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e-Lacrosse 2009 MCLA championship highlights

Check it out HERE

Detroit Free Press on U-M lacrosse

The Detroit Free Press did a piece on U-M lacrosse last Saturday. The article, "U-M club lacrosse finds success despite obscurity" uses an interview with director of operations, Joe Hennessy. Hennessy talks about Michigan's accent to the top of club lacrosse and the programs' relationship with the athletic department.

At the moment, the University's athletic department is hesitant to make any big decisions about adding new varsity programs. Budget concerns have been cited as an issue. Readers of this page might also take interest in this article.

Victors valiant

Friend to the program, John U. Bacon wrote an article for the Michigan Today, an online UM news source. Bacon mentions the lacrosse team, citing its success over the last two years. Check out the article: HERE.

Bonus Slideshow



"The lacrosse team didn't just win: it has completely dominated the competition, going undefeated for two straight seasons--an astounding 40 consecutive victories." -Martin Vloet

Best lacrosse game of 2009?

Inside Lacrosse', Danielle Berstein goes out on a limb and says the Michigan vs. Chapman game in the MCLA finals was the best lacrosse game of the year.

She states her case here.

The "Biv" Gives Props

Shout-out from local retail store, The Bivouac. HERE

Championship: The Big Game

As the clock hit zeroes, the Michigan bench sprinted towards their Sophomore Goaltender, Andrew Fowler. Fowler played a game that goalies live for. Amazingly, he, along with his Sophomore classmates have yet to lose a game at Michigan.

After getting put under a barrrage of Chapman shots, Fowler saw eight balls go into the cage behind him in the first half. Chapman's onslaught started early. They dominated the undefeated Wolverines, and left little doubt that they had earned their right to be in the Championship. But on this day, Fowler and Michigan would not go quietly into the Colorado night.

Going into halftime down 8-4 was nothing new for the 2009 Wolverines. Earlier in the year in Orange, Ca they faced the exact same margin at halftime. In the game, Michigan stormed back behind the superb netminding of Andrew Fowler and a gutsy performance by the Michigan defense. Implementing a unique zone was key for the defensive unit, who were able to stifle the Chapman offense and silence their snipers.

On the other side of the field, the UM offense picked up play, possessing the ball and working hard for opportunties. Dave Rogers, Michigan's Junior captain, turned in an incredible performance, ripping three goals to turn the momentum squarly in Michigan's favor.

But with 4:00 left, the game still remained in the balance. Chapman pulled within one goal on a pretty dodge from the top of the box, effectively breaking the UM zone. After winning three games in the tourney, two of which were in overtime, Chapman might have felt that destiny was on their side. But there is no such thing as destiny. Not unless you work for it.

Like the three previous meetings with the Wolverines, the Panthers were not able to keep up with Michigan's second half play. UM--after racking up 39 wins in a row--was the team that relied on hard work and dedication since September. This same team hadn't lost A FAME SINCE 2007 and wouldn't lose on this night; not to Chapman; not with the camera's rolling and the lights on; not after the speeches and the seasoned flow; not with a tournament Sick Lax film-joint upcoming.

And as the Michigan lacrosse team has grown accustomed to doing, they ran wildly towards their steady goaltender in the joyous thrill of victory. Fowler saw gloves, sticks and helmets rain down in front of him, as he looked towards his crazed teammates. He knew right then and there how much it meant. Another undefeated. Oh, man what a season!

Press:
The Ann Arbor News: "Michigan wins second straight national title"
The Michigan Daily: "Club Lacrosse repeats as National Champions"
Michigan lax release: Second Half Comeback Secures Second Straight Title
Inside lacrosse: in-game blog

Boxscore

Michigan wins National Championship 12-11, caps off 40-0 record past two seasons

Post upcoming. Celebration must take precedent.

Boxscore

Rematch Live on FOX College Sports TONIGHT at 5PM ET, 7PM MT

© Dirk Dewachter
NEWS
The MCLA Finals between #3 Chapman University and #1 University of Michigan live on FOX College Sports channel 617 on direct tv at 7PM Mountain Time/ 5PM Eastern Time.

WATCH IT HERE

Semifinals: Michigan whips CU-Boulder, advance to finals

The Michigan men's lacrosse team continued their winning ways on Friday night in Denver. But before the lax team even suited up, drama filled the stadium. Michigan perched in a viewing gallery to watch the tail-end of #3 BYU vs. #2 Chapman semifinal game-- which turned out to be a thriller.

