A battle between Michigan’s top teams in each of the MCLA’s divisions was delayed, leaving a D-3 matchup as the lone contest for today.
Division-3 Men
Alma @ Transylvania
MCLA-1/2
Grand Valley State @ Michigan State – Delayed, reschedule info to come.
Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.
Historic Homewood Field. Photo courtesy GLS reader DCLaxFan.
All things considered, this game didn’t go that poorly. Michigan got absolutely crushed in the possession game, and still kept things closer than you’d expect them to against a top-5 team nationally.
Of course, there’s the small factor that Dave Pietramala is hesitant to run things up on a friend, especially one at the helm of a new program. Still, I think coming into this game many might not have expected U-M to come within 10 goals even if Hopkins was trying to let them. Chalk it up a moral victory.
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Johns Hopkins 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Johns Hopkins | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 4 | Faceoff Wins | 29 |
| Clearing | 17-20 | Clearing | 15-20 |
| Possessions | 29 | Possessions | 52 |
| Goals | 8 | Goals | 17 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .276 | Offensive Efficiency | .327 |
Boy, that faceoff number. Brad Lott was ineffective through the first quarter, after which time Michigan went with Charlie Keady to muck things up and play defense. That didn’t go a whole lot better, and more than anything drove home the point that Michigan’s inability to pick up a contested ground ball was the issue more than anything. As was the case in the Bellarmine game, most of the faceoffs were 50/50 balls or better, and the Wolverines just couldn’t scoop ’em up.
Last year, these were the best two riding teams in the country. That’s right, Michigan was second-best nationally (to JHU) at something, even in the epic struggle that was Year One. In this game… Michigan got the better of Hopkins in that metric. This team’s improvement in the clear – while there’s still work to be done – has been night-and-day.
As for the efficiency margin… sometimes you just play Johns Hopkins and you’re Michigan. Even if the 81 possessions in this game had been distributed dead evenly, Michigan would have lost about 13-11. That’s life.
I might as well change the name of the site from “Great Lax State” to “The Gerald Logan Fanboi Outlet,” but that dude can play. He was in obvious pain due to the shoulder injury suffered against Bellarmine, but committed zero turnovers in the clear, and saved .414 of shots faced. Given that two or three (at least) of those goals were softies that you wouldn’t expect him to give up if healthy and/or not getting shelled, and that’s a pretty good outing.
The faceoff X of doom, starring Unstoppable Faceoff God Mike Poppleton. Photo courtesy GLS reader DCLaxFan.
Hopkins had such a balanced output that it’s tough to pick out any real stars. Obviously Unstoppable Faceoff God Mike Poppleton (17/18) is one of them. The six offensive starters for Hopkins each had at least two points, and between them they had 20 of Hopkins’ 30 points, and 11 of the 17 goals. While “but they played their depth” is true to an extent, Hopkins didn’t call off the dogs until later than many seem to believe.
The offense really wasn’t bad, especially given the lack of time that they had with the ball to develop any sort of rhythm. Thomas Paras went down early in the game with a hamstring injury (no word on severity), so Michigan wasn’t operating at full strength and still did OK, given that they were playing Hopkins. In the first half (when you could contend JHU hadn’t let off the gas yet), the efficiency number was still an OK .250.
Kyle Jackson is still a bit limited in terms of making the right play every time (and though he scored one righty in this game, he’s clearly more comfortable sticking with his left), but is developing into a great offensive option. He had two goals, as did Peter Kraus. David Joseph was U-M’s other multi-point scorer with one and one.
Defensively, Michigan just didn’t have the horses to run with Hopkins. It’s going to happen. A lot of the plays weren’t one-on-one battles won with an easy finish, and at least required a pass after drawing a slide (a small leap forward when a team as skilled as Hopkins is the opposition, but a leap forward nonetheless), resulting in 13 Hopkins assists on 17 goals.
