The Next Level: 2016 Final

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Tim

Update: Somehow managed to skip over Marquette. Golden Eagles are in there now.

So: I was generally derelict in my duties overall this spring, not least of which was producing weekly updates on players from Michigan (or who played high school ball in the state) excelling at the Division-1 level.

With the season over, here’s the list of those who played, and their stats on the year. Feel free to share corrections, statlines from other divisions, etc. in the comments.

Bellarmine (6-9, 4-3 SoCon)

  • Graham Macko, midfield/attack (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in two games with one start. Scored one Goal on four Shots (all on goal) and added one assist.

Binghamton (4-10, 2-4 America East)

  • Liam Reaume, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in 12 games. Scored five Goals on 22 Shots (seven on goal) and added four assists. Caused one turnover and picked up six ground balls. Also committed one turnover and one penalty for 0:30.

Canisius (4-8, 3-3 MAAC)

  • Logan Monroe, defense (Holt) – Played in 12 games, starting 11. Caused six turnovers and picked up 22 ground balls. Took one Shot. Also committed two turnovers and four penalties for 3:00.
  • Keith Pravato, midfield (Novi) – Played in 11 games. Took one Shot (on goal), caused one turnover, and picked up one ground ball. Also committed two penalties for 1:30.
  • Steve Wizniuk, midfield (Utica) – Played in nine games. Won 19 of 41 faceoffs (.463), picking up six ground balls. Also committed one turnover.

Detroit (2-10, 2-4 MAAC)

  • Kyle Beauregard, attack (Pontiac Notre Dame Prep) – Played in all 12 games, starting all of them. Scored eight Goals on 70 Shots (31 on goal), added two assists, and picked up 13 ground balls. Also committed 13 turnovers.
  • Sean Birney, midfield (Novi Detroit Catholic Central) – Played in all 12 games, starting all of them. Scored seven Goals on 40 Shots (23 on goal), added seven assists, and picked up eight ground balls. Also committed 15 turnovers and one penalty for 1:00.
  • Nick Boynton, midfield (Troy Athens) – Did not see game action.
  • Devon Callaghan, midfield (Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day) – Played in three games. Took two Shots (one on goal), and picked up two ground balls. Also committed two turnovers.
  • Connor Flynn, goalie (Rockford) – Played in four games with one start. In 37:09, gave up six goals and made 10 saves (.625) with no decisions.
  • Alec Gilhooly, midfield (Novi Detroit Catholic Central) – Played in all 12 games, starting all of them. Scored 12 Goals on 45 Shots (29 on goal), added six assists, and picked up 18 ground balls. Also committed 14 turnovers and two penalties for 1:00.
  • Ben Gjokaj, midfield (Walled Lake Central) – Played in 11 games. Won 74 of 133 faceoffs (.556) with 23 ground balls, and took one Shot on goal. Also committed one turnover and one penalty for 0:30.
  • Emmett Green, midfield (Birmingham Seaholm) – Played in all 12 games. Caused five turnovers and picked up eight ground balls. Also committed three turnovers and three penalties for 2:30.
  • Blake Grewal-Turner, attack (Okemos) – Did not see game action.
  • Brad Harris, midfield (Saline) – Played in 10 games with three starts. Scored one Goal on eight Shots (four on goal) and picked up one ground ball. Also committed seven turnovers.
  • Jack Harrop, defense (Orchard Lake St. Mary’s) – Played in one game, but only made the scoresheet by committing one penalty for 1:00.
  • Charlie Hayes, midfield (Utica Eisenhower) – Played in all 12 games. Scored a Goal on six Shots (four on goal). Caused eight turnovers and picked up 14 ground balls. Also committed eight turnovers and four penalties for 2:30.
  • Andy Hebden, attack (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in all 12 games, starting all 12. Scored 19 Goals on 68 Shots (42 on goal) and added four Assists. Caused three turnovers and picked up 24 ground balls. Also committed 20 turnovers and two penalties for 1:00.
  • J.D. Hess, midfield (Birmingham Seaholm) – Played in all 12 games with no starts. Scored two Goals on 14 Shots (13 on goal), added an Assist, and picked up four ground balls. Also committed three turnovers and 1 penalty for 2:00.
  • Sam Horton, defense (Okemos) – Played in nine games with one start. Caused two turnovers and picked up one ground ball.
  • Connor Maks, attack/midfield (University of Detroit Jesuit) – Did not see game action.
  • Greg Marzec, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in 10 games with no starts. Won seven of 26 faceoffs and picked up nine ground balls. Took one Shot and caused one turnover. Also committed two turnovers and one penalty for 1:00.
  • Bryan Matney, defense (Ann Arbor Pioneer) – Played in nine games with no starts. Picked up one ground ball. Also committed one turnover.
  • Chris Perry, midfield (Utica Eisenhower) – Played in one game, but did not accrue any statistics.
  • Bo Pickens, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in 11 games with no starts. Took one Shot on goal. Caused six turnovers and picked up four ground balls. Also committed five turnovers.
  • Austin Ross, defense (Warren Mott) – Did not see game action.
  • Travis Sparling, defense (Novi)- Played in 11 games with no starts. Caused one turnover and picked up two ground balls.
  • Mike Spuller, midfield (Dexter) – Played in 10 games with one start. Scored a Goal on four Shots (three on goal), added an Assist, and picked up two ground balls. Also committed six turnovers.
  • Adam Susalla, attack (Birmingham Seaholm) – Played in nine games with one start. Scored a Goal on seven Shots (four on goal), added an assist, and picked up one ground ball. Also committed seven turnovers.
  • Jordan Yono, defense (Novi Detroit Catholic Central) – Played in all 12 games, starting all 12. caused 10 turnovers and picked up 15 ground balls. Won 2/12 faceoffs (.167) and scored a Goal on his only Shot. Also committed two turnovers and three penalties for 2:30.

