Michigan 10, Providence 11 (OT)

The inaugural faceoff of the varsity lacrosse era.

A certain commenter on this site predicted coming into the weekend that Michigan, with all its club players, would get destroyed by a living, breathing Division-1 team, and would need the second scrimmage against Concordia (Wisc.) to regain a bit of confidence. Obviously, the overtime result shows that the lack of faith in Michigan’s club players was misguided (shocker!), and they can hold their own.

No tempo-free since there are no official stats from a scrimmage, but I’ll touch on some of the TF factors. Tomorrow, I’ll look in more depth at the (technically unofficial) box score and some of the tempo-free numbers.

Thoughts

A few expected starters missed the game. Starting FOGO Brian Greiner, starting midfielder Joey Hrusovsky, and starting defenseman Austin Swaney did not dress for the contest. No word on why they missed it (probably minor injuries), but JP said after the game that Greiner, at least, will be back next week:

Having (Brian) Greiner back next week, facing off, will make a big difference for us. Possession is such a key.

That’s your best faceoff specialist, your best offensive midfielder, and your best defenseman missing the game. And it still took overtime for Providence to get the victory. Very positive result.

A few freshmen got pretty good playing time, including FO Alex Marcus, who spotted Greiner on faceoffs… and didn’t do so well. I stopped keeping track of his performance once the numbers reached 1-for-6 territory (I’ll look in more depth at tempo-free numbers tomorrow). It didn’t pick up later in the day, and either Providence’s faceoff specialists have taken a big leap forward from their .420 clip last season – Andrew Bromley took the majority of the faceoffs for PC,  – or Michigan might struggle on draws without Greiner in the lineup. Marcus was in his first competition of his college career, so he could improve by the time the season rolls around, but it seems unlikely that he’ll unseat Greiner this season.

The other area of the possession game, clearing/riding, also had a few struggles, particularly in the clear portion. The Wolverines’ defensemen were sloppy with their passing early in the game, which led to some unsuccessful clears. Playing without Swaney and with a freshman goalie probably played a role, and they settled down as the scrimmage went on. Both teams used their hard-riding tactics later in the scrimmage (including – yes – a 10-man from Michigan), so the Wolverines actually cleared better under pressure, meaning their opening struggles were probably just nerves.

Speaking of that freshman goalie… wow. If his performance against Providence was indicative of how he’ll play during the regular season, he’s going to win a game or two for this team that they probably have no business winning. Emil Weiss is the real deal. Assuming he’ll be better-adjusted to the speed of D-1 ball by the time the regular season rolls around, he could be a young star in the making.

Another freshman who impressed was Brother Rice product Will Meter. He had two goals against Providence after coming on later in the scrimmage. He joined Trevor Yealy and Thomas Paras on the attack unit, so it seems like there’s a chance he could be a first-liner later this year, which is really impressive. He was poised and smart – which you’d expect from a Brother Rice player – and more thickly-built than I remember him being in high school.

Based on my feeling about the game (I’ll dive into the official stats tomorrow), I think Michigan got destroyed in the possession department. They certainly didn’t help themselves on faceoffs, and while they might have gotten the clear/ride numbers close to level later in the game, Providence dominated total possessions. The fact that the game reached overtime, then, speaks to Michigan’s ability to be much more efficient than the Friars.

Michigan dominated the end of the fourth quarter. They were down 10-7, but managed to pour in three straight to send the scrimmage to overtime (prompting Michigan AD David Brandon to joke “greatest comeback in Michigan varsity lacrosse history!). I get the feeling that if a few of the players hadn’t been caught up in the moment earlier in the game, the Wolverines could have pulled off the W in regulation despite the shortened roster.

Since I didn’t go to the second scrimmage, I can’t speak much to it, but the score lived up to my expectations. They managed to get everyone into the game, per JP:

Obviously, we got a lot of guys in — everyone who was available — and they got a lot of time. That was great for them. We also got to fix some of the things that we didn’t do so well.

Good to get everyone some experience, and it sounds like they got some help getting some of their weaknesses worked out, as well.

Elsewhere

The official site has a story and a photo gallery (I already posted my photo gallery here), and The Michigan Daily has a recap as well. Video highlights can be seen here. Boxscore.

Up Next

Michigan travels to Philadelphia next weekend to take on St. Joseph’s and Towson. That should be some pretty stiff competition – St. Joseph’s was bottom of the barrel last year, but Towson was pretty good, and it’s two D-1 scrimmages in one day. I’ll have previews for those teams up later in the week.