With a wide open lane to the net, the leagues best long-stick midfielder Britton Cone decided against a game winning attempt in regulation, and tried to settle the ball by throwing to an open teammate. Unfortunately for BYU, the pass bounced out of the reach of the attackman and trickled past the sideline. That was the last time they saw the ball on their offensive side. Within a few minutes of overtime, the stingy BYU defense stripped the ball from a Chapman attackman near the end-line. Then came any athletes worst nightmare. The BYU d-pole desperately tried to heave the ball downfield. The pass was intercepted by #3 on Chapman who was all alone on the goal crease. After two fakes and a solid finish, that was it. Michigan players walked down to their lockeroom. They knew well what the outcome of that game meant: rematch. All they had to do was take out the #5 Buffs first.

Michigan answered the call and went up on the Buffs early, leading by a score of 6-3 at the end of the first quarter. Riley Kearns was a hero again, especially after singlehandedly dismantling the CU defense with some creative play behind the net. Junior Midfielder, Jordan Kirshner (Ann Arbor Huron, woot woot) also got into the act, scoring an important last-minute goal that extended Michigan's halftime lead to 8-4. In the second-half, the bottom really fell out for the Colorado Buffalos. Not even their fans could bring them back from the sizable lead that Michigan produced in the 3rd quarter. Luckily, Dennis Kearns was in the attendence. The former P.I. made sure the unruly Boulder banterers knew their place. Nice work, D.

Final score: UM 17, CU-Boulder 7
Boxscore and flowtos

FINALS: #3 Chapman University
Saturday, May 16th. 7PM

UM live coverage tonight

Semifinal MCLA lacrosse contest between the University of Colorado-Boulder and the University of Michigan live on FOX College Sports channel 617 on direct tv at 8PM MT.

Article: FCS Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Championships

WATCH IT HERE

Get em' Blue!!!

Quarterfinals: Celebratin' like White Shoes Johnson

The Sonoma State Seawolves ran into a buzz-saw Wednesday in Denver. From the start, UM was firing on all cylinders. The score ballooned to 17-4 by HALFTIME! The offensive explosion was ignited by Senior Attackmen, Riley Kearns (Birmingham Brother Rice) who scored a hat trick before Michigan got done breaking in their new Adidas cleats.

Props to Adidas for supplying the new shoe. It was like watching Billy Johnson score a TD for the first time. Except for these athletes actually celebrate with their teammates. Sorry, Billy.

Final score: UM 22, Sonoma State 6
Boxscore and flowtos
Ann Arbor News: UM routs Sonoma State, advances to semifinal

Next game: #5 ranked University of Colorado Buffaloes
Friday, May 15th. 8pm in Dick's Sporting Goods Park

First Round: Hookie and Hook 'em

The #1 ranked wolverines got off to a lackluster start in their first game of the National tournament. Texas gave Michigan all that they could handle in the unexpectedly hot Denver climate. The first couple frames featured back and fourth scoring with some sloppy turnovers. It seemed as though Michigan would have liked to skip over the first half in general. Play some hookie, perhaps?

But these Michigan kids never skipped school in their life. The boys in blue surged ahead in the second half, led by Senior Midfielder, Peter Vasher (Ann Arbor, MI). Vasher netted five goals after munching down some of his favorite cookies at halftime. Another notable performance came from Junior defenseman, Bob Diehl, nicknamed "fun-deihl-mentals" for his coachability. Diehl was a thorn in the side of the longhorns, forcing turnovers and creating general havoc for the UT offense. Keep it up, Bobby!

Hats off to the longhorns, who represented the Lonestar Alliance admirably.

Final Score: UM 11, UT 5
How about that? A little revenge for the 2005 Rose Bowl loss at the hands of Vince Young!

Ann Arbor News: UM tops Texas in tourney's first round

Next game: 2002 MCLA champs, Sonoma State Seawolves. Game is at 7pm on field #10.

CCLA Champions '09

CCLA Men's Lacrosse Tournament from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

Flowing Michigan femlaxers

#7 Michigan vs. #9 UCLA
First round of Nat'l tourney in Scottsdale, AZ

The Michigan men aren't the only team seeing success on the lacrosse field. The UofM Women's team has been on a tear since it's early-season trip out to California.