Duke (11-8, 2-2 ACC)

  • Matthew Giampetroni, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood) – Played in 12 games. Scored two Goals on four Shots (two on goal). Caused one turnover and picked up five ground balls.

Manhattan (3-12, 1-5 MAAC)

  • Midfield Robert Carroll (Grosse Pointe South) – Played in two games. Won his only faceoff attempt, picking up one ground ball. Also committed one turnover and one penalty for 0:30.

Marquette (11-5, 4-1 Big East)

  • Henry Nelson, attack (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in 13 games, starting one. Scored two Goals on nine Shots (seven on goal), added two assists, and picked up two ground balls. Also committed two turnovers.
  • Bob Pelton, midfield (Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern) – Did not see game action.
  • John Wagner, attack (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood) – Played in all 16 games, starting two. Scored four Goals on 18 Shots (11 on goal) and added two assists. Caused one turnover and picked up 10 ground balls. Also committed six turnovers.

Michigan (3-10, 0-5 Big Ten)

  • Brian Archer, midfield (Brighton) – Did not see game action.
  • Riley Kennedy, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in four games. Scored a Goal on four Shots (three on goal), added two Assists, and picked up three ground balls. Also committed one turnover.
  • Chris Walker, defense (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in 11 games, starting all 11. Caused nine turnovers and picked up 22 ground balls. Also committed six turnovers and three penalties for 2:00.

N.J.I.T. (1-14, Independent)

  • Brent Lubin, defense (Orchard Lake St. Mary’s) – Played in 15 games, starting 12. Caused 11 turnovers and picked up 15 ground balls. Won 2/15 faceoffs. Also committed two turnovers and one penalty for 1:00.

Notre Dame (11-4, 4-1 ACC)

  • Michael Langdon, defense (Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood) – Did not see game action.
  • Sergio Perkovic, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in all 15 games, starting all 15. Scored 26 Goals on 116 Shots (67 on goal) and added four assists. CAused three turnovers and picked up 14 ground balls. Also committed 17 turnovers and two penalties for 2:00.

Providence (7-9, 1-4 Big East)

  • Joshua Keller, midfield (East Grand Rapids) – Played in 13 games, starting two. Scored four Goals on 23 Shots (15 on goal), and picked up two ground balls. Also committed 15 turnovers.

Richmond (11-5, 6-1 SoCon)

  • J.P. Forester, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in 12 games, starting eight. Scored 14 goals on 55 Shots (33 on goal) and added seven assists. Caused three turnovers and picked up 17 ground balls. Also committed 16 turnovers and two penalties for 1:30.

Rutgers (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten)

  • Jacob Coretti, midfield (East Grand Rapids) – Played in three games. Took one Shot.

Syracuse (12-5, 2-2 ACC)

  • Nick Martin, midfield (Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day) – Did not see game action.

UMass Lowell (4-12, 0-6 America East)

  • Grant Lardieri, goalie (Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern) – Played in 16 games, starting all 16 with a 4-12 record. In 859:04, made 143 saves and allowed 161 goals (4.70). Caused three turnovers and picked up 43 ground balls, and took one Shot. Also committed nine turnovers.

Yale (13-3, 4-1 Ivy)

  • Jason Alessi, midfield (Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice) – Played in all 16 games. Scored 12 Goals on 43 Shots (26 on goal) and added two Assists. Caused two turnovers and picked up 24 ground balls. Also committed 15 turnovers and two penalties for 2:00.
  • John Lazarsfeld, midfield (Ann Arbor Greenhills) – Played in seven games. Recorded two assists and picked up four ground balls.
Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Detroit 9, Manhattan 3

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Tim

Detroit played a bad team, but unfortunately for both in-state schools this season, we’ve seen that doesn’t necessarily mean a win. UDM managed to take care of business against one of the consistent bottom-dwellers of college lacrosse, and there was much rejoicing.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Manhattan 2016
Detroit Manhattan
Faceoff Wins 12 Faceoff Wins 4
Clearing 15-20 Clearing 14-15
Possessions 33 Possessions 24
Goals 9 Goals 3
Offensive Efficiency .273 Offensive Efficiency .125

UDM gave back some of a huge faceoff advantage by clearing pretty poorly, but Manhattan is quite bad indeed, thus the Titans were able to triple up the opposition.

