Yealy Dominates Bulldogs as Michigan Remains Perfect
(6 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)
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Site: Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
Score: #1 Michigan 18, #7 Minnesota-Duluth 10
Records: U-M (10-0, 2-0 CCLA), UMD (7-3, 4-0 UMLL)
Next U-M Game: Saturday, April 4, 2009 – 7:00pm EST – vs. #8 Colorado State – Ann Arbor, Mich. (Oosterbaan Fieldhouse)
Ann Arbor, Mich. – The #1 ranked University of Michigan Men’s Lacrosse team kept up their winning ways on Friday night (April 3) in Ann Arbor, defeating #7 Minnesota Duluth 18-10 in front of 325 fans in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. Sophomore attackman Trevor Yealy (Pittsburgh, Penn./Upper St. Claire) stole the show, notching 11 goals in the contest as the Maize and Blue remained perfect on the season at 10-0.
UMD opened the scoring at the 11:56 mark of the first quarter, but the Wolverines answered immediately, as junior faceoff specialist David Reinhard (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) won the ensuing faceoff and fed junior attackman Josh Ein (Rockville, Md./Bullis) for the opening score. Yealy got the Wolverines their first lead scoring on the next possession on a feed from senior Peter Vasher (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer).
After a lengthy Wolverine possession, the ride produced Michigan’s next chance as sophomore Matt Asperheim (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Grand Rapids) picked off a pass at midfield and fed a wide open Yealy in front for the 3-1 lead. Michigan rattled off three more unanswered goals before the end of the quarter, with Yealy notching two more and a goal from junior Clark McIntyre (Little Silver, N.J./Rumson – Fair Haven) sandwiched between as U-M lead 6-1 after one.
After UMD got on the board first in the second, junior midfielder Svet Tintchev (Rockville, MD./Bullis) fired a blast from the far right wing to regain the five-goal Wolverine lead. UMD answered five minutes later on a man-up tally from just above the right GLE, before drawing within three after a lengthy possession in Michigan zone.
Michigan responded with back-to-back goals from senior midfielder Aaron Hodari (Bloomfield, Mich./Detroit Country Day) and Trevor Yealy, before UMD answered right before the half as Michigan led 9-5 after the first 30 minutes.
Yealy kept up his scorching play coming out of the locker-room, notching two goals in the opening minutes of the third quarter, separated by a lone UMD tally as Michigan led 11-6 mid-way through the third quarter.
UMD continued to hang in, responding at 6:07 to cut the lead to 11-7, but Yealy and the Wolverines quickly shut down any momentum, as the sophomore attackman notched back-to-back goals, followed by a transition tally from senior captain Riley Kearns (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Brother Rice) as Michigan led 14-7 after three quarters.
Yealy finished his masterful performance with two goals in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to give Michigan their largest lead of the game at 16-7. Senior attackman Wes McGowan (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) added two of his own in the fourth to close out the scoring for Michigan.
Statistically, Michigan won every major category. U-M out-shot their opponent 60 to 38, and won the groundball battle, 63 to 40. The Wolverines were 21 of 30 on faceoffs, and finished 21 of 28 on clears, while riding UMD to 16-24 totals. The Maize and Blue finished 1-7 on the man-up, while the Bulldogs scored twice in five opportunities.
The Wolverines will be back in action tomorrow night when they host #8 Colorado State on Saturday night (April 4) at 7:00pm at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse in Ann Arbor.
NOTES
- Junior faceoff specialist David Reinhard (East Lansing, Mich./East Lansing) won 20 of 29 faceoffs and scooped up a team-high 16 groundballs to increase his team lead to 114. Freshman Edward Ernst (Washington, D.C./Sidwell Friends) won his lone attempt.
- Yealy’s 11-goal effort sets a single game mark for the Wolverines, topping a nine-goal game from Jeff Hadwin in the 2000 MCLA Tournament vs. Minnesota-Mankato.
- With a five-assist night, Kevin Zorovich continued to put together a solid stretch, having recorded eight goals and 14 assists in his last four games.
- Michigan improves to 6-0 all-time vs. Minnesota-Duluth.