Can Michigan actually take a bit of confidence from this game? Even though they were more than doubled up, I say yes. There were some very good moments, and they aren’t playing Hopkins again for the rest of the year (though the Denver and Loyola games, at the very least, could be some ugly ones). I would have liked to see Dylan Westerhold get some time between the pipes with Logan clearly favoring that right shoulder, but it is what it is. He didn’t get any more hurt than he already was, though the risk was there.
Michigan official site recap. Johns Hopkins official site recap. Boxscore. The Michigan Daily recaps the game. Highlights from the Hopkins site, and in Youtube format:
Michigan takes a trip down to sunny Miami for the first game in a spring break road trip. Army is a formidable opponent, but the Wolverines can, at the very least, look at every opponent from here on out and say, “but they’re not Hopkins.” That may not lead to a lot of wins, but certainly increased confidence as this young team grows up.
It’s the first game in a really heavy stretch. U-M has a Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday-Thursday-Sunday-Saturday stretch coming up. While the club players may be familiar with that heavy a workload, it’s a little different when basically all of the teams are better (other than likely High Point).
Coming into the game, this looked like a big opportunity for Detroit to get one in the winner column before conference play starts. The way it played out, it looks even more like a missed opportunity than it did before.
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Robert Morris 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | Robert Morris | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 9 | Faceoff Wins | 5 |
| Clearing | 18-24 | Clearing | 21-23 |
| Possessions | 35 | Possessions | 34 |
| Goals | 5 | Goals | 9 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .143 | Offensive Efficiency | .265 |
Detroit has generally not been a good possession team, so pulling ahead in that metric and still losing (in mostly non-competitive fashion) is a major disappointment.
The offense was simply brutal on this day – the one area in my predictions that really didn’t come to fruition. An 0-fer on eight EMO opportunities is just one of the many things that truly disappoints.
So, if Detroit didn’t lose this game in the possession game, where did they lose it? Well, the clear gave up whatever advantage they could have gained from a good faceoff day. Turnovers were a slight problem (as a factor of that rough clear, for some of them), but Robert Morris didn’t really play clean ball, either.
The difference, for the most part, came in getting shots on goal. Robert Morris put 19 on cage, Detroit put 15. Each goalie saved 10. Of course, RMU also had many more shows overall, so they were winning in possession. Despite UDM winning the faceoff battle somewhat handily, Robert Morris won the ground ball battle.
On to the positives. The two bright spots on offense (as has been the case all year) were Shayne Adams and Alex Maini. Each scored two goals, and Maini added an assist. Brandon Beauregard had a goal and an assist. Still, the offensive output was downright anemic. A couple observers who caught the game live mentioned that there’s not off-ball motion on the offense, but it’s clear that there’s more than just one problem there.
Defensively, the overall effort was good-not-great, but two special teams goals for Robert Morris (one man-up and one man-down) account for part of that, as well – as well as a half-field shot by a pole as the first quarter expired. The 6-v-6 was almost certainly better than that number shows, and holding any opponent to single digits in a 70-possession game is not bad.
The highlights (embedded below) just show goals, so it’s natural that the defense is going to look poor in the last instants before a goal, but there are some seriously rough moments in there, including the long goal.
A.J. Levell saved more than 50% of shots, which isn’t bad, but he also wasn’t going to will his team to victory on a day that the offense needed help, either. Jordan Houtby caused SIX turnovers and picked up six ground balls, an amazing output. Nobody else on D had a notably good day, based on the stats.
Jakes Hayes was the standout performer for the RMU offense, notching three goals and three assists. Goalie Charles Ruppert saved 2/3 of the 15 shots he faced.
Detroit official site recap. Robert Morris official site recap. Box score. Highlights:
Detroit will hope that Titan Field will be a little kinder to them than the road has been. It also doesn’t hurt that Saturday’s opponent is Quinnipiac, the fifth-worst program in the country last season (and a UDM victim).
If Detroit’s going to live up to any sort of expectations, this is the game that could spark a return to solid play.