Notes

It was a relative offensive explosion for the Titans, who struggled on that side of the ball in 2016. UDM scored just nine goals, sure, and a .273 offensive efficiency (accounting for a slower-paced game) isn’t exactly blowing the doors off, but only contests against Mercer and – oddly enough – a pretty good Marquette team saw better offensive outputs by this point in the season. More impressive was how they did it. Eight assists on nine goals is pretty good (albeit aided by a couple man-up tallies, but you score the goals you score, ya know?).

So who were the impressive performers? Alec Gilhooly led the way with two goals and two assists, Sean Birney had a goal and two assists, and Andy Hebden put in three scores. Lucas Ducharme and Kyle Beauregard has a goal and an assist each while Pat Walsh had two assists. It was a nice balance across the scoresheet, especially considering the season’s leading scorer, Mark Anstead, only needed to contribute one goal.

The turnover bug did hit (remain with, as it were) Detroit, though. That’s reflected partially in the clearing numbers, but 21 giveaways – only three forced by the Jaspers – is a weak all-around number. Cleaning that up is a major emphasis for next season, and will pay off in improved clearing numbers, as well.

Jason Weber had a very nice game between the pipes, getting back to his form from 2015 with three goals allowed while saving nine shots. Strength of competition enters into play, sure, but getting on the better side of the ledger however it’s done can’t be frowned upon. Backup goalie Connor Flynn made it in for two minutes of game time, facing just two shots and saving both.

Ben Gjokaj had a nice day on faceoffs, and while it was a dominating day basically all around (except in the transition game), he certainly helped to set the tone and give Detroit a possession advantage.

Detroit was sort of back to its old, aggressive ways, committing five penalties (though it didn’t pay off much in terms of turnovers forced), but the man-down was able to come through. A 2/2 mark on the man advantage gave the Titans the decided win in unbalanced play.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Detroit recap. Manhattan recap. Game highlights.

Up Next

Detroit couldn’t capitalize on a strong start to MAAC play, with a few straight losses coming up.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Detroit 9, Manhattan 3

Michigan 8, Brown 22

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Tim

U-M played one of the best teams in the country, and in a shocking turn of events it didn’t go so well.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Brown 2016
Michigan Brown
Faceoff Wins 15 Faceoff Wins 19
Clearing 21-26 Clearing 24-27
Possessions 44 Possessions 51
Goals 8 Goals 22
Offensive Efficiency .182 Offensive Efficiency .431

This game was played at a blistering pace (no surprise, given Brown’s style of play), and the Bears did what they do in such situations: score a ton of goals. Michigan had a bunch of possessions itself – staying even in faceoffs against one of the top faceoff teams in the country is an impressive feat, for example – but couldn’t get anything going.

Notes

An unconventional but appropriate place to start looking at this game: the opposition. Brown had two six-point scorers (likely Tewaaraton winner Dylan Molloy and attackmate Kylor Bellistri), two five-point scorers (Carson Song and Bailey Tills), and a four-point scorer (Henry Blynn). That’s a ton of output. Let’s not even talk too much about the long-pole production, something Brown is getting a lot of credit for in the NCAA Tournament thus far. It wasn’t star LSM Larken Kemp (a measly one goal) that lit the scoreboard against Michigan, but rather Alec Tulett, a close defender who notched a goal and an assist on the day.

Where else did things go poorly? Special teams. Not only was Michigan uncharacteristically penalty-heavy with five committed for 4:00 (albeit in a really fast game, so maybe it’s not as bad as it looks), but they gave up goals on three of their man-down defense situations, and also had one put on their face during a man-up chance (while going 0/4 in converting). Unsurprisingly, it was a longpole – sophomore Max Gustafson – who did the deed.

Michigan had a decent day on faceoffs against one of the best faceoff teams in the country, though that does come with some caveats. U-M was 9/24 through three quarters before Brown really emptied the bench – the Bears’ top guy, Will Gural, went 11/18 and the others combined to go 8/16. Michigan’s Brad Lott was 7/16, and Mike McDonnell was actually the best, going 5/7 – but he didn’t face Gural once.

Sticking in the possession game, Michigan actually rode Brown pretty well – right at .889, about their season-long average, when you’d expect a bad team to be below that – but didn’t clear particularly well themselves. When you’re getting beaten up in the possession game against a team that’s ruthlessly efficient on the offensive end (and then don’t make up for it at all with your own offense), things aren’t going to go well.

