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Control the X, control the game. That's what Michigan lacrosse (specifically Brad Lott) did on Valentine's Day on their way to a signature win for the program, and the first of 2016.
The Michigan Wolverines (1-1) took the early jump on the Colgate Crusaders (0-1) after scoring the first three goals in the first two minutes of the contest. Veterans Mikie Schlosser and Kyle Jackson gave us the first two at even strength, while junior Andrew Roswell added a man-up score to put Michigan up 3-0. Colgate tallied an extra man goal of their own by way of Eric Foote, bringing the Wolverines' margin down to two.
The second half belonged to Colgate, who were able to outscore Michigan 4-2 as the Wolverines just could not keep the pace they had set in the first half. Although the 'Gate would get tantalizingly close the rest of the way, the group from New York never tied or led the match, and found themselves down by three scores four separate times throughout the game. However, they were able to make things interesting by scoring the final two goals of the game; the last coming with just over four minutes to go. It was an errant pass by the Crusaders that sent the ball, and the win, to Michigan.
Kyle Jackson led the Michigan scorers with four, while Mikie Schlosser zipped two past Colgate's Brandon Burke. Chase Brown, Mike Hernandez, and the aforementioned Andrew Roswell, rounded out the scoring for the Wolverines.
Goalie Gerald Logan needed to make only five saves in the first half, but had his work cut out for him in the second, saving another ten shots.
With his 12-of-17 performance at the X, FOGO Brad Lott was the star of the day, though. Lott has had some ups and downs during his career at Michigan, but when he's on, he is on. When a guy like Lott can keep the ball in your hands, good things can happen. And if you can't win at the dot, then you have to be able to grab the ground balls when the opportunities are there. Michigan was able to get 29 GBs to Colgate's 26, and the Wolverines were also able to cause 13 turnovers to Colgate's five.
After a disappointing start to 2016 with a 20-10 loss to North Carolina, Michigan got the confidence-boosting win before heading on the road to face the Penn Quakers on 2/20. Penn has yet to play a game in 2016 and is coming off a 6-7 performance last season.