Playing a bit of catch-up here, and I’m writing about a pretty disappointing game with more recent (and less depressing) evidence also under the team’s belt, so things may be slightly less down that this game would make you think.
From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:
| Bellarmine 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Michigan | Bellarmine | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 9 | Faceoff Wins | 12 |
| Clearing | 20-22 | Clearing | 18-21 |
| Possessions | 34 | Possessions | 35 |
| Goals | 6 | Goals | 12 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .176 | Offensive Efficiency | .343 |
This was a game defined by inconsistency, and nowhere was that more evident than on faceoffs. Brad Lott started the game 7/11, but won only once in his next seven tries, for a slightly sub-.500 day. Charlie Keady won once in three attempts.
One undeniably positive thing to take from this game (and the next one, against Hopkins): Michigan’s clear is no longer terrible. Last year, the Wolverines were second-worst in the country, and whether it’s a scheme change with the new offensive coordinator or simply an upgrade in stick skills, things are much better.
The downside to drawing a stalemate in possessions is that it means your blowout loss came because of really poor ability to stop the other team from scoring. There were some reasons for that in this game, but either way, it’s still the case.
I already touched on faceoffs, but I also want to make a couple observations. Although the Michigan faceoffs specialists haven’t succeeded much yet this year (just wait until I write up the Hopkins game!), part of the issue in this one was wing play. If U-M’s specialists control the draw, the wing players need to make plays. FOGO Brad Lott did mention that chemistry might be part of it – and this was his first game of the year, so there was little time to build that up – so we’ll see if there’s some development as the season rolls along.
The big story of this game was transition, particularly transition opportunities for Bellarmine. Michigan’s 6v6 defense was solid, even if it looks a little hectic at times in slide recovery. It was the fast break that really won this game for Bellarmine. U-M gave up the majority of the scoring on breaks (including a brutal stretch at the beginning of the fourth quarter with four goals in barely over a minute), and limiting those opportunities is the next step. That comes from being careful with the ball on offense, and perhaps playing a more conservative ride if it’s not going to pay off in failed clears by the opposition.
Despite giving up 11 goals (Dylan Westerhold gave up one), Gerald Logan had another good performance. He’s an excellent ball-stopper, and although he’s not a clearing machine, he’s hardly a liability in that area, either. He got banged up in this game, but did return to face Johns Hopkins this weekend.
Kyle Jackson and Thomas Paras (two goals each) and Mike Hernandez (two assists) were the offensive stars in this one. It was Hernandez’s first game of the year, so again there’s a good chance he continues to improve as the year ticks on.
For Bellarmine, outside of the sheer athleticism of the unit to get out and run on the break, attack Cameron Gardner was the star. He scored five goals and added an assist, though it took him 11 shots (one was not on cage, and five were saved by Logan) to reach it.
Freshman faceoff specialist Brad Lott:
“It was exciting to be able to come home finally and to be able to play in a Division I game. I have a lot of friends on the other team like Bobby Schmitt, Ryan Cinta, Cole Killion. Bobby played a really good game. I had to watch out for him on the faceoff. But other than that it was a great experience being able to see all your hometown fans.”
“Communication is a big thing. We’ve just got to keep getting better and keep working forward.”
Head Coach John Paul:
“We knew coming in that one of the keys was we had to make this a 6-on-6 game and not turn it into a transition game. Especially during that flurry where they scored on us in the third quarter, we were giving up transition. A lot of those were simple mental mistakes. There are easy fixes if our mindset’s right.”
“We know that [Brad Lott]’s our best faceoff option, but he has a long way to go and a lot to learn. He has to get a lot better on ground balls and he has to get a lot better with his game control and understanding situations, and what move do I use when, how do I use my wings, those kind of things. He’ll get better at that, this is his first time doing it, he’s only been practicing with us for a month. He obviously is talented and you could see it at the start of the game.”