Michigan had three multi-point scorers, and they came from relatively unconventional sources. Brent Noseworthy scored three of his six goals on the year, Pat Tracy had three of his five assists on the year, and Brendan Gaughan scored his only two goals of the year. Ian King was shut out, and Kyle Jackson scored just one goal. That speaks to future depth for U-M (Noseworthy was a freshman this season, Tracy a sophomore, Gaughan a redshirt junior), but not so much positive in the way of getting your offense through the means you’re used to doing it.

Poor Gerald Logan. He faced 38(!) shots on goal, and did yeoman’s work to save 17 of them against a very potent offense. The U-M defense didn’t do a ton to help him out, though Chris Walker did cause two turnovers and pick up five GBs to lead that unit.

Michigan committed 24 turnovers on the game. yes, that’s Brown’s style, but again, you need to value the ball against that style even more than usual, because not only are you sacrificing an offensive opportunity, you’re giving the Bears some transition.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Michigan recap. Brown recap. Snuff film.

Up Next

Unfortunately, we’ve seen Michigan’s last win of the year already. It’s going to be some tough times in the final six recaps (the Dartmouth story is already in the books).

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Michigan 8, Brown 22

Michigan 15, Vermont 13

Posted on May 14, 2016 by Tim

Michigan’s offense clicked, the team won a game. Hooray.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Vermont 2016
Vermont Michigan
Faceoff Wins 15 Faceoff Wins 17
Clearing 15-16 Clearing 18-18
Possessions 31 Possessions 36
Goals 13 Goals 15
Offensive Efficiency .419 Offensive Efficiency .417

This was a moderately fast game, but the high scores were more attributable to outstanding offense (or maybe lack of defense) than the pace of play. Michigan was slightly less efficient, but had more possession – and you could consider a couple of the Catamounts’ goals in “too little, too late” territory, for not much of a concern, anyway.

Notes

 

About those defenses, though. Not only did Michigan allow 13 goals, Gerald Logan also made 18 saves. A shot on goal per possession is not a defensive effort that’s going to win you a lot of games. Fortunately, Michigan got the (far) better end of the goalkeeping equation, with his counterpart Jon Kaplan only saving 10 shots while allowing 15. Part of that is shot selection and accuracy (Michigan actually put just 25 of 46 on-cage), sure, but Logan seemed to pull Michigan’s feet from the fire, to an extent.

Also fortunate: Michigan had both Ian King and Kyle Jackson on the field together (which wasn’t the case throughout the season – Jackson missed four games, while King missed two and parts of a couple others). The duo combined for ten points (Jackson three goals and three assists, King two goals and two assists), including just one where they linked up together – they helped spread the wealth. Decker Curran had a goal and two assists, while Peter Kraus, Justin Gibbons, and Evan Glaser each had a pair of goals.

One area the Michigan offense made hay? The extra-man offense. They had six opportunities, and converted four of them. A sloppy game from Vermont could have cost them the win, to an extent. Michigan retook its first lead since 1-0 on an EMO tally from Brent Noseworthy late in the second quarter, then a five-goal run in the late third to early fourth included two extra-man tallies to extend the lead to six.

Brad Lott had a decent day on faceoffs – though against a Vermont team that’s just OK on draws, it wasn’t anything to write home about. 17/32 (.531) is a fine number, but it did include beating up on little-used Ian Mackay (0/2, and went 3/10 on the year) and Taylor Boyd (0/2, went 10/27 on the year). Against Vermont’s better faceoff men, he had a bit more struggle, with Luc LeBlanc winning 2/3 and TJ Subel – who was under .500 on the year – notching a 13/24 mark (.542).

Michigan didn’t necessarily play a clean game, committing 11 turnovers with only two forced by the defense. King was the biggest culprit there, with four giveaways, but when he and Jackson (one TO) are responsible for so much of the offense, so be it.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Michigan recap. This happened. Vermont recap.

Up Next

U-M traveled to Rhode Island to take on one of the country’s best teams in Brown. It didn’t go well.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Michigan 15, Vermont 13

Detroit 8, Marquette 10

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Tim

Hey, talk about a throwback. Trying to recap the whole seasons for both teams. It’s a lot of catching up to be done.

This is yet another example of a “close but no cigar” game that both in-state D-1 teams had plenty of this year (of course with the benefit of hindsight and knowing how good Marquette turned out to be).

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Marquette 2016
Detroit Marquette
Faceoff Wins 1 Faceoff Wins 19
Clearing 23-24 Clearing 12-15
Possessions 28 Possessions 35
Goals 8 Goals 10
Offensive Efficiency .296 Offensive Efficiency .286

Thanks to dominating on draws, Marquette had a real chance to absolutely dominate the possession game as well… but they couldn’t score consistently enough to capitalize on that advantage. Neither team was particularly good offensively, but the margin created by a near-perfect faceoff day won it for the Eagles.

