Michigan 20, Pitt 1

Michigan 7-0 (2-0 CCLA). Photo from Official site.

In the MCLA, there's a cavernous gap between the top teams and the rest of the pack. That was on full display last night in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse as the Michigan Wolverines took PIttsburgh to the woodshed, keeping the Panthers off the board for the first 47 minutes of play while running up an 18-goal lead en route to a 20-1 victory.

Any team that visits Ann Arbor is likely to leave with a loss, unless it's a top, top squad. BYU missed their opportunity Friday night, and it's looking like Colorado State and Arizona State (BIG first weekend of April) will be the last teams with a chance to hand Michigan defeat on their home field.

Tempo-Free

From the game recap, your tempo-free breakdown:

Pittsburgh
Pitt		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	9	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	6-23	Clearing	16-19
Possessions	35	Possessions	52
Goals	1	Goals	20
Offensive Efficiency	.029	Offensive Efficiency	.385

Hide ya kids, hide ya wife, this was an all-around pasting. That defensive efficiency number is the best Michigan has put up this year or last. The offensive efficiency is good-not-great for the Wolverines, but when you win by 19 goals, maybe the precision wanes a bit during the game.

Greiner (9/14) and Ernst (7/11) were both successful on faceoffs, and like I said in the BYU recap, my Official Concern in that aspect of the game is gone until we see a really bad performance. Michigan cleared the ball good-not-great, but they rode the living hell out of the Panthers. A .261 success rate on clears is not just bad, but bordering on obscene.

Notes

If not for a slow-paced Michigan offense (which is probably the right thing to do when you can seemingly score at will), this one could have been even uglier. They took their time breaking down the Pitt D.

Ryan Snyder blew up, scoring 4 in his first career multi-goal game. He was playing the Trevor Yealy role on the second line, finishing on the crease. The two players couldn't be much different in stature, with Yealy standing 6-4 and Snyder at 5-7, but Snyder plays a much more physical game than you'd expect from a 155-pounder.

All three goalies played, with Fowler letting in the lone Pitt goal. The Panthers didn't threaten a whole lot, so it's tough to get a read on keeper play.

Elsewhere

Official site recap.

Up Next

Wolverines have another weekend double-dip coming up, with #16 Boston College on Friday and #9 UC-Santa Barbara on Saturday. Both games are at 7PM in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.

Detroit 13, VMI 9

Detroit 2-5 (1-0 MAAC).

The Titans got back into the win column yesterday afternoon by knocking off VMI in the MAAC conference opener. UDM got balanced scoring, with 9 different players finding twine.

The win give the Titans a good start in conference play, and keeps NCAA Tournament hopes in the "realistic possibility" category.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, your tempo-free breakdown.

VMI
VMI		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	20	Faceoff Wins	4
Clearing	11-17	Clearing	13-17
Possessions	41	Possessions	29
Goals	9	Goals	13
Offensive Efficiency	.220	Offensive Efficiency	.448

As I predicted in the game preview, the Titans were killed on faceoffs by a very good VMI faceoff man in Stephen Robarge. Brandon Davenport actually didn't take the majority of the draws for UDM, as Joe Maclean went 3/15.

The Titans sliiightly made up for the struggles on faceoffs by doing a pretty good job on the ride, holding the Keydets to a 65% success rate. However, Detroit didn't win this game because they were able to have about the same number of possessions.

They won it, in fact, because they were brutally efficient on offense, scoring on almost half of their possessions. Considering VMI had 59% of the possessions in the game, holding down their efficiency (they scored on fewer than a quarter of the possessions) was a big key as well.

Notes

As noted above, the scoring was spread across several UDM players. Chris Nemes led the team with 3 goals, and Ty Maruyama and Shayne Adams had two apiece - with Adams also contributing a pair of assists to lead the team with 4 total points. Scott Harris had a goal and a pair of assists.

Jamie Hebden and Brad Janer led the team with 3 caused turnovers, and LSM Jordan Houtby was the GB king with 6 ground balls. In goal, AJ Levell went the distance saving 14 shots and allowing 9 goals.

As noted above, I predicted Detroit would struggle on faceoffs, and they came through for me. Brandon Davenport went 1/9 and Joe Maclean won 3/15 draws. Without seeing the action, it's tough to say whether wing play or the faceoff specialists are behind the struggles.

Elsewhere

The official site's recap lives here, and the boxscore is here. A couple postgame videos. Coach Holtz:

Player of the game Ty Maruyama

Usually such videos aren't posted until much to late to make the recap. Hopefully this new trend will hold up.

Up Next

The Titans will travel to Jacksonville to take on the Dolphins on Saturday. JU is 3-5 on the year, and opened conference play with a 12-8 victory over Canisius.

Michigan 16, BYU 6

The Wolverines faced by far their stiffest competition of the young season last night, and walked out of Oosterbaan with a 16-6 pasting of rival BYU - despite not having played that well.

Par for the course for your annual National Champions.

Tempo-Free

From the game notes, your tempo-free breakdown.

Brigham Young
BYU		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	10	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	12-25	Clearing	16-26
Possessions	45	Possessions	55
Goals	6	Goals	16
Offensive Efficiency	.133	Offensive Efficiency	.291

Michigan played a good faceoff man, and Brian Greiner mostly owned him. There were many more scrambles for the loose ball than there were clean wins, but I would guess Greiner had a marked advantage on both kinds. Michigan's play on the wings (primarily by Yealy and A-heim) was outstanding.

In the clearing game, Michigan's ride continued to prove that nobody has "figured out" the 10-man ride, or any of the Wolverines' other riding schemes. Michigan's clear was shaky early in the game (both teams had trouble getting settled offensive possessions through most of the first quarter), but managed to get settled as the game wore on.

In efficiency terms, Michigan's offense was decent-not-great, which is very good when considering the quality of opposition. The BYU offense sputtered all game, and aside from a few times when Michigan's defense got a little sloppy with a big lead, they were going to get maybe 2 or 3 quality scoring chances.

Notes

The offense was led by the usual suspects, with Chad Carroll (3-1-4), Joey Hrusovsky (2-2-4), and Trevor Yealy (3-0-3) near the top of the leaderboard. A little more surprising was the presence of freshman Doug Bryant tied for the lead in points with 3-1-4. Bryant opened the scoring with a nice lefty bull dodge and a solid finish, and recorded his first hat trick as a Wolverine. Carroll and Yealy both showed off more speed than I'm used to seeing from them, with Carroll outrunning the entire BYU midfield and defense on an unsettled situation, and Yealy continuing to impress starting as a wing midfielder on faceoffs.

