Michigan got 2016 off to a thud with a shellacking at the hands of North Carolina. While the Heels are a traditional power (at least of late), you’d like to see the Wolverines taking bigger strides this spring. We’ll see how they round into form.
Tempo Free
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| North Carolina 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | North Carolina | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 14 | Faceoff Wins | 20 |
| Clearing | 8-10 | Clearing | 13-14 |
| Possessions | 25 | Possessions | 36 |
| Goals | 10 | Goals | 20 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .400 | Offensive Efficiency | .556 |
Carolina had a huge advantage in possession, and made the most of their opportunities with an outstanding offensive efficiency. Michigan’s offense was pretty good itself, but when the defense and possession game can’t level things off… well, you get doubled up.
Notes
U-M pulled Gerald Logan for Robbie Zonino at halftime, but both goalkeepers had the same statline: 10 goals allowed, three saves. That’s not good, but the similar struggles for two pretty good goalies indicate that this issue was more likely on the defense. The Heels assisted on just nine of their 20 goals, with seven of the unassisted tallies coming against Logan. It’s probably fair to say he struggled a bit more than Zonino.
One unassisted and one assisted goal against Michigan came on the Carolina man-up (both in the first half). It was a relatively clean game – at least in what turned into EMO goals. Michigan committed three penalties in the first quarter, turning into two Carolina goals to go up 2-1 and then 7-3. The Tar Heels were the less clean team after that frame, with five trips to timeout during the final three quarters, but Michigan couldn’t convert.
Ian King and Kyle Jackson both playing attack seems to be working out for the Michigan offense (we’ll see more evidence of this in the next couple games). Jackson has a natural attack skillset as a smaller guy with an outstanding stick, and putting him up front also keeps King a little freer, with the defense unable to focus on him. King had two goals and three assists, while Jackson had four goals and an assist in this one.
Other than the top duo, Michigan’s only other multi-point scorer was fellow starting attack Peter Kraus with a goal and an assist.
It’s tough – without the game available to watch anywhere online – to know exactly what went wrong on defense. A couple man-up goals, sure. Maybe some subpar goalie play in the first game of the year with the netminders settling in accounts for a piece of it. It does seem that relatively quick scores off faceoff wins were a factor.
Speaking of faceoffs, Michigan was bad-not-horrible at the dot, aside from what appears to be three or four-ish unsettled goals out of the Heels off faceoff wins. Stephen Kelly (12/21) was a decent but not exceptional specialist last year, and Michigan did its best against him (freshman Charles Kelly – apparently no relation – went 7/12). Brad Lott was 9/21 and Mike McDonnell was 5/13 for the Maize and Blue.
Chris Walker and Chase Brown were the defensive standouts for Michigan, with three and four GBs, respectively. Brown also caused a turnover (though he committed two and a penalty.
North Carolina scored the first seven goals of the second half, when they only led 10-6 at the break. Losing the third quarter is something that has been a problem for Michigan in recent years (and we’ll see has already been again this year), and it’s something the Wolverines have to figure out to get to the level they want to reach.
Elsewhere
Boxscore. U-M recap. North Carolina recap. Clark Bell photo gallery.
Up Next
Michigan split its next two games, Colgate and Penn. Recaps to come.