Notes

That faceoff day is so, so bad. Sometimes you’re going to run up against really good specialists (and UDM didn’t quite get shut out, like happened in the Quinnipiac-Marist game back in April). Mike Sforza was your lone faceoff winner (1/7), while Greg Marzec and Jordan Yono were each shut out on six and seven attempts, respectively. Obviously the long-pole Yono was more likely in there to muck things up and get winnable 50/50 balls… but that didn’t happen either.

As mentioned in the tempo-free box section, despite the faceoff dominance, UDM didn’t face that much of a possession disadvantage. Marquette was winning draws, but failing to score on the ensuing possession, and the Titans were able to clear well enough to close that gap. Losing a game by two when you dealt with an 18-faceoff deficit is either a sign that you match up pretty well outside of that one area, or a missed opportunity (or of course, both).

Your defensive champion was goalie Jason Weber, who made 14 saves while allowing 10 goals. With seven GBs as well, he was responsible for ending a lot of those Marquette possessions. You’ll see over the course of these recaps that he didn’t live up to last year’s outstanding (.589 save percentage) performance, but he more than held his own between the pipes.

On the other end of the field, it was the Mark Anstead show. The sophomore attackman scored three goals on six shots and added three assists for a six-point performance. That’s a solid day at the office, no matter how you slice it. Andy Hebden added a goal and an assist, and midfielder Sean Birney had a pair of goals.

This was a fairly sloppy game (especially given a modest pace of play), with four EMO opportunities for each team. Marquette cashed in twice, Detroit only scored on one such chance – one of Anstead’s assists, with Alec Gilhooly getting the honor.

Here’s where things tilt heavily in the “missed opportunity” direction. That Gilhooly tally was followed by Hebden’s goal (with another Anstead assist), capping a four-goal Titan run at the end of the third quarter into the midway point of the fourth to give UDM a one-goal lead. Then, Marquette scored three goals to retake a two-goal lead with under two minutes to play, so things really slipped away form Detroit, which stood a strong chance to hold onto the game.

That’s another place the faceoff game reared its ugly head. No momentum to be gained (or maintained) if you can’t get possession after a goal. The Titans won their only faceoff with 1:29 remaining in the contest, and even that was off an Eagle faceoff violation. That’s right, Detroit didn’t win a single faceoff until after the final score of the game.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Detroit recap. Marquette recap.

Up Next

The titans would finally get on the winning side of the ledger for the season against Manhattan.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Detroit 6, Bellarmine 7

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Tim

Horseshoes, hand grenades, etc., etc. Even a close loss to reasonable competition is a step forward from where the Titans started the year, and in the MAAC, it’s all about the auto-bid anyway.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Bellarmine 2016
Detroit Bellarmine
Faceoff Wins 6 Faceoff Wins 9
Clearing 20-24 Clearing 19-20
Possessions 31 Possessions 33
Goals 6 Goals 7
Offensive Efficiency .194 Offensive Efficiency .212

In a one-goal game, the slimmest of margins is always going to be important (even when it was a reasonably fast game that just featured some poor offense). That Bellarmine had a couple more opportunities with the ball could have been the difference… or maybe not.

Notes

 

This one was never out of hand for the Titans, with the largest Bellarmine margin three goals late in the first half and early in the second. On the other side of the ledger though, once the Knights took their first lead (at 2-1), Detroit was never once able to claw all the way back. It was a close game throughout, but was there ever a time that Bellarmine was really worried? Impossible to say

That “last possession” Detroit needed is kind of a killer… given that they went man-up for the final 47 seconds of the game. They lost the faceoff, but were able to force a turnover and successfully clear. However, they only had time for one shot (crushingly, Mark Anstead’s attempt beat the goalie but lost to the post), and though they got the rebound, couldn’t get another one off.

The teams had the same turnover numbers, with 19 committed, seven caused by the opposition. A stalemate in that department is actually a moderate improvement for Detroit over the recent course of the program, when they’ve been really turnover-prone (and are no longer causing tons of opposition turnovers themselves). Kyle Beauregard committed five, Mark Anstead three, and Andy Hebden two, and really only the first of those numbers is super-troublesome. That goalie Jason Weber committed a pair that immediately resulted in failed clears (basically by definition) is a bit, too. You’d like to at least be able to get it out of the goalie’s stick in that situation.

The offensive standouts were Anstead (2G, 3A), Alec Gilhooly and Sean Birney (1G, 1A apiece), but in a low-scoring game, you’re obviously not going to have huge numbers there.