So, with all the talk about the attack, the lack of top-end talented depth in the midfield might stick out like a sore thumb, but... 16 goals against one of the nation's best defenses. Q.E.D. If the young midfield progresses over the course of the season, they should complement an already-potent Michigan offense by the time the tournament rolls around.

As for the defense... newsflash: it is really good. The 2nd- and 3rd lines played better than they did against Florida (in my opinion), though the top line wasn't the terrorbeast we know it's capable of being in any given game. I'm willing to bet, based on 3+ years of evidence, that it was just an aberration. For all the (deserved) accolades that Harry Freid gets, I actually thought Austin Swaney was the best player on the field for either team. The fact that Michigan gets to have both on their team is just unfair.

I mentioned above that the faceoff performance exceeded my expectations, and it's worth pointing out again that I think Brian Greiner is rounding into really good form. Michigan isn't going to dominate like they have in the past, but any worries I had about faceoffs being a liability are completely gone. Trevor Yealy and Matt Asperheim are exceptional at picking up the GBs in traffic, as well.

I mentioned earlier that Michigan struggled early on clears - though both teams did in the first quarter, due to some seriously physical play. A couple unforced turnovers hurt the numbers quite a bit, but Michigan should be able to clean those up. Making smarter decisions under pressure is where further improvement will come from.

BYU had a midfielder who was easily the biggest lacrosse player I've ever seen in person. He was listed on the roster as 6-6 235, but I wouldn't be surprised if his actual weight was closer to 260. As for other observations of the Cougars, it was definitely interesting to see a team totally unused to struggling do so. It was clear they hadn't faced any serious level of adversity in 2011 yet. If they had, maybe Michigan's opening run would have been more like 3-0 or 4-0 than 9-0.

Up Next

Pitt Panthers. 7PM tonight. Oosterbaan Fieldhouse.

Get it.

Robert Morris 14, Detroit 13

The Titans continue to show serious signs of a breakthrough, with a pair of 1-goal losses (including one to ranked Ohio State) on the season. However, as they say, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. You don't play for the moral victory, you play to win the game. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it out to this game, although I had been planning to do so.

The Titans almost pulled off the feat against Robert Morris, coming from three goals behind in the fourth quarter to tie the game with more than seven minutes to go. However, they squandered opportunities to end the game in regulation (including a 2-man advantage), and allowed a Colonial goal with 1:35 left in overtime to end the contest.

I get the feeling that this is going to be a particularly painful tempo free section...

Tempo-Free

From the official box score, your tempo-free breakdown:

Robert Morris
Robert Morris		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	14	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	16-24	Clearing	18-22
Possessions	42	Possessions	46
Goals	14	Goals	13
Offensive Efficiency	.333	Offensive Efficiency	.283

Actually, that wasn't truly painful at all. Where the Titans have been getting owned on possession all year long, they managed to have the advantage both at the faceoff X and in the clear/ride game. The only place they lacked was efficiency, but in a 1-goal game, the small-ish sample size is going to make the stats look much more skewed than they actually are. Had the Titans gotten the goal in overtime, they would have had an efficiency advantage.

In such an evenly-matched game, nothing is going to jump out from the raw efficiency numbers (aside from from the fact that Detroit didn't get destroyed in a few of the metrics), but the pace of the game was pretty quick, especially since both teams had pretty good success on the clear.

Notes

Scott Harris and Shayne Adams (predictably) led the team in scoring, along with Tim Lehto. All had 4 points, with Adams and Lehto doing it on 3 goals, whereas Harris had 3 assists. A much more well-rounded offensive production than we've seen in the past couple weeks. 7 other Titans had a single goal each.

Defensively, Jordan Houtby caused the most turnovers for UDM, which we're accustomed to seeing by this point. He caused 4 Colonial turnovers, and scooped up an outstanding 10 GBs. Harris was the only other Detroit player to cause multiple turnovers, with a career-high 3.

AJ Levell went the distance between the pipes, making 11 saves and allowing 14 goals in 62:25 for the overtime loss.

The Titans should continue riding Brandon Davenport on faceoffs, as he was a pretty good (for the low expectations, at least) 16/29. He's going to keep struggling when he faces top competition, but there probably won't be too much of that from here on out.

Elsewhere

Official site recap. Box score. Robert Morris site recap.

Up Next

The path becomes much easier for Detroit from here on out, as they enter MAAC play. They'll take on VMI on Saturday at home to kick off conference play.

Michigan 15, Ohio 5

The Wolverines didn't play well in Athens, Ohio on Saturday, but as is often the case when playing CCLA opposition, that didn't prevent them from getting a win against the Ohio Bobcats.

The bench was (sort of) emptied early in the game, and a 9-2 Michigan lead at the half only grew to 15-5 by the end of the game. Trevor Yealy led the team with 6 goals. Let's get on to the...

Tempo-Free

From the official recap, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Ohio
Ohio		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	6	Faceoff Wins	19
Clearing	9-34	Clearing	13-21
Possessions	48	Possessions	65
Goals	5	Goals	15
Offensive Efficiency	.104	Offensive Efficiency	.231

As expected against teams without an established strength on faceoffs, the Wolverines were able to get the vast majority of draws against OU. Part of that seems to be due to playing Trevor Yealy on the wing, as he's not just a finisher, but (like a great crease attackman should be) also very skilled at picking up GBs in traffic.

The ride generally has success against all levels of competition, but is designed to dominate the less-skilled opposition - basically the non-Chapman, BYU, Arizona State, Michigan State-types of the world. Dominate it did, allowing the Bobcats to clear barely more than a quarter of their attempts.

By definition, then, Michigan dominated the ball, with nearly 60% of the possessions in a very fast game (113 total possessions). Of course, part of the reason for that speed was sloppy play, as both teams turned it over a ton - Michigan's 37 giveaways was a season high. A poor clearing rate against a bad team is a little worrisome, but it can hopefully be chalked up to a 1-game struggle.

Lots of possessions and only a meager goal total means that Michigan's efficiency is not very high, though they also held Ohio to a very poor efficiency themselves. Lower efficiency isn't a big concern in games where the 3rd and 4th lines are getting time, as long as it means there's no threat of losing the game. The efficiency margin (offensive efficiency minus opponent's offensive efficiency) was still a healthy .127.

Notes

Oh, hai Trevor Yealy. 6 points on 6 goals certainly looks like he's settling back into the familiar "finisher" role after spending much of the early season working on other aspects of the game, playing the wing and working as a dodger/distributor more than in the past. Tom Paras added 4 goals of his own.