- The Wolverines set a season high with 60 total shots in the game, including 19 in the first quarter alone.
- Sophomore goaltender Mark Stone (Greenwood Village, Colo./Cherry Creek) started the game and played the entire game for the first time this season. He allowed 10 goals while stopping 12 shots.
- In the past three games, the Wolverines have recorded 20 penalties. In their previous three games, U-M committed four total penalties.
- Michigan is currently on a 30-game winning streak beginning with the opening match of 2008, a win over Kenyon in Ann Arbor (Feb. 16). The squad is also on a 19-game road winning streak spanning back to an 8-5 victory over UC-Santa Barbara on May 5 of 2006.
QUOTES
Head Coach John Paul:
On his general impressions: “Overall we’re very happy to get this win. They’re a good team and we didn’t take them lightly at all which shows in the way we played. However, I’m not happy with the defense right now. We haven’t put together a great defensive game yet, and we all know that. We have to start playing better defense. Really it’s just focus. We had clear assignments tonight and we blew some simple stuff. We’re reacting instead of anticipating. Two sophomore goalies make a difference as well. We had a senior in the goal last year and these guys are still growing into the position of playing in these high-pressure games. They’re getting better every day and their attitude is outstanding, but there is a big difference between a sophomore goalie and a senior goalie.”
On Yealy’s play: “Obviously it was a special night for him. We’re able to use him most of the time in a one-dimensional role, but he’s so much more than that. He gets trash goals, he gets some off our ride, and he can also dodge, which is what he did in high school. It’s very tough to match-up against him and the guys did a great job of finding the seams tonight and feeding him. We know when teams over-compensate for him it’s going to open up things for other guys. I’m almost looking forward to a team trying to shut him out just to see what it does for everyone else.”
On Stone’s start: “I was very proud of him. He’s gone through some adversity. The last time he played meaningful minutes was the Chapman game and I’m sure he’ll tell you that wasn’t a great experience. Over the past couple of weeks he’s turned it on in practice and he’s been a really positive member of this team and we wanted to reward him tonight. He made some big saves in the second half when we needed it and he played with a lot of confidence. If these two goaltenders continue to play with confidence and continue to improve we’re going to have two really good goalies on our hands.”
On offensive effort: “Besides a few throw-aways here and there, I don’t have a lot of complaints about the offense tonight. We hit a few pipes, and if we had shot a little better we could have scored a few more. I can’t complain about 18 goals against a team like that. The inability to really get the momentum comes from the breakdowns in defense.”
On the game tomorrow: “We had a bit of a let-down week in practice and the energy just hasn’t been there lately following BYU. I think because we’re not completely satisfied with the way we played tonight, we might come out a little hungrier tomorrow and I’m hoping the guys are 100% ready to play.”
Sophomore Trevor Yealy:
On coming into season following a tough fall: “I’ve always struggled early on in seasons, and in high school I was always playing hockey in the fall. I knew once the games rolled around I’d be fine and I didn’t need to freak out or get worried. We put so much work in that when you step on the field you have a lot of confidence that things will come together.”
On the spread scoring: “I’ve expected teams to try to come out and “shut me down” a few times so far and it just really hasn’t happened. I think it’s a function of how deep we are on offense and other teams know that. We’ve got plenty of guys who know how to step and finish and I think it would be a huge mistake for other teams to try and focus too much on one guy.”
Junior David Reinhard:
On the energy and focus tonight: “The way coach set up these four games like a mock-tournament had us thinking about how a loss tonight would mean you’re right out of it, and when you can think of a game like that, you’re going to be a bit more focused and intense. We came out firing and I think we played well overall.”
On his play so far this year: “Obviously, I still had question marks coming into the season, but I knew with Brekan working with me, and with the help from Barto and Ed, I was doing all the right things along the way. My confidence comes in my preparation and with all the work we put in, I feel pretty good going out there. My wings are doing a great job for me as well this year and that’s always a major factor in how successful you are on faceoffs, both with the wins and afterwards.”
Contact: Joe Hennessy (734) 276-8493, jjhennes@umich.edu
