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!