According to someone who was in attendance, the lack of playmakers in the midfield is going to be a struggle this year. For all of Michigan's very talented attackmen (especially with Ryan Dutton-O'Hara back to full health), they really need someone to step up from the first couple midfield units. Jeff Chu is a full-time midfielder now, and maybe the little jitterbug can open things up with dodging ability.

Defensively, Michigan's defense got caught ball-watching for a couple of Ohio's goals, giving up the backside post for the Bobcats to get an easy finish. I'm not sure whether the top couple D-lines were guilty of this, or whether it was mainly backups. Either way, that's something that can't happen against more skilled teams, because BYU and Arizona State, for example, will be able to consistently turn those looks into goals.

In goal, the top two guys played the first half, with Mark Stone allowing no goals (though from the sound of things, Ohio hardly even got the ball into the box in the first quarter), and Andrew Fowler allowing a pair in the second. Sophomore Cy Abdelnour played the entire second half, and let in 3 goals with 3 saves.

JP talked about the team's substitution pattern with the official site:

On a lot of young guys seeing action: “We played everyone that was healthy and Cy got to play the entire second half. We gave guys an opportunity to faceoff who haven’t had that chance this year and they did well. We went deep beginning in the second quarter, so it’s not like anyone got garbage time. Everyone had a real chance to show something and get some quality time.”

Playing deep into the bench leads me to believe that there's no reason to be concerned with some of the problems noted above.

As for those faceoffs, Brian Greiner won 5/6, while Joey Hrusovsky(!?) and Andrew Hayden each were a perfect 3/3. Edward Ernst continues to struggle a bit, winning only 8 of 13 draws (.615). That's no terrible number, but considering what the others were able to do, it's no great shakes either.

Up Next

Michigan has a pair of home games this weekend, welcoming rival BYU to Oosterbaan Fieldhouse Friday at 7, and Pitt on Saturday at the same time. If you aren't headed down to Jow Louis Arena, you can catch almost all of Friday's lacrosse game before catching the CCHA semifinals on TV.

Detroit 19, Mercer 3

Detroit 1-4. Photo from Official site.

As I said in the preview, this game ending in anything other that a Titan win would have been very bad news for UDM. They did me one better though, blowing out first-year program Mercer at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac.

It was a day of many records for UDM. Freshman Shayne Adams set a Detroit record with 7 goals in the game, and the team's 19 scores were the most in the program's brief history. Mercer's 3 goals were the fewest ever allowed to an opponent. Sophomore LSM Jordan Houtby set a program record with 11 ground balls.

It was an all-around pasting, so let's get straight to the...

Tempo Free

From the official box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown:

Mercer
Mercer		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	10	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	19-24	Clearing	19-22
Possessions	37	Possessions	43
Goals	3	Goals	19
Offensive Efficiency	.081	Offensive Efficiency	.442

Before looking at the box score, I had assumed that the Titans completely dominated possession, both at the faceoff X and in the ride/clear game. So, to look up the stats and see that this was not the case (they had only a slight advantage in possessions), but rather the Titans were ridiculously efficient in both ends of the field is a surprise.

Of course, just like it's expected for a nascent program to have problems in the possession game, poor efficiency is also a common characteristic of young teams. So, Mercer... yeah, they had that. Even as inefficient as Detroit was, they never even approached an efficiency of .100, much less well below that.

Notes

I mentioned the record-setting day in the opening paragraphs, but it's important to give credit where it is due: Shayne Adams and Jordan Houtby both had excellent individual days, leading to the best game ever played by a Detroit team. But yes, strength of competition plays a big role in that as well.

Aside from Adams, multiple-goal scorers for the Titans included Alex Maini (3), Scott Harris (2), and Chris Nemes (2). The Titans continue to score a lot of their goals unassisted, as only 8 of their 19 tallies came on a helper. Harris and Ty Maruyama were the only multiple-assist guys with 2 apiece.

The Titans broke out of a poor shooting streak by putting 37 of their 51(!) shots on the cage, and scoring on 19 of those, for a very good .373 shot percentage.

Remember, the Titans are without their best two offensive players from last season, who are sitting out this spring to focus on academics. If Joel Matthews and Tyler Staruch were available... would this actually be a kinda-good team? A horrifically inefficient performance against Ohio State probably could have swung the Titans' way with a couple more weapons.

Three goalies saw time in net for UDM, with AJ Levell getting the start and the win, allowing all three Mercer goals. Danny Kransberger came in at halftime, saving all 6 shots on goal he faced, and Mike Brown had 1 save in the 2 minutes of the game.

Up Next

The Titans are in action again next Sunday in their true home opener. They'll face Lehigh at 2PM, the second part of a double header, as the women take on UC Davis at 11AM. Lehigh beat Detroit 21-9 last season.

Michigan 9, Oregon 8 (2OT)

Michigan 2-0.

Phew. Oregon has had a rocky start to the year, and the Wolverines did not want to be the team that helped them turn it around (a la Colorado last year). The Ducks led by 4 goals at halftime and after the third quarter, and the Wolverines had to dig deep to complete the comeback.

They tied the game at 8 with three minutes left, and even had a chance to win it in regulation, but Tom Paras's shot couldn't find the net. Chad Carroll atoned for the miss in the second overtime period, scoring the game-winner on an assist from Joey Hrusovsky.

Tempo Free

From the Michigan recap, here's your tempo-free breakdown:

Oregon
Oregon		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	6	Faceoff Wins	14
Clearing	13-24	Clearing	20-28
Possessions	38	Possessions	53
Goals	8	Goals	9
Offensive Efficiency	.211	Offensive Efficiency	.170

The Wolverines ended up with a hefty advantage in possession, but according to someone who was at the game, that wan't the case through three quarters. In the fourth quarter, they turned up the intensity and managed to control the ball without throwing it away in the rain.

Similar story on faceoffs. Edward Ernst was unavailable, so the Wolverines had to live and die by Brian Greiner. That didn't go so well to start the game, but he dominated the fourth quarter, which helped settle the team.

Michigan was inefficient despite their possession advantage (again, sounding a lot like last year's Colorado game), playing sloppy in bad weather. The 10-man ride was broken a few times, and I'm not sure whether Oregon's trouble clearing (they only finished .542 on clears, to Michigan's .714) came after Michigan switched away.

Notes

There's never a great excuse for a team of Michigan's caliber to struggle out of the gate, but if ever there was one, this was it. The Wolverines' bus got to the game site less than half an hour before the faceoff, so there was very little time for the team to warm up and get accustomed to the rainy conditions.