“You’re going to see a lot of [freshman midfielder Peter] Kraus this year. He wasn’t available to us last week, but now that he is you’ll see him a lot. He’ll be in our rotation, he’ll play some man-up, and he’ll be a factor all year.”
Michigan official site recap. Bellarmine official site recap. Boxscore. The Wolverine game column.
Michigan traveled to Baltimore Saturday to take on Johns Hopkins. It… didn’t go as poorly as it could have. Recap coming later this week on GLS.
The first Division-1 win of the year is in the books, courtesy of the Detroit women. A Sunday split in the Show-Me State for MCLA-2 squads.
Division-1 Women
Detroit 15, Delaware State1
MCLA-2
Michigan-Dearborn 10, St. Louis 8
Oakland 6, Lindenwood-Belleville 16
Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.
Rough day in D-1…
Division-1 Men
Detroit 5, Robert Morris 9
Michigan 8, Johns Hopkins 17
MCLA-1
Central Michigan @ Michigan State – canceled
Davenport 21, Ohio 5
MCLA-2
Michigan-Dearborn 4, Lindenwood-Bellevile 5
Oakland @ Missouri Baptist, noon Central
Siena Heights 5, Dayton 6
Northwood v. Central Connecticut, 4 p.m. (University of Pittsburgh)
Division-1 Women
Detroit @ Delaware State, 1 p.m. (Dover, Del.)
MCLA-2
Michigan-Dearborn @ St. Louis, 2 p.m. Central
Oakland @ Lindenwood-Belleville, noon Central
Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.
So, this is probably not going to go well. What is effectively the country’s youngest team going up against the program with the most tradition (and one of a few with the most talent)… this is probably not going to go well.
Side note: Bellarmine tempo-free recap coming tomorrow. Simply didn’t have time to finish it this week.
A Blue Jay is just a blue cardinal, right?
1 p.m. EST Feb. 23, 2013
Baltimore, Md.
Live Stats. Live Audio. Airs live on ESPN3.com.
Hopkins has played just a couple games this year. One was against a Towson team that gave High Point its first win as a program, and the other against a Siena team that – though it’s usually the best MAAC team – plays in the worst conference in the country, and hasn’t made serious waves in the NCAA Tournament in recent years.
| Johns Hopkins 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Johns Hopkins | Opponents | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 29 | Faceoff Wins | 14 |
| Clearing | 43-48 | Clearing | 35-46 |
| Possessions | 88 | Possessions | 65 |
| Goals | 27 | Goals | 12 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .307 | Offensive Efficiency | .185 |
Johns Hopkins hasn’t played a true gauntlet, but… Michigan isn’t the type of opposition that”s going to change that status, either. They’ve dominated possession, and done quite a bit with the ball, while preventing opponents from doing the same.
Hopkins looks like it belongs among the nation’s elite, at least this early in the year. Accordingly, the preview might be a breeze-through more than anything.
Junior attackman Brandon Benn leads the team with seven goals on the year. Sophomore Wells Stanwick (yes, that Stanwick) has four and two, and Midfielder John Ranagan has three and three. Senior attack Zach Palmer is the team’s assist leader with four, and he’s also contributed two goals. At 5-7, he’s a little guy and your classic dodger-creator.
Junior midfielder Rex Sanders (3G), freshman attack Ryan Brown (2G, 1A), senior midfielder Lee Coppersmith (2G), junior midfielder Phil Castranova (2G), junior midfielder Rob Guida (1G, 1A), and senior midfielder John Greeley (2A) close out your multi-point scorers.
Senior Tucker Durkin, junior Jack Reilly, and senior Chris Lightner are your starters on close D. LSM Michael Pellegrino is the non-FO leader in ground balls.
The goalie is a well-known name in Pierce Bassett. The senior is saving an outstanding .667 of shots faced this year, and has allowed just 12 goals through two games.
Senior Mike Poppleton has been exceptional on faceoffs this year, winning .719 of his draws so far. He wins a fair number of them himself (and obviously Pellegrino has benefitted, as well), but doesn’t turn that into offense on his own, with no shot attempts or assists so far this year.
