Last weekend was a great weekend for D-1 lacrosse in the state of Michigan. The Wolverines won their first game of the season, a 16-9 thrashing of Bellarmine, and the Detroit Titans won a thriller against Ohio State 9-8. Now, these two programs will meet up to see who is the best lacrosse program in the state.
When: February 14, 7:00 p.m. ET.
Where: Oosterbaan Field House, Ann Arbor, MI
How to watch: Gametracker
Detroit
The Titans are a program who have been in D-1 for less than a decade, but have had a little success. 2013 saw the Titans take the MAAC Championship and find a berth in the NCAA Championship, where they lost to Notre Dame 9-7. The amazing part of that game was the fact that Detroit led the Fighting Irish by a score of 7-3 in the fourth quarter, but Notre Dame scored 6 unanswered goals in the final frame to walk away with the win.
After a 6-8 (3-3 MAAC) 2014 campaign, head coach Matt Holtz resigned and defensive assistant Chris Kolon was named the new head coach.
On the field, Detroit will return some good contribution from last year's contest. Although Alex Maini has moved on, M Mike Birney scored three goals against the Wolverines. Also joining Briney is senior A Shayne Adams, who was tops in the MAAC with 3 goals per game and finished the season with 42 goals. In the match-up against Michigan, Adams tallied two goals.
Between the pipes for the Titans will be sophomore Jason Weber. In just his first season in 2014, Weber led the country with 16 saves per game, a .642 save %, and was named the MAAC Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
Although Jordan Yono got the majority of the opportunities at the dot against Michigan, and went 7-of-21, Damien Hicks is pretty much the guy. Hicks was 85-of-193 for a win % of .440, so look for him to go up against Brad Lott. But let's not get too caught up in the face-off stats; Detroit went 4-of-21 last week and still beat the Buckeyes.
Michigan
This is the spot for overreaction: after one week of college lacrosse, Michigan is one of the best teams in the country. Undefeated? Check. Scoring offense? Seventh in the nation at 16 goals per the one game they actually played. Saves per game? Gerald Logan has 12. OH MY GOD, MICHIGAN IS LIKE THE BEST LACROSSE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY RIGHT NOW!!!!!
Okay, not really. Although there were some really good things to take away from last week's game, it was just one game. David McCormack did what I thought he would and went off for four goals. Mikie Schlosser also ripped four goals, and is now tied for first in the nation in shot percentage at 80%.
Michigan has the offensive firepower to light up Detroit (the team, of course, not the city...although...), so although the Titans are confident in their defense, 360 of 582 shots in 2014 were on cage (thanks to 10 Man Ride for that stat).
I still have confidence that McCormack is going to be the player to watch for the rest of the season, but the key to this game for Michigan is going to be Gerald Logan. I think Detroit is going to be riding high after beating Ohio State and will come out firing anything and everything at Logan. With both teams slinging the ball every which way, do not expect a lopsided victory for the Wolverines. Saturday night will end up a 13-12 thriller, and Michigan will be 2-0...AND STILL THE BEST LACROSSE TEAM IN THE COUNTRY!