From the sound of things, Oregon could have built a bigger lead when Michigan was struggling early in the game, but their offense still hasn't quite hit a groove, and they don't have the easiest time putting the ball in the net. That follows from what we heard about the Ducks' struggles in their first two games. If they were a better offensive team, the lead could have been insurmountable.

The Ducks were able to keep Trevor Yealy from having a good day offensively, but Chad Carroll was able to step it up with four goals - including the overtime winner. I came away from the Florida game impressed with the power on his shot, and he was placing them in the corners last night as well. This Michigan team has so many offensive weapons that it's impossible to completely shut down the offense by taking away Yealy (which was possible last year). Carroll on the offense:

"Coach Paul told us to keep running our offense, you know, and keep doing things we’d been doing. He was really positive about the things we were doing on offense, we just weren’t necessarily capitalizing on our opportunities."

The goalies split time in the net, with Stone allowing 7 goals and collecting 5 saves. Fowler only allowed the Ducks to find the back of the net once, while making 6 saves. Without seeing the game, it's hard to say whether Fowler played that much better, if Oregon's finishing attempts on him were worse, or if the Michigan defense just stepped it up bigtime in the second half. Probably a mix, as the e-mailer who was in attendance said Oregon got "a few bad goals from outside" in the first half, and the defense was "completely shut down in the fourth. Oregon barely got looks on cage." Coach Paul on the official site:

"We made a planned goalie change, and Fowler just happened to have a great second half. Stone had a pretty good first half too."

At the end of the day, every team is going to have a game here and there where they struggle. This seemed like a perfect storm (no pun intended) for the Wolverines, and it's far better to struggle in a win than to lose the game.

Elsewhere

The official site has your game recap and boxscore, in addition to a travel blog from days 1 and 2.

Up Next

According to the official site, today is the team's only day off from lacrosse on this trip. They'll get back to the grind tomorrow, and next take the field on Wednesday against Loyola Marymount. I'll preview the Lions as that game approaches.

Michigan 26, Florida 6

Michigan 1-0. Photo from Official Website.

The final score is not the scary part. We're used to seeing Michigan put up gaudy numbers, even against good competition. What is scary is how easy it looked for the Wolverines. They spent much of the second half emptying the bench, trying to run set plays for defensemen and freshmen, and playing a 5-4 sophomore in the net (love you, Cy). This game could have much more easily been 35-3 than 20-10.

If Florida's half as good as they were expected to be this season, this is easily the best Michigan team I've seen in the past four years. And it's not close. Aside from one area of potential weakness (faceoffs), the Wolverines are as good as they've ever been.

Let's get down to the...

Tempo Free

From the Michigan recap, here's your tempo-free breakdown:

Florida
Florida		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	9	Faceoff Wins	26
Clearing	11-24	Clearing	16-21
Possessions	39	Possessions	60
Goals	6	Goals	26
Offensive Efficiency	.154	Offensive Efficiency	.433

If Florida's faceoff specialists are even half-competent (and somebody with insider information suggests that may not be the case, so don't get too excited), Michigan dominated a good squad in terms of possession. Florida was held under .500 on their clear, whereas the Wolverines succeeded on more than 75% of their own attempts.

The Wolverine defense was pretty impressive too, and I can't even count how many excellent effort pays I saw to check from behind and gain possession, or perfectly-timed slides, or... I'm getting ahead of myself here. Florida was held to .154 offensive efficiency, which is in the vicinity of the best numbers the Wolverines put up against top-25 competition last year.

Offensively, this was a well-oiled machine. Michigan finished with a .433 efficiency, and it probably could have been even higher if the Wolverines hadn't spent a good portion of the second half running set plays for long sticks and freshmen. Florida's goalie Matt Rivers also performed very well.

Notes

There's this fellow with whom you may be familiar. He goes by the name Trevor Yealy, and is one of the most prolific scorers in MCLA history. Yealy's been a ruthless finisher over his first three years, but when teams schemed to take that away, he could be shut down - often at the expense of Michigan's offense on the whole. Kids, he's a one-trick pony no more. Instead of playing almost exclusively on the crease, he dodged from X, he dodged from the wing, and he even matched his career high in assists (with 2). He played one of the wing midfield positions on faceoffs... he did it all. And looked really good doing it. Plus he had a backwards, between the legs goal, which is both hilarious and awesome.

Now that I'm done fawning over Yealy - because let's be honest, it's hardly original - let's talk some other offensive players. Chad Carroll is new to the team, but you wouldn't have guessed it with the comfort he showed, or the production (6 goals and an assist). A 2-handed shooter, his lefty(?) shot looked to me like it was probably one of the hardest on the team. He's got great size and good athleticism - which he was more than willing to display on the ride. Plenty of other guys scored their first goals in the maize-and-blue, with freshmen Jeff Chu, Fern Murias, and LSM Brett Moscati finding the back of the net. Chu and Murias are speedy little dodgers who are going to be a serious pain for opposing defenses down the road.

Defensively, it was easy to see how much Michigan missed Harrison Freid in their first two scrimmages this spring. He was super-physical, and Florida's offensive players (who had mostly had good height, but probably weighed a combined 60 pounds) couldn't handle his play. Austin Swaney also impressed me with a number of good stick checks. LSM Matt Asperheim is always going to be impressive going forward with the ball, as he has excellent stick skills for a long pole. I wasn't impressed by Florida's speed, either, a testament to Michigan's team speed all over the field.

One thing I found notable was Freid playing attack on Michigan's 10-man ride in the second half. Not sure if it was a strategic decision, or just trying to help him score an easy goal by breaking up a Florida clear. I would guess it's the latter, since it doesn't make sense to employ a secret tactic with a huge lead in the first game.

Brian Greiner (21/27) started on faceoffs, and Edward Ernst (5/8) came in later in the game. I thought Greiner looked pretty good, and I wouldn't be surprised if he can play his way into good form during the early season - especially since these are his first games that count in over a year - and make the faceoff a strength. Sure, it won't be as good as it has been over the last 3 seasons, but doing 50% or slightly better against decent teams is certainly an attainable goal.

...Speaking of goal (how's that for a segue?), Mark Stone started the game, and was replaced at halftime by Andrew Fowler. Stone seems to be the better natural goalie, in terms of quick reactions to shots, as well as being a vocal leader for the defense. Fowler is more comfortable playing outside the net in the clearing game. Cy Abdelnour played the final five minutes of the game, and saved the only shot he faced.