The fem-laxers are now ranked #7 in the country as they take on U.C.L.A. in the desert. Led by a solid Senior class, the Women are tourney bound and are looking for a cardinals-esque run to the finals.

If only, they can get their van on the right track!

Women's links:
Michigan women's site
Lacrosse Magazine article

Go Blue!!

The Great Lakes Classic

The highly awaited inter-state contest between The University of Michigan and Michigan State University turned out to be quite a disappointment. The game was delayed for over an hour after thunderstorms hit the entire southern half of Michigan. When the game began, Michigan picked up where the weather left off. The Wolverines soaked MSU in goals and led 6-1 before the weather reared its ugly face yet again.

Play picked back up around 10:00pm.

Final Score: UM 21, MSU 9.

Video from SickLax: (notice the lack of smoke-show)

Michigan Men's Lacrosse vs. Michigan State from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

U Laxin'

If you missed it Sunday, it can be summed up quickly here: Michigan won in front of almost 3,000 Chapman supporters (and a handful of UofM parents) on National television. The the color-commentary was from Kyle Harrison.

Battle of the Uni's
By request of Chapman head coach Mike Wood, Michigan donned it's brand-new maize Adidas jersey's. As always, the bold Michigan helmets looked great in the California night (see Michigan rose bowl games if you need convincing). Likewise, Chapman also showcased their new threads. Overall, the black and grey strips were met with mixed opinions, but I have to say they looked pretty neat.

Kudos to ESPN for covering these two elite MCLA teams! This game is definitely a proud moment for the league. People are beginning to understand what MCLA means for the sport of lacrosse. It is made up of teams who don't necessarily have lacrosse roots, but are working hard to develop players and support in undeveloped lacrosse areas. And as States like California, Texas, Florida and Michigan continue to grow their programs, it can only mean good things for the spread of the sport.

Inside Lacrosse highlights:

Bye-bye Blue Bullets

This is obviously cliché, but I'll say it anyways: it feels like yesterday when we were picking up the Tokyo Blue Bullets from the airport. Their arrival in America was quite a spectacle. This was evident as Midfielder Svet Tinchev laid on the horn in his 2000 blue Ford Explorer to excite the Japanese lacrosse players for their stay in America.

As if they needed to get excited...

Their time here in the United States was short but sweet for certain. The school newspaper, the Michigan Daily did a feature of their trip, which appeared in today's issue. Check it out: Michigan Daily- Ambassadors to the game

Quote of the article: It was all about experiencing the life of an Wolverine lacrosse player — the grueling practices, the long hair, the glamorous gear, the parties and the undefeated record."

A weekend in Chillinois

Michigan bolstered it's record with two more wins, which now makes them 13-0 on the year (33 wins in a row!)

Friday:
The Wolverines departed on a trip to Kalamazoo after an always delightful pregame meal at cottage inn. In front of ~30-40 cold fans at Vicksberg Stadium (apparently this is WMU's home field) the University of Michigan took on Western Michigan for CCLA supremacy. The feisty Bronco's netted the first goal of the game and forced Michigan to respond quickly. And as the sun went down, so did the Bronco's. Michigan easily won the game by a final score of 15-4.

Saturday:
Still full from the night before, the Wolverines sleepily walked down to breakfast at 9am. Besides getting two wins, the breakfast buffet was the best part of the trip. If you had an omelette, you know what i'm talking about. Dank.

The "Lax Fest" began with a colossal battle between New Trier High and the Lake Forest Scouts. Despite having notable alumni, Anthony Hrusovsky and Wes McGowan in attendance, the scouts couldn't capitalize on their late comeback. Hrusovsky's brother, Joey had 5 points and is a future Wolverine in 2010. Watch out, middies.

The second game of the "fest" featured the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan lacrosse squads. Desperation and grittiness were two words that came to mind after watching the Illini play. Their LSM #25 had a requisite amount of flow and was most of the reason why UM couldn't get much going offensively. Spectacular play by Kevin Zorovich and Trevor Yealy gave the wolverines a 5-2 advantage at halftime.

The second half featured more of the same: cold and more cold. When the reserves went in, the trainer had to check them for frost bite. In April! Hey, at least Illinois has to go through the same seasonal fluctuations we do! Brutal weather to say the least.

Bonus coverage: Local Lake Forest newspaper talks about Hrusovsky domination

Next: cheers to a weekend without games!

