#8 W Lacrosse rolls to 12-0 in 11 goal win over Niagara

Submitted by Wolverine Devotee on March 25th, 2019 at 7:28 PM

The newly-minted #8 Michigan Wolverines returned to U-M Lacrosse Stadium earlier this afternoon for one of the last non-conference games of the season.

The IWCLA Poll was released prior to this game so Michigan moved up to #8 from the #10 spot. 

And the Wolverines played like a Top-10 team should play against a mid-major with a losing record.

If you look at the stats it might seem odd that Michigan blew out Niagara as they're deceivingly close with shots only being 33-26 Michigan, shots on goal 22-13 and Niagara actually winning the draw control battle 13-10.

That's because this game was over very quickly.

Michigan raced out to an 8-0 first half lead with Molly Garrett, Lilly Grass and Maggie Kane all scoring 2 goals apiece on that run. Niagara got on the scoreboard with about 2 minutes left before halftime but Nadine Stewart gave Michigan a 9-1 headed into the locker room along with a nice bonus of Niagara getting tagged with a yellow card, giving the Wolverines a man advantage to start the 2nd half.

Senior goalie Mira Shane was brilliant in the first half with 5 saves. The Michigan defense really clamped down whenever Niagara got inside the Michigan 30. Very few of Niagara's shots on goal were dangerous. In the second half Mira Shane got some rest as sophomore goalie Arielle Weissman replaced her in the cage.

Michigan cashed in on the yellow card as Erin Daly put the Wolverines up 10-1 just 32 seconds into the 2nd half. Niagara managed to score some goals in the second half on Weissman who has played very little, but is getting key experience for 2020.

Erin Daly got her hat trick later on in the half as did Maggie Kane. 

Despite Niagara going on a little garbage time 4-3 run, Michigan closed out the game right and scored the final 3 goals of the game. The more impressive stat had to be the 12 caused turnovers on the day by the Maize & Blue, further illustrating the dominance of the Michigan D.

Michigan beats Niagara 16-5 in the final non-conference home game of 2019. 

The Wolverines extend the the nation's longest win streak to 13 dating back to the end of 2018. Michigan also continued to do good work against unranked teams. Every single unranked opponent Michigan has faced in 2019 has been defeated by 5 goals or more. 

Coach Hannah Nielsen is 19-10 at Michigan and is just one win away from tying the career win total record. Ex-coach Jennifer Ulehla was 20-49 in 4 seasons here and Hannah Nielsen has almost equaled her career win total in less than two seasons.   

Michigan is now 12-0 (2-0 B1G) and will face #18 Johns Hopkins (8-2, 1-0 B1G) on Saturday at U-M Lacrosse Stadium at Noon. 

BrainwashedBlue

March 25th, 2019 at 8:03 PM ^

Always had fun watching and filming the smaller sports at U-M. Women's basketball team had one of, if not their best, seasons yet. Unfortunately had to meet up with a really good Louisville team in the tournament, but shoutout to Coach KBA and the squad there too.

wolverineRXblue

March 25th, 2019 at 8:23 PM ^

Side note can someone explain why my points are still 0. Ive had this account for more than 4 months now but i still cant make threads. I used to make threads for uploading michigan basketball games and inside michigan basketball which people appreciated. Just asking if someone can explain this.

rob f

March 26th, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^

Constructive criticism, WD: the final score should be near the top of the write-up, not buried near the bottom. 

Otherwise, we all appreciate your efforts to cover U of M sports that are otherwise largely ignored.  I'm guessing that at least a handful of athletes (and their families and friends) in the non-revenue sports also appreciate your work.