Up Next

Michigan's annual Spring Break trip kicks off on Friday in Los Angeles, as the Wolverines take on Oregon at 6PM (Pacific Time?) at Harvard Westlake High School. The Ducks have started the season on a disappointing note, getting blasted 2-10 by Cal in the opener, and dropping a 6-7 decision to Santa Clara.

Maryland 16, Detroit 4

Detroit 0-4. Photo from Detroit Website.

Detroit's 3-game head start on Maryland paid dividends early for the Titans, as they scored the game's first goal and even carried a 2-1 lead into the second quarter. After that, it was all Terps, as Maryland scored all seven goals in the second quarter, and outscored UDM 8-2 in the second half to emerge with a comfortable 16-4 victory.

This outcome was... well, not that far off expectations. Maryland is an established program in a hotbed for talent, and we're all familiar with where Detroit is as a program. The Terps eventually dominated in nearly every statistical measure, and that's one way to win a ballgame.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Maryland
Maryland		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	18	Faceoff Wins	6
Clearing	20-20	Clearing	15-18
Possessions	41	Possessions	24
Goals	16	Goals	4
Offensive Efficiency	.390	Offensive Efficiency	.167

So. When you get dominated on faceoffs, and don't have a single successful ride all game, you're going to have maaaaany fewer possessions than the opponent. When they're a team as talented as Maryland, they're going to take advantage of them. The Terps scored 16 goals on just 36 shots, while the Titans used 17 shots to score just 4.

As we saw against another top-25 team in Delaware, the majority of Detroit's scoring production came on the man-up, with UDM's first two goals scored on the man advantage. Their other two were at even strength, but both came with the game well in hand for the Terps.

Notes

Four different Titans scored, with Scott Harris, Alex Maini, Matt Gregson, and Chris Nemes each finding twine. Only one goal was assisted, as Chris Nemes's game-opener came from Wes Steen. On the other side, 14 of Maryland's 16 goals were scored. That speaks to not only talent but a smooth-functioning offense. In fact, I'd say the less-talented team should have MORE assists per goal, as they are unlikely to have the athletes to dodge and score.

The Titans had their naughtiest game yet, with 6 penalties for 5:00. Their previous high was 5 infractions for the same amount of time against Ohio State. Elsewhere in sloppy play, they committed 20 turnovers, though most of them (14) were forced by Maryland.

LSM Jordan Houtby was the Ground Ball champion of Detroit with 4. A pair of Terps tied his GB total.

Freshman goalie Danny Kransberger got his first action as a Titan, playing the final 7:59 and allowing 1 goal with 0 saves.

As noted above, Detroit played well in the first quarter before Maryland overpowered them. They were even in shots (6) and almost even in GBs (8-10) in the first frame, but Maryland dominated nearly every stat from there to the end.

Up Next

Detroit will likely get their first win of 2011 on Saturday, and they host Mercer at Ultimate Soccer in Pontiac. Mercer is a first-year program, and the Bears have been on the wrong side of three grisly games, with an average score of 5.6-18.3. If the Titans don't come away with a win (maybe even if they don't come away with a BIG win), that doesn't bode well for this season.

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Maryland recap.

Bellarmine 9, Detroit 6

Detroit 0-3.

Well, this one is going to sting. Detroit held an early 2-1 lead, but gave up a three-goal run to Bellarmine and never led again. The Titans kept the game close late into the third quarter at 6-5, but Bellarmine scored the first three goals of the fourth, and a last-minute Detroit goal only served to keep the score respectable at 9-6.

In my season preview for the Titans, I classified this game as a toss-up, and honestly, I expected Detroit to come away with the win, even on the road. Playing Ohio State close only upped that confidence, but at the end of the day, UDM will have to wait another couple weeks (4 weeks into their season) for their next realistic shot at a victory.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, here's your tempo-free breakdown.

Bellarmine
Bellarmine		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	8	Faceoff Wins	11
Clearing	12-13	Clearing	9-14
Possessions	26	Possessions	26
Goals	9	Goals	6
Offensive Efficiency	.341	Offensive Efficiency	.231

In a very slow game, Detroit did very well at the faceoff X to level up the number of possessions despite some struggles in the clearing game.

HOWEVA, it's the efficiency, stupid. Detroit's defense was terrrrrrrrrrible, allowing goals on nearly 35% of Bellarmine possessions. The offense actually wasn't too bad, but when your defense is going to struggle to that level, the offense needs to step it up to compensate.

Notes

As hinted above, Brandon Davenport performed pretty well on faceoffs (don't forget, this Bellarmine team handled Michigan on faceoffs just a couple weeks ago), and I think he's probably locked down the starting job there for the remainder of the year.

The Titans had their first multi-goal performer on the year, with attackman Shayne Adams netting a pair (on nine shots, for a .222 shooting percentage). Junior midfielder John Nowicki matched his point total by notching a goal and an assist.

It was a poor shooting day for several Titans, as Matt Gregson found the back of the net once in six shots, while Tim Lehto, Scott Harris, and Dennis Troy all went 0-fer on multiple shots. Harris at least put up an assist to partially make up for his 0/7 shooting day.

LSM Jordan Houtby tied a program record with 10 ground balls on the game.

AJ Levell made 7 saves while allowing 9 goals. I assume a big part of the blame goes on a porous Titan defense, but without seeing the game, it's hard to say for certain.

Bellarmine's 9 goals came on just 27 shots (.333) and Detroit took 33 shots to score 6 goals (.182).

Elsewhere

Detroit recap. Bellarmine recap. Box Score.

Up Next

Detroit serves as a sacrificial lamb at Maryland next Saturday at 1, before likely earning their first win of the season the following week in Pontiac against first-year program Mercer.

Delaware 13, Detroit 5

Detroit 0-1. Photo from Delaware photo gallery.

So. I certainly wasn't expecting a win in this game, but a 13-5 smackdown probably wasn't in line with my prediction of an improved Detroit squad this season, either.

Delaware was up 2-0 before UDM even got on the board, and led 12-2 before a late Titan rally made the final score look closer than the game actually played out. The Titan's even-strength and man-down teams struggled, as the Titans scored all five of their goals on the man-up.

Tempo-Free

From the box score, let's bust out the first-ever(!) individual game tempo-free breakdown:

Delaware
Delaware		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	15	Faceoff Wins	6
Clearing	22-27	Clearing	21-30
Possessions	51	Possessions	41
Goals	13	Goals	5
Offensive Efficiency	.255	Offensive Efficiency	.122

First things first, this was a blistering-fast game with 92 possessions between the two teams. Last year's Robert Morris (100 possessions) and Wagner (92 possessions) games were the only ones to reach that pace. According to Orange:44, the home of tempo-free lacrosse stats, 70 total possessions is about average for NCAA Division-1 games. Considering Delaware was playing backups and likely slowing things down in the second half, this was a very up-and-down game.