Faceoffs continued to be an issue, though just a small one in this contest. With the benefit of knowing what happened over the next couple games, in fairness, I might be ready to say they’ve taken big steps forward in that department, even if a specialist hasn’t stepped forward to seize the job.

Elsewhere

Box score. Detroit recap. Bellarmine recap.

Up Next

UDM fell just short again to cap its weekend in Columbus, this time with a slightly greater margin, but against a much better team in Marquette. Recap to come.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Detroit 6, Bellarmine 7

Michigan 12, Dartmouth 13

Posted on March 20, 2016 by Tim
Michigan Wolverines lacrosse Brad Lott won 19/29 faceoffs

Brad Lott won 19/29 faceoffs

Recapping games a little bit out of order here because it was some LIVE COVERAGE yesterday:

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Dartmouth 2016
Dartmouth Michigan
Faceoff Wins 10 Faceoff Wins 19
Clearing 15-18 Clearing 16-19
Possessions 31 Possessions 41
Goals 13 Goals 12
Offensive Efficiency .419 Offensive Efficiency .293

Michigan dominated the possession game thanks to a faceoff advantage, didn’t have a terrible offensive performance – though it was far from stellar – and still lost the game. That’s thanks to some poor defense (especially early) and missed opportunities on the O.

Notes

 

Starting with probably the star of the show, faceoff specialist Brad Lott. He was singlehandedly responsible for the majority of Michigan’s possession advantage, and even though wing play wasn’t poor, he won the clamp on an even greater proportion of the faceoffs than the numbers would seem to indicate. Getting control, then popping it out to a 50/50 situation for the ground ball is not the ideal way for that to play out. There were negatives, though: on the rare occasion that he lost without a significant faceoff scrum, he was diving to make a check, and ended up giving a few fastbreak opportunities to Dartmouth. That included the penalty that ultimately led to Dartmouth’s extending the lead to 4-1, taking it from a relatively even game to one in which the Wolverines were chasing from behind the whole time.

“In practice, Brad has completely separated himself,” said coach John Paul. “We were pretty confident that we could have success today with their guy, and the style that he plays. He’s a really good athlete, he really scraps, and he really gets after ground balls, but we felt like we could control the draw. We did, and we especially did in crunch time, and that I was really happy to see.”

Kyle Jackson (3G, 2A) had a strong offensive performance, especially given the early-slide and double-team attention the Dartmouth defense was giving him. Their strategy paid off a few times – he had three turnovers, including the one that ultimately sealed the game with fewer than 20 seconds remaining – but that he was still able to put up the numbers he did speaks to his talent.

Michigan Wolverines lacrossePeter Kraus was an offensive standout

Peter Kraus was an offensive standout

Peter Kraus (3G, 1A) and Ian King (1G, 3A) weren’t far behind Jackson on the scoresheet, even though King left the game with an arm injury – on a dirty play (Dartmouth made a few of those) on which he was inexplicably called for a ward when being slashed facedown on the ground – in the fourth quarter. Unclear whether he’ll be available for the midweek game against Marist, though if U-M doesn’t need him, probably best to let him rest and get back to full strength.

“I think it was just a true team effort,” Kraus said. “Swinging the ball through X. It’s definitely nice when the offense is geared toward me, but good offense, we know how to play.”

The offense still wasn’t great – and missed opportunities due to sloppiness led to Dartmouth’s building an early lead. Both teams had eight possessions in the first quarter, but Michigan’s ended early due to the “pass before the assist” being just a little too high or otherwise off-target, and the Big Green going the other way. Meanwhile, Dartmouth had looooong offensive possessions that they converted into five goals to put Michigan in a really bad spot.

“We’re really tinkering right now with our offensive personnel,” Paul said. “We just haven’t – even in the games that we’ve been really successful offensively, where our efficiency is high and we’re scoring lots of goals – we haven’t felt like our offense is really running our offense. It’s been a focus. We’ve been toying with the people that we’ve had in there, and trying to simplify things to make it real easy to run. I think that’s what you were seeing, especially early, is that we’re still not quite sharp enough offensively. We’re not running the things we need to run the way we need to run them to be successful.”

That tinkering includes not only the pre-season move of Kyle Jackson going from midfield to attack, but also playing plenty of freshmen or position-switchers onto those first two midfields, as well. After a couple years when it seemed like there weren’t enough players on attack, suddenly Michigan is stacked there and weak on the attack. They need to find some balance to be successful.

Speaking of not successful, goalie Gerald Logan struggled in the first half (two saves, six goals allowed), but was much more solid coming out of the break (seven goals, seven saves). The defense needs to protect him a bit more – he was victimized on a few that he had no chance to save – but he’s still putting together a complete game.

For the opposition, five different players notched three points in a balanced offensive effort, including a hat trick from Cam Lee. Goalie Blair Friedensohn saved eight shots while allowing eight goals, and Dartmouth (unwisely, given the results) also played Joe Balaban before yanking him with four goals allowed and just a single save to re-insert Friedensohn in the fourth quarter.