Colorado State Highlights

Check out the goal at 1:37. Probably the goal of the year!


Michigan Men's Lacrosse vs. Colorado State from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

Minnesota Duluth Highlights

Trevor Yealy nets U of M lacrosse record 11 goals in one game! Awesome flow to boot.


Michigan Men's Lacrosse vs. Minnesota-Duluth (April 3, 2009) from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

Former player one of "Students of the Year"

First of all, damn. Since I've known Abdul, I always knew he was destined for greatness. During trips with the team I would always try to muster up intellectual conversations with him and he would slowly and patiently explain to me the gravity of certain escalating world conflicts. I sat there and listened. It was like listening to an audiobook encyclopedia. You would have thought that he was a foreign policy wonk. He was. That just wasn't his main interest.

Abdul is currently in between years of medical school at Michigan, and Rhodes scholar honors at Oxford. Did I mention he was smart? He has already spent time in Peru through "Project Suyana" that helps to fight mortality in pregnancy-- and this was all after his career as a solid starting defensemen on the lacrosse team. Abdul was known for his physical presence as well as his intensity. You always knew when Abdul was coming on a slide (I'm lucky that I was never on the other end of them!)

So Congrats to "Pabst"- what a tremendous honor!

If you want to see Abdul, here is him giving the U of M commencement speech (note Bill Clinton's praise at the end):

If the dog ain't dead, keep kickin' it!

Whoa! What a weekend! With back to back games against elite MCLA teams, the University of Michigan Men's lacrosse team had all the answers for Minnesota Duluth and 4-time MCLA champ, CSU. Led again by scoring sensation, Trevor Yealy, the Wolverines continued their path to perfection.

On Friday night, University of Minnesota Duluth seemed ready to go. For stretching they lined up squarely at midfield, staring down the Wolverines as if to say, "we don't care who you are. We are dulax". But those thoughts of an upset vanished as quickly as the promise of spring in Ann Arbor. Snow fell today, and the Wolverines made it rain on Friday scoring 6 goals in the first frame. By the end of the night, the #1 team made sure that their lead was protected; the defense had been prone to let downs for most of the night. Luckily, Yealy provided his own bailout--putting in 11 in the night.

The following evening, the Wolverines matched up against longtime MCLA powerhouse, Colorado State. Although Yealy's help wasn't as warranted as the previous night, Michigan's futile efforts on the defensive side of the field were transformed into a denying, disciplined game. They sucked the life out of the CSU offense all night and were awarded with a 16-3 victory.

Congrats to the Seniors on the team, many of whom have spent hours upon hours in the weight room, conditioning, practicing and getting ready for that moment. It really was a beautiful sendoff!

Awards:
Player of the Weekend: Sophomore Attackmen, Trevor Yealy.
Why? Yealy netted a UM lacrosse game record 11 goals! I mean, common. How obvious can it get? 11. CSU coach Flip Naumberg commented in his infamous journal that Yealy was quite impressive as CSU watched the game from the sidelines. (Flip also linked the status of UM lacrosse to the fact that they have a dance team--admittedly, the players were impressed as well:


Defensive standouts: Michael Bartomioli
Talk about a difference maker! Bartomioli or "Barto" was everywhere on the field, including in the head of CSU fogo #33. There were numerous incidents that arose due to his intensity and physical play. Lesson learned: nobody messes with the Providence punisher.

Best play: Senior Attackmen, Riley Kearns - Bro Rice
Behind the back shot on the way back to "x".
Made ____ look foolish:
a.) Short stick d-mid
b.) Slide man
c.) goalie
d.) all of the above
Answer: d.) all of the above

Hopefully the guys at Sick lax will produce a video soon so that the world can witness Kearns' creative b-t-b. It should honestly be the companies' promotional video. It's that sick.

That's it from me, more to come soon.

Rounds 1 and 2: Central and BYU

The University of Michigan Lacrosse team made a statement this weekend. In front of a sold-out crowd at Oosterbaan Fieldhouse the Wolverines made sure opponents knew who was #1. With back to back games against lowly Central Michigan and #4 ranked Brigham Young, the team remained unflappable and confident in their pursuit of perfection.

The first game featured an array of UM scorers who peppered outmatched Central Michigan goaltenders. To their credit, the CMU program is showing signs of improvement. The Chippewa's have fielded a large group of players and have a solid attackman #00, who showed swagger despite his teams unfortunate choice of grey poupon-colored headgear. Apparently, this rivalry still needs time to ferment the anger and animosity amonst the two competitive squads.