Hopkins is an outstanding clearing team, and despite not typically employing a heavy ride, opponents aren’t clearing well against them. That’s partially on account of mediocre competition faced.
Both Hopkins and opponents have played pretty clean ball this year, with only nine combined penalties per game. Hopkins has finished about 50% of their EMO chances, with opponents actually converting decently as well.
This is Michigan’s first chance this year to find out what an elite team – what the type of team that they’re trying to emulate – looks like. Hopkins is bigger, faster, stronger, just better at about every position than Michigan (though with a better defense in front of him, Gerald Logan could contend with Basset, at the least).
In Michigan’s “culture-building” phase of the program, playing a team like this isn’t their opportunity to win, it’s their opportunity to grow by taking their lumps, and learn what the end goal is. Of course, given the rumors of Johns Hopkins joining the Big Ten, this could be the preview of a future conference matchup, too.
Johns Hopkins pregame release. Michigan pregame release.
Like the North Carolina game last year, this could get ugly. Michigan simply doesn’t have the horses to keep up. The Wolverines know that, however, and they aren’t going to just concede, either.
Michigan would like to be Johns Hopkins when it grows up. The Wolverines are still infantile when it comes to the program’s development, however. They just don’t have what it takes to seriously compete in a game like this. Johns Hopkins 17, Michigan 6.
Detroit has started the year with a couple games against tough opposition, and things lighten up a bit with today’s trip to the Pittsburgh area. However, Robert Morris is no pushover, either.
Robert Morris signed the Declaration of Independence. Also: looked nothing like this picture.
Noon EST Feb. 23, 2013
Moon Township, Pa.
Live Stats. Live video ($). Official site preview.
We’re starting to get to a point where teams have played enough games that we actually know a bit about them. That’s especially true of a squad like Robert Morris, which has not only played two games, but also includes one against a team (Bellarmine, which beat RMU 9-8) that is a common opponent with one of the teams we look at closely here on GLS. Given that Bellarmine seems a shade better than Michigan – despite the lopsided score when the two played – losing to them probably doesn’t bode well for Bobby Mo’s long-term successes this year.
| Robert Morris 2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Robert Morris | Opponents | ||
| Faceoff Wins | 18 | Faceoff Wins | 28 |
| Clearing | 41-52 | Clearing | 37-44 |
| Possessions | 77 | Possessions | 83 |
| Goals | 20 | Goals | 18 |
| Offensive Efficiency | .260 | Offensive Efficiency | .217 |
Here’s where stats can start to get tricky early in the year. Robert Morris looks pretty good, despite a slight deficit in possession. They’re the more efficient team by a good margin so far.
However, their two games were against last year’s No. 40 and No. 41 teams in the country. Although Bellarmine is likely improved over 2012 – albeit slightly – that’s no murderer’s row. I get the impression that UMBC is just not going to be any good.
This is a very young offense, despite a bit of experience in spots. The two leading scorers are freshman midfielder Eric Rankel (6G, 3A) and freshman attackman Luke Laskiewicz (5G, 1A). Behind them are a couple seniors in attack Jake Hayes and midfielder Taylor Graves (2G, 2A apiece), though Graves took a redshirt earlier in his career and has two years of playing eligibility remaining.
Sophomore Jacob Ruest and 5th-year Dave Martin close out the multi-point scorers on the year. Senior Tyler Digby has started both games at attack but taken only five shots this year and not notched a single point.
It’s clear that this isn’t a team with tons of offensive depth: indeed, it’s a small roster overall with just 40 guys, 18 of whom have seen the field this year. With Detroit’s skill at the top of its defensive depth chart – especially 1st close D Jamie Hebden and 1st LSM Jordan Houtby – RMU will have to either find ways to get those guys open or switched, or lean on some players who haven’t stuffed the statsheet or really made an impact to date.
This matchup seems to firmly favor UDM.