When you give a team its first win of the year (when their losses already include Wagner), that’s a bad thing, IMO.

Photos

UM Dartmouth

Elsewhere

Box score. Michigan recap. Dartmouth recap. The Wolverine gamer. Michigan photo gallery.

Up Next

Marist comes to Ann Arbor Wednesday evening in a winnable contest.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Michigan 10, Delaware 7

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Tim

Until Saturday, Notre Dame was the top team in the country (and for good reason). This one probably could have been even uglier.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Delaware 2016
Michigan Delaware
Faceoff Wins 10 Faceoff Wins 11
Clearing 17-17 Clearing 12-14
Possessions 29 Possessions 25
Goals 10 Goals 7
Offensive Efficiency .345 Offensive Efficiency .280

This one was pretty close in most respects. The Wolverines made up for a stalemate on faceoffs (which, fortunately, is a poor performance compared to the rest of their season thus far) by putting together a perfect clear, and riding Delaware into a couple mistakes. Then, the Maize and Blue were more efficient offensively, and that was the story of the game.

Notes

Third-quarter woes had been an issue for Michigan in a couple previous losses, so it’s only fair to point out when that frame is what wins the game for the Maize and Blue. The Wolverines exited the locker room looking at a one-goal deficit, but scored the first three goals of the third quarter to take control. Although Delaware did pull one back to get within a goal, a strong performance in the fourth sealed it. Everywhere other than the scoreboard, U-M had ground to make up at halftime, and though they didn’t even out shots (for example), theirs were much more effective than the Blue Hens’.

The other thing that jumps out about this one is that it was a sloppy, sloppy game from a penalty perspective. Michigan committed five, and Delaware four. Three of U-M’s were simple mental/discipline errors (an offside, a delay of game, and an unsportsmanlike conduct), and one of Delaware’s was, as well. Michigan, despite the slight deficit in penalties (including a 6-on-4 in the fourth quarter) didn’t give up an extra-man tally, while scoring two themselves.

Offensively, it wasn’t the Ian King show (as much as two points in a ten-goal offensive output can be a relatively quiet night), but his fellow starting attackmen went off. Peter Kraus had three goals and an assist, while Kyle Jackson scored five times. It’s fair to say the move to attack is working for him (and the offense as a whole). Backup attackman Decker Curran had two points, a goal and an assist on two separate man-up chances.

The Michigan offense has had a bit of an issue launching away without putting shots on goal (as much as you can assume that’s a problem in an era of the timer-on shot clock – possession shots serve a purpose of their own), but that wasn’t a problem in this one, to say the very least. 20 of 29 U-M shots were on cage, and while Delaware also put 20 on the net, it took them 37 overall shots to get there. More wasted opportunities.

The goalie play was a decider in this game, then. Gerald Logan had a nice .650, whereas Delaware’s Parker Ferrigan was right at .500 – and  couple that he did make were sort of lame attempts from Michigan dodgers. Realistic scoring attempts, he didn’t do so hot.

The rest of Michigan’s defense did their part, as well. Delaware committed 16 total turnovers, including 11 forced by the Wolverines. All three starting defensemen – Charlie Keady, Chris Walker, and Andrew Hatton – had a pair, while five other Wolverines forced one. The two failed clears – perhaps fewer than you might expect, given that Michigan went to ten-man ride quite a bit – played a major role in the victory, too.

After being up-and-down the past couple years (since the faceoff rules change, especially), Brad Lott is truly becoming comfortable at the dot. He won 9/16 draws – Mike McDonnell went 1/5 to give Delaware the advantage – and though some of that was simply good wing play (he didn’t pick up a single GB), this is a results-based charting service.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Michigan recap. Delaware recap. Michigan photo gallery. Watch the whole thing, thanks to MaxLax OC.

Up Next

U-M had another nice, competitive win before crashing back to earth against the best team they’ve faced al year.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Michigan 10, Delaware 7

Detroit 5, Notre Dame 14

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Tim

Until Saturday, Notre Dame was the top team in the country (and for good reason). This one probably could have been even uglier.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Notre Dame 2016
Detroit Notre Dame
Faceoff Wins 7 Faceoff Wins 15
Clearing 12-20 Clearing 18-18
Possessions 27 Possessions 41
Goals 5 Goals 14
Offensive Efficiency .185 Offensive Efficiency .341

The gap in efficiency wasn’t huge – though it was indeed sizeable – but the possession margin was huge. UDM couldn’t clear and couldn’t win faceoffs. Unless you’re going to crush it in effiency (as opposed to, say, almost getting doubled up there), that’s not a recipe for success.