The Titans were pretty good defensively, with a much better efficiency number than their average last year (.309). Offensively, the performance was pitiful, especially considering the only UDM goals came in 6-on-5 offense.

Like we learned all about looking at least year, Detroit got pummeled on faceoffs, and did poorly in the clearing game, which led to a significant advantage in possessions by the opponent.

Individuals

Ah, the faceoffs. This was a horrible area for Detroit last year, and it looks like it might not be a huge improvement this year (boding ill for the rest of the season). Brandon Davenport went a poor 5-16 and Tyler Corcoran was a dismal 1-5 in the third and fourth quarters.

Offensively, the unexpected loss of last year's offensive leaders is likely to be a theme throughout the year, but attack Scott Harris made an early play for filling the void by notching a goal and two assists, while freshman attack Shayne Adams was the team finisher with three of the five Titan goals. Adams had a .500 shooting percentage with his goals coming on six shots, and Harris and midfielder Matt Gregson each shot .333.

On defense, LSM Jordan Houtby led the team with 9 ground balls and six turnovers forced. Sophomore goalie AJ Levell faced 30 shots on goal and made 17 saves. For an offensive comparison, the Titans didn't even have 30 shots total, and only 18 of their 27 shots were on goal.

The Other Side

Out of curiosity, I took a look at Delaware's faceoff man, Dan Cooney. He went 14-17 on Saturday, for a ludicrous .823 success rate. Cooney went .547 last year, so he's a pretty good faceoff man, but that's a terrible performance no matter what. Brandon Davenport took both draws against Delaware's backup, Andrew Rohacik, splitting the pair.

The Blue Hens had rather even scoring, with three different players notching a pair of goals, but nobody scoring a hat trick. That means seven other guys had a lone goal, for 10 different players putting the ball in the back of the net.

Delaware committed plenty of penalties (6 for 4:30), which led to every single Detroit goal. Nobody committed more than one no-no.

Delaware's backup goalie, Ryan Smith, played the final 3 minutes of the game, and allowed 2 goals on 3 shots faced. If you were to (unwisely) extrapolate that over an entire game, it would mean 40 goals on 60 shots faced.

Elsewhere

Delaware site recap. Photo gallery.

Detroit site recap.

Detroit Lacrosse 2010: Tempo-Free

Before going into the details, I missed out on a photo gallery from Carthage, who was one of the teams that scrimmaged Detroit last Saturday (HT: 412 Lax). Check them out if you're interested.

A reminder from the Michigan version of this same feature:

• Possessions = Faceoff wins + clearing attempts + opponent failed clears.
• Efficiency = Goals/Possessions.

Bellarmine
Bellarmine		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	16	Faceoff Wins	8
Clearing	8-10	Clearing	10-12
Possessions	28	Possessions	22
Goals	12	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.423	Offensive Efficiency	.364

Bellarmine owned the faceoff 'x,' leading to many more possessions than the Titans had. They were also more efficient, and came away with a comfortable win.

Ohio State
Ohio State		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	11	Faceoff Wins	13
Clearing	20-24	Clearing	19-29
Possessions	45	Possessions	46
Goals	16	Goals	7
Offensive Efficiency	.356	Offensive Efficiency	.152

The Buckeyes didn't have nearly as many clearing opportunities, but had much more success on them, to draw just below even in number of possessions. There, they also made much more of their opportunities, more than doubling efficiency and score.

Quinnipiac
Quinnipiac		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	14	Faceoff Wins	10
Clearing	11-13	Clearing	10-11
Possessions	28	Possessions	23
Goals	13	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.464	Offensive Efficiency	.348

The Titans had a rather efficient day, but their struggles on faceoffs led to fewer possessions, and Quinnipiac took advantage of porous defense to come away with the comfortable win.

Robert Morris
Robert Morris		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	9	Faceoff Wins	16
Clearing	26-35	Clearing	19-25
Possessions	50	Possessions	50
Goals	15	Goals	6
Offensive Efficiency	.300	Offensive Efficiency	.120

In their fastest game to-date, the Titans had a dismal day offensively (this is a theme, you'll see), scoring on a mere 12% of possessions. Robert Morris emerged with the easy win.

Lehigh
Lehigh		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	23	Faceoff Wins	9
Clearing	14-17	Clearing	10-20
Possessions	50	Possessions	32
Goals	21	Goals	9
Offensive Efficiency	.420	Offensive Efficiency	.281

Bad defense? Check. Bad offense? Check. The anomaly here is that UDM got absolutely crushed in number of possessions, due to both a horrible day clearing the ball, and similarly-epic struggles on faceoffs.

Manhattan
Manhattan		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	12	Faceoff Wins	11
Clearing	22-24	Clearing	18-23
Possessions	41	Possessions	36
Goals	11	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.268	Offensive Efficiency	.222

The Titans were sliiightly worse on faceoffs, a decent amount worse on clears, and less efficient. It's no surprise, then (necessary, given the definitions of the stats), that they were handed a loss by Manhattan.

Presbyterian
Presbyterian		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	14	Faceoff Wins	19
Clearing	16-21	Clearing	18-22
Possessions	39	Possessions	46
Goals	12	Goals	16
Offensive Efficiency	.308	Offensive Efficiency	.348

Ladies and gentlemen, are you sitting down? The University of Detroit-Mercy, for the first time in program history, left the field victorious - albeit over 1st-year program Presbyterian. A better day on faceoffs and a slightly better clear/ride game gave the Titans a handful more possessions, and they used them more efficiently than the opponent (for the first time all year) to get UDM's first-ever W.

VMI
VMI		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	15	Faceoff Wins	8
Clearing	13-16	Clearing	13-18
Possessions	36	Possessions	29
Goals	8	Goals	11
Offensive Efficiency	.222	Offensive Efficiency	.379

Can you say... win streak? Despite getting crushed on faceoffs, and having a worse clear/ride than the Cadets, Detroit turned in their most efficient offensive game of the year AND their second-best defensive game of the year en route to program victory #2.

Siena
Siena		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	12	Faceoff Wins	8
Clearing	19-20	Clearing	18-20
Possessions	34	Possessions	29
Goals	9	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.265	Offensive Efficiency	.276

The Titans fell juuuust short of their third win, as they were more efficient than Siena, but were once again done in by struggles on the faceoff (and a clear/ride game that was slightly worse).