Charles Ruppert has started both games between the pipes this year and played all but 30 seconds in net. He has a respectable .607 save percentage, though weirdly he only has five ground balls on the year.
Like the offense, the defense is young. Sophomore Luc Magnan, Freshman Cory Berry (listed at LSM, but if he’s playing that position, RMU has only started two defensemen in each of the first two games), and redshirt sophomore Joseph Scenna have started both games. Scenna looks to be the playmaker of the D, causing five turnovers and picking up seven GBs to date.
If he draws Shayne Adams, that will be an excellent battle, but I’m also confident that the Titans have enough other weapons – be it Alex Maini, Mike Birney, Brandon Beauregard, or someone who hasn’t produced much yet this year (for example Scott Drummond, last year’s fifth-leading scorer, has taken just a couple shots so far this year).
UDM’s offense has moved in fits and starts at the beginning of the year, and although I’m confident it’ll turn out better and more consistent than last year’s unit, it’s time to show the results of that.
This is going to be a weird thing to say: I’ve seen enough out of Detroit’s faceoff options to believe that there is enough talent there to rotate in a variety of players in a given game and hover right around a .500 win percentage on the year. With better wing play, they might crack that mark. Given that Robert Morris has been bad on faceoffs – and not against teams with a history of excellence at the dot – I think UDM has that matchup going in its favor today.
RMU is also clearing worse than opponents are, so they won’t likely have much of an advantage in the clearing game this season. Detroit’s also clearing sort of poorly and not riding all that hard, so it seems like a stalemate at that spot.
One big opportunity for RMU to have an advantage is penalties. Detroit 2013 is looking like yet another penalty-prone edition of the Titans, and RMU has been right about average. RMU is also capitalizing on a lot of their EMO opportunities, whereas Detroit is not, and nor are they doing an excellent job from preventing opponents from doing it. If there’s one area that the Colonials have a clear advantage, it’s the penalty game. Play a clean contest, and Detroit is looking good.
Detroit’s beyond the “collect a big-name scalp” phase of the year, and into the “let’s just get our non-conference win.” They’ll have more opportunities to do that with the likes of Quinnipiac, Bellarmine, Michigan, and Marquette on the schedule, but clearly the goal is to win them all, and this is a chance to do just that.
Robert Morris hasn’t played anyone of note yet, nor have they impressed against competition that’s just OK. This is the sort of opportunity UDM needs to start capitalizing on.
I had high hopes for Detroit last year, but thanks to poor offensive scheme and one of the most injury-prone teams in the country, they failed to live up to those expectations. This game is their chance to shake an underachiever label (and, to be fair, even having those expectations is pretty good for a program this young).
In case the individual predictions didn’t make it clear, I sense a Detroit win coming on. It’s the Titans’ weakest opposition to date in conditions that don’t make an offensive explosion likely on either side of the ball. Man-for-man, UDM should have what it takes to head home with a 12-8 Titan win.
Still looking for a truly good day for teams from Michigan. With the beginning of MCLA in earnest, we may be approaching that (Detroit is also facing one of its easier non-conference opponents).
Division-1 Women
Detroit 7, Siena 13
Division-3 Men
Calvin 1, Concordia-Wisconsin 18
Division-1 Men
Detroit @ Robert Morris, noon (Moon Township, Pa.)
Michigan @ Johns Hopkins, 1 p.m. (Baltimore, Md.)
Division-3 Men
Albion v. Defiance
Adrian v. Kean
Calvin v. Benedictine
MCLA-1
Central Michigan @ Michigan State, noon
Davenport v. Ohio, 3 p.m. (Ultimate Soccer, Pontiac, Mich.)
MCLA-2
Michigan-Dearborn @ Lindenwood-Bellevile, noon Central
Oakland @ Missouri Baptist, noon Central
Siena Heights @ Dayton, 2 p.m.
Northwood v. Central Connecticut, 4 p.m. (University of Pittsburgh)
Corrections, omissions, etc. always appreciated in the comments.