Notes

Starting where the game does: on faceoffs. Freshman Mike Sforza was the best of Detroit’s options, but even that resulted in a 6/17 (.353) performance. He had only one ground ball, so wing play played a role in his (relative) success. However, Notre Dame is a good faceoff team, and it’s very clear that Detroit will not be this year.

The Titans’ clear was terrible (among the 23 turnovers Detroit committed), giving the Irish their large possession advantage. If I had some sort of effective offensive efficiency metric – not including failed clears as possessions – the disparity would have been even bigger.

In reality, all of this game could have been much uglier. The Irish had almost as many shots in the first quarter as Detroit did all game. The score was 12-2 after three quarters, and Notre Dame let up a bit in the fourth (Detroit had a 3-2 advantage in that quarter on the scoreboard), including several personnel changes like a goalie switch.

The Detroit extra-man had three opportunities, and scored on one of them, not up to the last couple years’ standards, but a sign of hope. The issue? On the other side of the special teams, Notre Dame was perfect on its two attempts. If Detroit is going to have a hard time scoring even-strength and instead rely on the EMO, they’d better be able to shut it down when the opposition – especially a team that doesn’t need the advantage to score – has the same chance.

UDM assisted on three of five goals, including the man-up score, and despite a meager showing on the scoreboard, had three multi-point scorers. Mike Anstead, Sean Birney, and Alec Gilhooly all had an assist to go along with a goal (Andy Hebden and Mike Spuller had a goal each).

It hasn’t been easy sailing for Jason Weber so far this season, and he faced 28 shots, letting in half of them. It’s hard to blame him too much against a team like Notre Dame – who clearly outclasses UDM up and down the roster – but it’s clear that the NCAA’s save percentage crown will not be on his mantle this year.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Detroit recap. Notre Dame recap. ND highlights.

Up Next

Things went quite a bit better – though still no wins – the following weekend in a Columbus double-dip.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Detroit 5, Notre Dame 14

Detroit 8, Mercer 9

Posted on February 23, 2016 by Tim

When you go down 5-0, you are not going to win a lot of games – even against teams that are probably pretty bad. Detroit mounted a furious comeback, but it wasn’t enough on the road in Georgia.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Mercer 2016
Detroit Mercer
Faceoff Wins 9 Faceoff Wins 10
Clearing 12-15 Clearing 18-18
Possessions 24 Possessions 31
Goals 8 Goals 9
Offensive Efficiency .333 Offensive Efficiency .290

The advanced stats are going to be close when the score is just a one-goal margin. Detroit was slightly more efficient, but Mercer had a healthy advantage in possession.

Notes

The game started very poorly. By the end of the first quarter, Mercer had a 4-0 advantage on the scoreboard, 12-4 in possession (and two of those Titan possessions were failed clears). Detroit committed 17 turnovers all game, seven of them in the first quarter. By the time UDM netted their first goal – Mercer notched one in the second before UDM scored, as well – six different Bears found their way into the point column (a pair of them with both a goal and an assist).

That said, the way the rest of the game turned out was about what you would have expected from this one: relatively even, slight edge to the Titans. A furious rally shouldn’t have to come off against one of Division-1’s bottom-feeders, but almost getting there is certainly preferable to simply folding in the face of adversity.

Once the team settled in, there were some nice offensive performances. Alec Gilhooly recorded a hat trick and added an assist, Andy Hebden had two goals and an assist, Kyle Beauregard had two goals, and Sean Birney had a pair of assists. Five of the eight Titan goals – including both on the man-up – were assisted.

On the other hand, turnovers are bad (#hotsportstake). Detroit had 17, only four of them forced by the Bears. That includes three failed clears (two in the first quarter), and made a difference on the scoreboard. If you’re giving away possessions, you’d best be making up the gap elsewhere, and Detroit wasn’t able to do that.

Jason Weber had seven saves while allowing nine goals, and though that’s far from a terrible performance, if that’s the output against Mercer, I think it’s likely that last year’s NCAA-leading save percentage is not a feat to be repeated. Only three of the Bears’ goals were assisted (and five of them were scored by midfielders), so it’s not necessarily like his defense hung him out to dry too much.

Faceoffs might be an adventure for Detroit this year. Three different Titans took a draw, with freshman Mike Sforza bearing the brunt of the work and performing the best to the tune of 7/13. Maybe he’s the answer, and begins to see more time (though with just two GBs, it could be a sample size issue with wing play being the difference, to a degree – Mercer’s lone specialist Will Beacham only picked up two GBs on his 10 wins).

Paul Bitetti forced two turnovers for the Titans, but the team as a whole caused only five. The old days of a dangerous-but-maybe-reckless defense appear to be in the rearview.

Elsewhere

Boxscore. Detroit recap. Mercer recap.

Up Next

Tomorrow’s the big one. Michigan at Detroit in Pontiac.

Posted in division 1 | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Detroit 8, Mercer 9