Yale
Yale		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	13	Faceoff Wins	10
Clearing	20-25	Clearing	19-21
Possessions	40	Possessions	36
Goals	12	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.300	Offensive Efficiency	.222

Detroit lost the faceoff battle yet again, but performed better in the clearing game to stay close in number of possessions. The Bulldogs were more efficient though, and were able to get a comfortable win.

Mount St. Mary's
Mount St. Mary's		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	16	Faceoff Wins	8
Clearing	11-15	Clearing	15-21
Possessions	37	Possessions	33
Goals	12	Goals	9
Offensive Efficiency	.324	Offensive Efficiency	.273

Being on the wrong side of a domination at the faceoff X again contributed to a loss for the Titans. They also had a worse ride/clear game and were less efficient.

St. Joseph's
St. Joseph's		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	7	Faceoff Wins	13
Clearing	17-22	Clearing	10-18
Possessions	37	Possessions	36
Goals	10	Goals	7
Offensive Efficiency	.270	Offensive Efficiency	.194

The complete lack of consistency on faceoffs over the course of the season is such a question mark to me (and I'll have to do a bit more research writing the preview to figure out why). On this day, Detroit was on the good side of a domination. Their ride/clear game was bad, though, and their offensive efficiency was just pitiful.

Canisius
Canisius		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	11	Faceoff Wins	8
Clearing	17-20	Clearing	15-20
Possessions	36	Possessions	31
Goals	9	Goals	8
Offensive Efficiency	.250	Offensive Efficiency	.258

Detroit was slightly more efficient than Canisius, but still managed to lose based on having fewer opportunities. That's due to (say it with me now) slight struggles on faceoffs and a worse ride/clear game.

Marist
Marist		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	12	Faceoff Wins	11
Clearing	17-22	Clearing	19-22
Possessions	37	Possessions	38
Goals	13	Goals	6
Offensive Efficiency	.351	Offensive Efficiency	.158

A horrible day in efficiency both offensively and defensively led to a blowout loss on a day that Detroit actually had more possessions than the opponent.

Wagner
Wagner		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	13	Faceoff Wins	11
Clearing	20-28	Clearing	26-29
Possessions	44	Possessions	48
Goals	7	Goals	14
Offensive Efficiency	.159	Offensive Efficiency	.292

In their most dominant game in program history, Detroit overcame a worse faceoff percentage by riding Wagner to a 71.4% success rate on clears, while nearing 90% success on their own. With more possessions, they nearly doubled up in terms of efficiency, for a big win.

What it all Means

The Titans rotated between being horrible, merely bad, and decent. They had varying amounts of success in all three factors of efficiency, with good and bad days on faceoffs, ride/clears, and efficiency. Let's take a look at the season totals.

Season Totals
Opponents		Detroit
Faceoff Wins	198 (.548)	Faceoff Wins	163 (.451)
Clearing	251-312 (.804)	Clearing	239-311 (.768)
Possessions	582	Possessions	535
Goals	180	Goals	133
Offensive Efficiency	.309	Offensive Efficiency	.249
Final Efficiency Margin
-0.060

Aside from overall offensive efficiency, Detroit's most consistent struggle (despite occasional flashes of brilliance) was on faceoffs. That's also a much more discrete issue to fix than "hey put the ball in the goal when you have it," (though putting the ball ON the goal might be a good start - Detroit was in the bottom third of Division 1 in shot percentage) so improving on faceoffs is a simpler fix for improvement - if not necessarily an easy one.

The ride/clear game was fairly even throughout the year, though opponents got the best of the Titans there as well. You can't score on a possession if you can't bring it into the offensive restraining box (INCISIVE ANALYSIS!).

The overall story is... Detroit can improve all over. As a young program entering just its third year of existence, there's definitely a possibility that it can happen.

Coming Soon

Now that I have some baseline numbers to work with, I'll try incorporate this stuff into a season preview of the Titans. Look for that tomorrow, in advance of their regular season opener on Saturday at Delaware.

UMich Lacrosse 2010: Tempo-free

Lacrosse is a sport that's fairly new to the mainstream - if you even consider it to have arrived - and considering advanced statistics are a niche market for a sport as popular as basketball, it stands to reason that they're practically non-existent for "the fastest game on two feet."

Enter Syracuse blog Orange:44, which tried to establish a possession-based method of analysis for the sport. This is similar to tempo-free statistics in basketball, though the possessions aren't equal for each side, as faceoffs and the ride/clear game combine to mean teams won't each possess the ball the same number of times. The method is imperfect, and record-keeping in lacrosse isn't widespread (particularly at the club level, where I'm focusing in this post), but it's better than nothing, no?

Without further ado, the stats are derived like so:

• Possessions = Faceoff wins + clearing attempts + opponent failed clears.
• Efficiency = Goals/Possessions.

For discussion of why those equations are what they are, visit the above-linked Orange:44 post.

Arizona
Arizona		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	9	Faceoff Wins	15
Clearing	7-18	Clearing	18-26
Possessions	35	Possessions	52
Goals	5	Goals	15
Offensive Efficiency	.143	Offensive Efficiency	.288

In the opening game of the season, Michigan dominated possession (as we'll see, that will be a theme throughout the season), and also was more efficient in scoring goals on each of those possessions than were the Wildcats.

Arizona State
Arizona State		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	4	Faceoff Wins	21
Clearing	18-36	Clearing	17-25
Possessions	48	Possessions	64
Goals	10	Goals	11
Offensive Efficiency	.208	Offensive Efficiency	.172

Another theme we'll see over the course of the season: Michigan is less efficient on a per-possession basis than the top-flight competition that they face.

BYU
BYU		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	8	Faceoff Wins	17
Clearing	13-21	Clearing	24-30
Possessions	35	Possessions	55
Goals	9	Goals	13
Offensive Efficiency	.257	Offensive Efficiency	.236

Again, the Wolverines were less efficient than the opponent on a goals-per-possession basis, but dominated possession in order to come away with a comfortable win.

Simon Fraser
Simon Fraser		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	10	Faceoff Wins	27
Clearing	16-33	Clearing	27-29
Possessions	45	Possessions	73
Goals	10	Goals	22
Offensive Efficiency	.222	Offensive Efficiency	.301

In the first home game of the year, Michigan dominated possession once more (look at that gaudy number on clears), and was also more efficient than the opponent.

Eastern Michigan
Eastern Michigan		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	8	Faceoff Wins	17
Clearing	8-25	Clearing	16-18
Possessions	35	Possessions	52
Goals	2	Goals	19
Offensive Efficiency	.057	Offensive Efficiency	.365

Eastern Michigan was terrible (as were most of Michigan's CCLA opponents), so this number isn't particularly meaningful going forward.

