids, who have done virtually nothing all season for Detroit…except turn it over… Now they need to win and get help to get into the MAAC tourney…Beating Monmouth will not be easy as they will load up to try to win at home, and the stumbling Titans could be the prayer they are looking for… Really shameful, because they have some talent but do not utilize it well at all…I don’t think the Staff had a very good plan going into this game…Manhattan was a very winnable game and the Titans flubbed it…
Nice prediction Tim. I just finished watching the game online again. The first 10 minutes were frustrating because UM outplayed Yale in every category except shooting accuracy. If UM’s shots had been placed better, the team would have been up 3-0 instead of 0-0 before Yale went on its 3 goal run. But the team played well considering Yale was clearly more talented, especially at attack and goalie. It was worth watching the game to see Ian King’s second goal. That goal was awesome. It took me two replays to figure out how he got the shot off. ESPN highlight worthy.
King is a great finisher, but he has absolutely no help at attack. If you stop Michigan’s midfielders and limit King they aren’t going to score enough to beat you – especially without Logan between the pipes. Defense is improving but still below average. Lott is inconsistent and wings are not great. This team is better than they have been, but playing teams like Yale (and they play a lot of teams like Yale to their credit or detriment depending on your view) exposes their weaknesses. Not that you would expect them to be that much stronger at this point.
I thought the Yale goalie made some really nice saves throughout and robbed some pretty good shots early. It was good to see Michigan have more success on ground balls, and I liked to see them ride aggressively. The clear was good too.
Zonino kind of gets ripped on here because he’s not Logan, but he has improved a lot through the season. That’s not to say he’s the answer. But it’s good to see the improvement.
Agreed on pretty much all counts. Michigan really needs more attackmen who can be multi-dimensional threats. I’m a little surprised they haven’t tried David Joseph at attack since he’s the little dodge-tastic type, and there are a lot more bodies at midfield than there are at attack. I also hate to see Will Meter clearly struggling through injury, since he’s a good (if unspectacular) option there.
Zonino was pretty bad early in the season, but he’s really come along. That’s not to say he’s about to steal Logan’s job, but Michigan will have some really good options at goalie going forward. I would imagine they don’t try to redshirt Tommy Heidt next spring (in fact, they’re expecting him to challenge for the starting keeper job), but if Logan is back to his 2013 form and Zonino is playing well, I hate to see him waste a year of eligibility if he isn’t the starter. Of course, redshirts in lacrosse are pretty different from a sport like football, where anybody who’s not going to contribute in come major way gets one.