Men's Lacrosse @ Ohio State, 7PM, Live on BTN
Men’s lacrosse is in the Lion’s Den of Columbus, OH to wrap up the regular season against their archrivals, the hated and reviled Ohio State Buckeyes. Game is at 7pm and will air live on BTN(!) right after the re-air of Michigan’s triumphant 2023 victory over the football Buckeyes. BUT, this will be on at the same time as the Knicks so I’ll have to switch back and forth.
So, the at-large phase of the dream that is Re-Tourney Quest: Return to the Tourney, Part II: The Sequel is now, sadly, dead. Michigan dropped must-have games vs. Rutgers and Harvard and couldn’t take out one of Hopkins or Penn State. So, a victory today and two wins in the conference tournament still wouldn’t do it, even with help. So now they’re in Jake Taylor/Major League territory; there’s only one thing left to do: Win the whole f***ing thing.
Michigan has been downright bedeviled by poor shooting of late. Two weeks ago versus. Rutgers they put up 15% shooting on 41 shots and last week against Penn State they shot 14%, going 8-for-54(!). But, the thing is: they’re creating open looks and getting good shots. But they just aren’t finishing. Here’s a quick L’Carpetron’s filmroom segment to show you what I mean.
https://youtu.be/Fj-AW9TDUeU?si=vdFEnsnPBCGAHlbc&t=23
This is a beautiful, simple-yet-sophisticated set. Justin Brown, my favorite catalyst, has a short stick defender on him, which is the matchup M wants. He dodges from the wing and before he even gets a step, the defender on Justin Tiernan, #44, is already preoccupied with Brown and he leaves early, while Tiernan leaks out the back to the far side. Brown sees the slide man and moves the ball behind the cage to Mike Boehm, who then swings it back up to Tiernan on the opposite side. Tiernan takes a great shot… but it just clangs off the crossbar. Not the result, they wanted obviously, but if they’re getting the ball to one of the best shooters in the game in a great position on the field to take a shot, those will start falling.
I hope that’s the case at least, because Ohio State is #9 nationally in scoring defense and their goalie, 6’2” 297-pound (!) freshman Caleb “Big Tasty” Fyock is 20th in save percentage. Last week, Michigan had a rough day against Jack Fracyon, also one of the best goalies in the country and he put up a career high 19 saves. So, hopefully they can get some shots to fall in this one.
The B1G tournament picture is still unclear and I haven’t really gamed out the scenarios. But, Michigan can finish anywhere from 4th to 6th in the league. And they would face Penn State, Rutgers or Ohio State (again) next week. But…this is important…BEAT THOSE BUCKEYES AND GO BLUE!!!
Some other things. The women are ranked #4 right now! And they play #1 Northwestern tomorrow! At noon on BTN!
It's weird that this is the last regular season game. Weather is goregeous here on the east coast but college lacrosse is so tied to having the FInal Four on Memorial Day weekend (and stupid conf tourneys) that now that it's nice, the season is already over. Notre Dame, currently ranked #1 and has a number of sellouts, has only 11 games on its schedule this season. There's no way their lacrosse team should be playing fewer games than its football team. That's ridiculous. College lacrosse is so weird and stupid and can't get out of its own way.
Our OG and savior, the godfather himself coach John Paul talks about it all the time on his twitter how the season should start much later. It's a spring sport, plain and simple. Yet a bunch of teams play the first half of the season with snow still on the ground. Starting in February is ridiculous.
Yeah it's terrible. Hopkins had 10,000+ sellout vs Maryland today, Syracuse had 8,000+ vs Virginia today and Army-Navy had 10,000+ last weekend. I mean, those are rivalry games in nice weather but those numbers are nothing to sniff at. I wonder what attendance would be like if they played just a few more weeks and pushed the championship to mid-June. I would almost rather see them get rid of the conference tournaments and just expand the NCAA tournament.
April 21st, 2024 at 12:08 AM ^
Well, until we can continuously compete with and beat Maryland, Hopkins, and Penn State on a regular yearly basis, we are a very pro conference tournament program.
This. It’s so dumb. If only the Hockey committee would learn from Lax as to WHERE to play the games (home round then regionals and final four always near hotbeds) and Lac learned from hockey about the WHEN (clearly established regular season and playoffs not beholden to a holiday) both would be better off.
Thanks for posting these, I definitely follow the team and it's been a bit disappointing this year but still building I guess. I can't watch today but will check in to see if they can pull it off.
Go Blue!
Who are the Knicks?
Wolverines carrying the play through the 1st. Took advantage of the man up and killed a man down. 4-1 after 1. Winner of this game hosts a game as a #4 seed.
Re-Tourney Quest: Return to the Tourney, Part II: The Sequel
😆
Quick update for the sake of anyone checking in:
12-7 M at the end of 3, Good 3rd quarter with a 6-2 differential to open up the margin a bit
Need to finish strong
a minute left in the 4th, up one, things have gotten hairy
It's hard to criticize him because he's been dominating at the faceoff X, but what's the deal with Wietfeldt winning the faceoff, carrying it into the offensive zone, and then doing these like side-arm underhand dump passes to get rid of it. I count I think three times now where's done it and it's either a bad pass that ends up as a GB that Ohio State picks up, or an Ohio State d man flat out intercepts it. Those are turnovers, plain and simple, and I've been surprised at how these guys on the broadcast haven't really commented on it when he does it. Go for the shot or set up the offense, I don't understand these like hot potato have to get rid of it bad passes he's had right after winning it.
Michigan has made the mistake of playing not to lose. Took the foot off the gas with 5:00 and a 5 goal lead. OSU is within a goal and took the face off and called timeout with 1:08 to go. Sloppy finish to the game. Have not won critical ground balls.
Taking a note out of the hockey team's book not keeping their foot on the gas. Went from what seemed like a guaranteed win to heart palpitations in the final 3 minutes, as is more on brand with my usual Michigan athletics viewing experiences.
What a clear by Taylor after making the stop! Stupid post obstructing the camera view of the corner of the field. I knew something would be missed when I saw that in the 1st.
Yeah that was crazy. Seconds before he picked it up, I was like 'Taylor get in the goal!!!' But that was a great GB and clear, memorable hustle play to ice the game.
Much improved performance, nerve-wracking finish aside. They got lots of goals from their middies and Taylor seemed to have his best game in a while. Defense also seemed to go to a zone at times(?) that seemed to slow down and confuse the Buckeyes. The aforementioned Big Tasty didn't have a great game, which is a nice break for this team. But, like basketball, just seeing the ball go in can really help shooters. Hopefully that's what they needed and they can hit some shots next week and beyond.
What the…Why was he standing there?!
Did we win it lose? Impossible to find this on the Internet.
April 20th, 2024 at 10:00 PM ^
Won 13-12
April 21st, 2024 at 12:11 AM ^
Whenever in doubt just search "Michigan Lacrosse Twitter." The admin updates it after every goal from either side and the tweets will come up on google even if you don't have twitter.
April 20th, 2024 at 10:48 PM ^
Go Blue!
Hail to the Victors!