Michigan 14, Michigan 13

Since Manhattan was unavailable a week ago, Michigan ended its fall with an intra-squad scrimmage. It was a competitive match, and although Team Blue dominated early, Maize made it a contest and the fairly even split between the two halves resulted in a one-goal game. The winning goal didn’t come until 17 seconds remained.

Scoring Leaders

Since there were no official stats, these are from my notes. I did miss one goal (Blue’s third of the game, near the end of the first quarter), but the rest is pretty accurate. With typical caveats about the applicability of scrimmages applying…

• Brendan Gaughan, A, Blue – 3G, 1A (4 pts)
• Andrew Portnoy, A, Maize – 3G, 1A (4 pts)
• Ian King, A, Blue – 3G
• Andrew Roswell, M, Maize – 3G
• David McCormack, A, Blue – 2G, 1A
• Peter Kraus, A, Maize – 2G, 1A
• Kyle Jackson, M, Blue – 2G
• Will Meter, A, Blue – 2G
• Andrew Mosko, M, Maize – 2G
• Mike Francia, A, Maize – 2G
• David Joseph, M, Blue – 1G, 1A
• Riley Kennedy, M, Maize – 1G, 1A
• Thomas Paras, M, Maize – 2A
• Mike Hernandez, M, Blue – 1A
• Paxton Moore, LSM, Blue – 1A
• Gerald Logan, G, Blue – 1A
• Brad Lott, FO, Maize – 1A

Most interesting, Blue had most of the players who have been (or are expected to be) offensive stars. Meter, Gaughan, and McCormack is a possible starting attack – with frosh Ian King also in the mix, and on the Blue team – while last year’s leading scorers Mike Hernandez and Kyle Jackson were starting midfielders for Blue. Despite that firepower (not to say Maize didn’t have any, with the likes of Thomas Paras and Peter Kraus on that squad), the match was pretty even.

There’s a mystery Blue goal not accounted for, as mentioned above. If anyone remembers it, drop me a note in the comments.

Starting Lineups

Freshmen denoted with an (f)

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

Obviously that’s not an entire starting D-midfield and O-midfield for either team, but it was the first few players in at each position I could grab before the lineups started getting switched around. In an intrasquad, it’s not surprising to see just about everyone play.

General Impressions

This team looks a lot more like a Division-1 program at this point than they ever have in the past. The players are physically more impressive in size and athleticism, and aren’t going to step on the field and look out of place this spring. That aspect has been phasing in, and now it is fair to say they’re up to physical snuff.

A number of players who are expected to make big contributions were out of action. That applies most notably to freshman goalie Robbie Zonino and midfielder Mikie Schlosser. In fall ball, it’s no surprise (nor a big deal) to have some players missing, but it would have been nice to see those two in their first public scrimmage action as Wolverines, along with several others.

Speaking of goalie activity, Gerald Logan went the distance for Blue, and though he let in several goals, he looked the part once more. Obviously the defenses weren’t in all-star form (and his featured three freshmen), and the nature of fall ball isn’t going to allow a gamer like him to shine quite as much. Mike D’Alessio and Dylan Westerhold played the first/fourth and second/third quarters, respectively, and were adequate.

Freshmen who did make an impact were many – including pretty much all in the starting lineups above. There will be scoring options in both the attack and midfield this spring (barring major injury – not out of the question given that U-M has fought through it in the past two years), and seeing both units able to put up points is encouraging for depth.

Michigan will be fine on faceoffs. A number of players took draws, and it’s always tough to determine when you’re playing yourselves whether you’re that good or your teammates just aren’t. However, there were even matchups through most of the specialists, with one – sophomore Brad Lott – standing out above the rest. He was winning the clamp (which he did regularly last year), but has improved in winning draws cleanly to himself, and also in communicating with his wings to earn the wins as a unit. The coaches have a cohesive strategy on faceoffs there, and another year in the system with a top faceoff specialist will be big.

The most exciting sequence of the game came in the second quarter (that was also the highest-scoring quarter, with nine combined goals). With just a few seconds left, Blue goalie Gerald Logan made a save and launched a Gilman clear to the other end. Freshman attack Ian King corralled it and fired a quick goal (I – perhaps generously – credited Logan with an assist). Not to be outdone, Maize faceoff specialist Brad Lott earned a clean win with just three seconds on the clock, feeding Andrew Portnoy for the score at the buzzer.

With no official stats or film, no statistical breakdown, but a lot to be encouraged by out of Team Three.