Ann Arbor, MI. — On Tuesday, the Michigan Wolverines (2-1, 2-0 home) took on the Canisius Golden Griffins (0-3, 0-2 away) at U-M Lacrosse Stadium in Ann Arbor, MI. After winning its home opener against Hofstra on Saturday, the Michigan lacrosse team improved to 2-1 on the season with its second-straight victory on the young season. Unlike Michigan’s first win of the year, which was a gritty, one-goal victory, the Wolverines took today’s matchup with ease.
Michigan lacrosse jumps out to early lead in first half
After losing the game’s opening faceoff, Michigan freshman goaltender Hunter Taylor made a crucial save, which gave the Michigan Wolverines possession and led to a Michigan goal. The goal was scored by Michigan senior Jacob Jackson, who had four goals in his previous performance against Hofstra — it was Jackson’s fifth goal of the year.
Not long after, Michigan lacrosse piled into its lead, this time, from junior Michael Boehm, who made it a two-goal game with his second goal of the season. After Canisius netted their first of the game. Boehm launched another ball into the Golden Griffin net, making it a 3-1 ballgame.
As the first quarter winded down, the Wolverines took a penalty, which Canisius managed to capitalize off of, though the Griffins’ success was short-lived as Michael Boehm netted his third of the first quarter soon after.
“A lot of times today I had the easiest job ever.” Boehm said after the game. “I was sitting on the backdoor from Josh [Zawada] or the man up, or wherever it was, I just had an easy finish. Whether it was a good pick or a good offensive flow or whatever it was.”
After one quarter, Michigan lead 4-2.
Massive second quarter gives Wolverines huge lead at halftime
Right out of the gate in the second, the Michigan Lacrosse Wolverines took control of the game and launched a series of shots at the Canisius net. Just 30 seconds into the quarter, Jacob Jackson scored his second of the game, making it a 5-2 lead. The goal was Jackson’s sixth goal over the past four days. Minutes later, senior Josh Zawada made it a 6-2 game with his fifth goal of the year — the celebrations continued less than two minutes later as the Wolverines continued to pile onto their extensive lead.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the half, the Michigan lacrosse team made it a 7-2 game behind a goal from sophomore Aidan Mulholland, his third of the season. After taking a timeout with just under 8:00 remaining in the half, Michigan sophomore Ryan Cohen scored his sixth goal of the season, making it an 8-2 Michigan lead before half. The goal was soon followed by another Wolverine score — graduate student Bryce Clay scored his second of the season, pushing the Wolverines’ lead to seven goals.
Clay’s goal was the Wolverines’ 5th unanswered score, though Canisius got back on the board just minutes later, making it a 9-3 lead for Michigan. The Golden Griffin goal appeared to do nothing but motivate the Michigan Wolverines to lay on the gas, which they did on their following possession behind Josh Zawada’s second goal of the day (6th of season). Michigan did not stop there, either, as Boehm scored his fourth of the game, pushing the Wolverine lead to 11-3.
After one half of play, the Michigan lacrosse team led Canisius by eight goals, as it remained an 11-3 game.
Second half propels Michigan lacrosse to wide-margin victory
Throughout the first six minutes of the second half, there was little commotion — both teams went back and forth exchanging defensive possessions. This trend was broken by Aidan Mulholland, his second of the game and fourth on the season. Halfway through the third quarter, the Wolverines’ lead was back to nine (12-3).
With 5:01 remaining the Wolverines scored again; this time, Ryan Cohen scored his seventh of the year, which was followed by another Wolverine goal from senior Jake Bonomi. The Michigan lead was 14-3 with 3:31 remaining in the third.
As the final minute of the third quarter rolled around, Canisius finally got back on the board — the Golden Griffins cut Michigan’s lead to 10 with 42.4 seconds remaining in the quarter. At that point in the game, it felt as if Canisius was patching a dam with duct tape as the Wolverines showed no signs of slowing down.
After three quarters, the Michigan Wolverines’ lead over Canisius was 14-4.
Wolverines finish game on a high note, improve to 2-1
To open the final quarter of play, the Michigan Wolverines scored their 15th goal of the game — Michael Boehm netted his fifth of the game and sixth of the season to give UM an 11-goal lead. With Michigan down two men due to penalties, Canisius managed to net their fifth of the game with 10:23 remaining.
“Nobody really cares who it is [that has a big game]” Boehm said. “Again, you can have one day where somebody has a big day or it could all be distributed pretty evenly, too. As long as we score it doesn’t really matter who ends up with it.”
With the Wolverines still down due to penalty, Canisius scored its 6th of the game, making it a 15-6 Michigan lacrosse lead. Just seconds later, the Michigan Wolverines answered The Griffins’ two goals with one of the own — Josh Zawada scored his 100th career goal and his third of the day with just over eight minutes remaining in the game.
“It feels good,” Josh Zawada said after the game. “First thing I want to say [on his 100 career goals] they’re assisted by other guys, and that goes unseen. So I want to give credit to all the guys that kind of go unnoticed, because obviously they set me up, and 100 career goals starts with them first… they don’t get the praise with an accolade like that, but they’re time is coming and I think it starts with those guys that assisted those goals.
Michigan’s lead was back to double digits as the Wolverines led 16-6. The late-game back and forth seemed to continue as Canisius netted their 7th just moments later, bringing the game back within nine.
Seconds after Canisius scored its 7th, the Griffins scored again to bring the game within eight at 16-8. There was only 7:46 remaining, but it seemed as if the Griffins had some fight left in them. Canisius’ hot streak was brought to an end when Michigan senior Kevin Pimental netted the Wolverines’ 17th of the game, which was followed by a Griffin penalty, leading to an 18th Michigan lacrosse goal.
With 1:14 remaining the Michigan Wolverines scored their 19th of the game — Emmett Houlihan scored his first of the season.
Final: MICHIGAN 19, CANISIUS 8
Michigan’s win comes just days after escaping the home opener with a gritty, one-goal victory over Hofstra — this early in the season, it’s valuable experience to have a gritty win like Saturday’s and a pretty win like today’s.
“Getting a win in February is just big as it is,” Boehm said. “Mid-week, weekend, whatever it is, whoever it is — I think more so this year than previous years it’s all about us. No matter what happens, whoever it is across from us, time, place, day, doesn’t matter. As long as we come out and we are representing the ‘Block M ‘ appropriately, that’s like the biggest thing, so it doesn’t matter who we play, where it is, when — as long as we’re doing what we do and playing Michigan lacrosse that’s the most important thing.”
What’s next for the Michigan lacrosse team?
Today’s game was the Wolverines’ final home contest for the next month — Michigan has a three-game road trip ahead of it, with stops at Naples, FL (vs. Marquette), at Delaware, and at Harvard. Michigan’s next home game will be on March 18th against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, their final non-conference game of the year before beginning their five-game Big Ten slate on March 25th against Johns Hopkins at U-M Lacrosse Stadium.
“It starts with us and focusing on us,” Zawada said. “Just getting our bodies right, start hydrating now — we’re going to 85-degree weather and just played in 30-degree weather, so it’s kind of crazy… These couple of games, [we’re] just focusing on us and taking it one game at a time.”
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