Here is the first of two highlight reels from Sick Lax:
University of Michigan Men's Lacrosse vs. Central Michigan University from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

The second game of the weekend deserves more words than the latter mentioned game: Michigan vs. BYU. Rivalry? I guess you could say so. The bad blood dates back to before I picked up a lacrosse stick (yeah, I'm from Michigan if you hadn't guessed). In fact, from 06'-07' Michigan lacrosse was 0-3 vs. the cougars. Fortunately, due to dedication in the weight-room and to intense conditioning, this trend has been reversed. And with Saturday nights solid victory over arch-rival BYU, the trend should surely continue.

Andrew Fowler had another excellent performance, often fending off pesky BYU attackmen and clearing the ball very effectively. Between the pipes he stood large against some of the nations most skilled offensive players. Those players for BYU were overshadowed by the dominant showing of Michigan's top-to-bottom barrage of attackmen. Fueled by Zorovich's timely lefty rips from the island and Yealy's sneaky inside play, the Wolverines continued to show why they are so hard to stop.

The Michigan Daily once again recognized UofM lacrosse efforts in Monday's paper. Here is the article: "Wolverines all business in rivalry game"

In addition, the guys at Sick Lax made this for your viewing pleasure:
University of Michigan vs BYU Men's Lacrosse- 3/28/09 from Wes McGowan on Vimeo.

UM: 33 - Eastern Michigan: 8

Posting 33 goals in a less-than-average performance is something that an offensive coach dreams of. On the other hand, spotting eight goals to Eastern Michigan makes them want to vomit. Any way you shake it, Friday night fans should be refunded their money as this was in no way a contest. It was 9-2 at the end of the first quarter. Dave Reinhard was a star again, collecting career-highs in gound balls (21!) and in face-off wins (25). Other notable performances came from the "lettuce-laden", Trevor Yealy, who netted 8 goals--one goal shy of the all-time UM Lacrosse record. Freshman, Rob Healy deserves a shout-out for the monster hit that he delivered towards the end of the game. The future brother-in-law of Mark Hammit got absolutely rocked by the 6' pure meat Freshman. The player who caught the other side of the blow even commended Healy on the hit after the game. Nice guy. Next game: Central Michigan 3/27/09 7pm.

Boxscore

Minnesota game coverage from the Michigan Daily

Finally some coverage of Michigan's lacrosse program in its student paper, the Michigan Daily! In the article, "Men's lacrosse bury gophers in scoring explosion", the author seems to divulge a good knowledge of lacrosse and the riding game (something that is rare amongst school newspaper writers). I hope that Jake continues to produce articles that enlighten readers of the intricacies of lacrosse!

What the author didn't note, however, was the halftime speech given by one of the Minnesota coaches. Roaming outside, my roommate noticed that their team was huddled in the cold (apparently trying to make the Gophers feel comfortable again --the weather was in the mid-30's). Noticeably distressed, the coach blew his lid. He was heard to have said, "Hey, these guys don't sh*t gold!".

Michigan vs. Colorado 3/14/09

After viewing these highlights, you might say that they appear very one-sided. This would be the case, but from the first minute, this game was handily controlled by Michigan. Dave Reinhard dominated at "X" all day. Colorado's response: put two long poles on the wings and have them line up as far on their defensive side as possible. This strategy worked the first play of the game, but fluttered after that. Rhino's flawless execution of his repetoire of moves was like watching a fogo clinic. Backwards, forwards, sideways; it didn't matter.

The one bright-spot that shone for Colorado was its goalie play. However, lizard-like style, sweatpants, and long sleeves could not protect Kevin Moriarty from the onslaught that he was about to receive. I mean, common, long-sleeves in Oosterbaan? The weather isn't exactly inclement!

The final score was posted at 13-4.

The First Post

Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you the first installment of MflowBlue - a blog that covers Michigan Lacrosse. The primary mission of this weblog is to bring together many sources of media covering Michigan Lacrosse. Collecting these sources will hopefully provide greater access to fans, alumni, or other lacrosse enthusiasts who want to know more about the results of the games.

Why the title, you might ask? This blogs purpose is similar to that of "mgoblog", a weblog that covers everything in Michigan Athletics.

We hope you enjoy!