All the other stuff that’s gone unaddressed since… uh… April. Recruiting was covered Friday.
D-1
U-M video productions continue to set a high bar:
Michigan-OSU rivalry video.
Detroit gets in the video action with a look at fall ball.
The Michigan Daily covered the contributions of two of Michigan’s best players last spring… and how they made an impact without seeing the field. Goalie Gerald Logan and LSM/defenseman Charlie Keady will be redshirt sophomores this spring.
Five members of the UDM team played in Ontario’s senior A box league.
The Next Next Level
UDM program alums Jordan Houtby and Joel Mathews played in the NLL this winter.
Grand Valley alum Cam Holding is seeing pro success (and won a world championship with Team Canada) after his career in Allendale.
D-3
Calvin College hired Kyle Hofstaedter to coach its program.
MCLA
Grand Valley State won the Division-2 MCLA national title. Yay!
Conference Things and Honors
Detroit set an NCAA record this spring in man-up offense. UDM converted 34 of 48 opportunities for a .708 mark, albeit facing the No. 65 (Marquette, against whom they converted 5 of 8 opportunities), No. 63 (Canisius, 2-for-2), No. 61 (Quinnipiac), No. 66 (Siena) man-down defenses nationally. Goalie Jason Weber also led the Association in save percentage and saves per game.
UDM D-midfielder Troy Dennis participated in the USILA North-South All-Star game, and was a Senior CLASS first-team All-American.
Titans also crushed it in the classroom, with a league-best 26 All-MAAC academic selections.
In the team’s first year of existence, the Michigan women placed freshman midfielder Anna Schueler on the ALC all-conference second team.
The Big Ten: now a thing! The league announced its plans for the first two conference tournaments on both the men’s and women’s side:
The 2015 men’s tournament will be held from April 30 to May 2 at Maryland, while the 2015 women’s event will be hosted by Rutgers from April 30 to May 3. The 2016 men’s tournament will take place from May 5-7 at Johns Hopkins, while Northwestern will be the site of the 2016 women’s event from May 5-8.
So there you go. They’re sticking to the established/powerful programs as hosts for the first couple years. If Michigan’s facilities are done by then, I’d bet a dime on one or the other taking place in Ann Arbor in 2017.
The Big Ten Network will have Marylander Joe Beninati on the call for lacrosse coverage starting this spring. Maybe the channel will cover more than a couple games a year going forward! (But probably not).
High School
Rice’s era of dominance – despite the first-ever loss to an in-state program since MHSAA sanctioning – continued with a dominant win over Detroit Catholic Central.
Not directly Michigan-related, but it brings up a lot of the same issues as state sanctioning presents in the Great Lax State. Some Illinois high schools resisted going under the state’s high school governing body. The article is strongly pro-IHSA, but the gripes of the holdout coaches are the same ones that have been issues under MHSAA control in our state.
Not trying to get into day-to-day coverage from several months ago, but the human interest story on Bay City Central’s team of the week selection was a good one about program founder Larry Hyland‘s battle with cancer, which he lost prior to the 2014 season. The team broke a two-year winless streak this spring.
Forest Hills Central also lost longtime assistant Randy Lundblad to cancer. The RamGer benefit game against Rockford raised $8,000 for cancer research.
Forest Hills Northern’s Christian Carlson (now a freshman at Marquette) set the single-game goal record in the state this spring. He scored 11 in a victory over Cranbrook. FHN junior midfielder Bobby Pelton had a huge year.
FHC attack Andrew Kransberger was good, too. Grand Rapids All-area team is heavy on Forest Hills standouts.
Comstock Park High School added to the MHSAA ranks this spring.
Zach Schwartz, just a sophomore last year, was the Ann Arbor News‘ player of the year. The midfielder/attack is committed to Michigan’s Class of 2016.
Former Michigan commit (now a Yale football player) Jason Alessi was the MLive Detroit player of the year.
Michigan High School Boys Lacrosse Coaches’ Association All-State picks. Same on the girls’ side.
Grow The Game
Kalamazoo College’s nascent women’s varsity program will be led by Vincent Redko. The D-3 program will play its first season in spring 2016.
Northern Michigan is adding a Division-2 women’s team.
Not specifically growth-related (but conference realignment fits closest here), Air Force will join the Southern Conference starting in spring 2016. The Falcons were left without a home after the creation of the Big Ten, Denver’s defection to the Big East, and other realignment, but they’ll join the “hey, we’re geographic outliers” club after one year as an independent.
Club/Youth
The Detroit Turbos youth teams will have their tryouts Nov. 2 at Ultimate Soccer Arenas in Pontiac. Visit their website for more info.
The annual Michigan Chapter of US Lacrosse fall 7-on-7 tournament Nov. 1 and 2. Registration and information here.
Student Sports Lacrosse looks at some of the standouts from the Cranbrook Lax Jam.
A few Michigan girls won the Brine NLC championship with Team Maryland.
The Can-Am Showcase takes place at Detroit Country Day Nov. 8-9.
Keepin’ it short. For any news items, commitments, press releases, etc., you can e-mail t.w.sullivan1@gmail.com or tweet @greatlaxstate.