Oregon
Oregon		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	5	Faceoff Wins	7
Clearing	16-27	Clearing	21-30
Possessions	41	Possessions	48
Goals	4	Goals	5
Offensive Efficiency	.098	Offensive Efficiency	.104

This game took place on a horrible, windy, snowy day in Dallas, and both teams' offenses were unable to put the ball in the back of the net with any efficiency. The Wolverines won on an overtime goal.

Minnesota-Duluth
Minnesota-Duluth		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	11	Faceoff Wins	13
Clearing	12-22	Clearing	13-24
Possessions	44	Possessions	47
Goals	7	Goals	14
Offensive Efficiency	.159	Offensive Efficiency	.298

This was the closest any opponent came all year to Michigan in terms of sheer number of possessions, but the Wolverines were still able to come away with the win because they were much more efficient offensively.

Western Michigan
Western Michigan		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	12	Faceoff Wins	26
Clearing	14-26	Clearing	21-25
Possessions	42	Possessions	63
Goals	5	Goals	29
Offensive Efficiency	.119	Offensive Efficiency	.460

CCLA competition. Make mental adjustments accordingly.

Central Michigan
Central Michigan		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	2	Faceoff Wins	22
Clearing	8-20	Clearing	15-18
Possessions	25	Possessions	52
Goals	1	Goals	19
Offensive Efficiency	.040	Offensive Efficiency	.365

This was by far Michigan's best game of the year - though again, keep in mind that the level of competition was low - dominating possession and efficiency.

Colorado
Colorado		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	8	Faceoff Wins	18
Clearing	19-29	Clearing	20-27
Possessions	44	Possessions	55
Goals	12	Goals	10
Offensive Efficiency	.273	Offensive Efficiency	.182

In Michigan's lone loss of the year, they had a sizable advantage in possession, but were unable to put the ball in the net - mostly on account of a stellar day by Buffs goalie Bradley MacNee - whereas Colorado had one of the most efficient performances of any offense against Michigan's defense.

Colorado State
Colorado State		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	5	Faceoff Wins	15
Clearing	18-31	Clearing	19-27
Possessions	44	Possessions	55
Goals	6	Goals	10
Offensive Efficiency	.136	Offensive Efficiency	.182

Michigan rebounded from their first loss in more than two years by sticking to their gameplan: dominate possession. They were also more efficient than the Rams on this day.

Purdue
Purdue		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	4	Faceoff Wins	30
Clearing	15-29	Clearing	22-24
Possessions	35	Possessions	68
Goals	2	Goals	28
Offensive Efficiency	.057	Offensive Efficiency	.412

Good day against bad competition.

Michigan State
Michigan State		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	7	Faceoff Wins	15
Clearing	16-34	Clearing	18-22
Possessions	45	Possessions	55
Goals	8	Goals	11
Offensive Efficiency	.178	Offensive Efficiency	.200

In the first matchup between the in-state rivals, Michigan won the possession battle and was slightly more efficient than the opponent. That's a great recipe for success.

Miami OH
Miami OH		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	7	Faceoff Wins	24
Clearing	11-26	Clearing	14-18
Possessions	37	Possessions	57
Goals	5	Goals	23
Offensive Efficiency	.137	Offensive Efficiency	.404

CCLA Competition.

Michigan State
Michigan State		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	9	Faceoff Wins	18
Clearing	14-19	Clearing	14-22
Possessions	36	Possessions	45
Goals	11	Goals	13
Offensive Efficiency	.306	Offensive Efficiency	.289

Michigan, per usual, won the possession battle - but they were actually less successful on their clears than were the Spartans. This game was won at the faceoff X, as Stats was slightly more efficient offensively, as well. State's great goalie, Dean Hall, had a hand in that.

Texas State
Texas State		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	6	Faceoff Wins	20
Clearing	13-32	Clearing	23-24
Possessions	39	Possessions	63
Goals	3	Goals	19
Offensive Efficiency	.077	Offensive Efficiency	.302

The opening game of the MCLA National Tournament was a demonstration of the enormous gap between the #1 team and the #16 (ish) team in the country.

BYU
BYU		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	7	Faceoff Wins	24
Clearing	11-26	Clearing	14-18
Possessions	37	Possessions	57
Goals	5	Goals	23
Offensive Efficiency	.137	Offensive Efficiency	.404

Though BYU is a national power, and gave Michigan a (somewhat) competitive game earlier in the year, Michigan rode the Cougars into a horrible clearing percentage, owned faceoffs, and nearly tripled up the Cougars' efficiency mark en route to a dominant win.

Chapman
Chapman		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	11	Faceoff Wins	14
Clearing	9-19	Clearing	16-23
Possessions	37	Possessions	47
Goals	10	Goals	12
Offensive Efficiency	.270	Offensive Efficiency	.255

Michigan was less efficient than Chapman (unsurprising, given the wealth of offensive talent the Panthers had last year), and only had a slight edge on faceoffs. The riding game was the key to this win.

Arizona State
Arizona State		Michigan
Faceoff Wins	9	Faceoff Wins	17
Clearing	15-23	Clearing	15-16
Possessions	33	Possessions	41
Goals	11	Goals	12
Offensive Efficiency	.333	Offensive Efficiency	.293

The national championship game was an instant classic, as ASU scored with 34 seconds left to bring the game within a single mark. The Sun Devils were very efficient, but Michigan's typical advantage in possession helped them win the day.

So What Does it All Mean?

So, uh, we've seen Michigan's possession and efficiency numbers over the course of the year, so what conclusions can we draw from the numbers?

• The CCLA is bad. Outside of Michigan and Michigan State, the teams in the CCLA were very bad last year. There's been some conference reorganization, but don't expect the Wolverines to get many serious challenges in the league except from Michigan State.
• Michigan dominates on faceoffs and clears. The Wolverines won the battle at the center of the field in every single game, typically in dominating fashion, for a year-end win percentage over 70. They also had a better clear% in nearly every game (thanks in part to the trademark 10-man ride), to dominate possessions for the season.
• Against good competition, Michigan doesn't have an efficiency edge. Arizona State (twice), BYU, Colorado, Michigan State, and Chapman were all able to operate on a more efficient level than Michigan in individual games this year. However, only Colorado was able to get the win, as Michigan dominated possession.

So, now we know that, while the Wolverines had high and low moments in efficient offensive play, that's not how they won games. They also had high and low moments in defensive play, but again, that's not the driving force behind the 3-year run of 58-1. It's dominating in possession, both on the ride/clear game and on the faceoff.