2B — February 23, 2015 SportsMonday The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com SPORTSMONDAY COLUMN The house Michigan lacrosse built T he Michigan men’s lacrosse team is about to play the No. 2 team in the country, and for pos- sibly the first time in its short history, it doesn’t feel like it’ll be a blowout. The crowd files in early to Oosterbaan Field House, and for the first time in this program’s short history, they are turning away fans at the door. There are still 20 minutes before the game begins. Dads stand in packs, arms crossed, previewing the match, while moms sit together on the bleachers. Kids from all over come to watch, some needing to be hoisted up on shoulders for a glimpse, for a chance to see the game. They pack the cor- ners and the sidelines, and for a moment, it seems there might be more fans in attendance than the end of the football team’s game against Utah. They announce teams, and now, for one of the rare times, Michigan’s starters are juniors and seniors. The Wolverines have players who have grown into their roles, who aren’t just learning them. Before the first faceoff against Notre Dame, Michigan is 2-0 to begin the season. It’s the first time in the program’s history. And for the program that endured 37 losses in its first three years, Saturday’s game feels different — everything feels different. *** F or the past three years the Wolverines have started each afternoon in the weight room above Canham Natatorium. They lift for part of the day, then walk across the track at Ferry Field to their locker room at Ray Fisher Sta- dium. Some days, they go to the Academic Center to watch film. Then they change and run around the baseball and softball fields to practice in Oosterbaan. The Michigan men’s lacrosse team doesn’t have a home on campus. It shares space and makes do with what’s available. The team is lucky just to have a place to lift, practice and watch film. When the Wolverines were a club team, they didn’t have the same luxuries. So players and coaches haven’t complained about their facilities now — it’s better than what they had. Legitimacy isn’t just given after complaining and begging. It’s earned. And it has a chance to earn it is against Notre Dame. *** T he first quarter begins with Notre Dame’s Logan Connolly barrel- ing over players into a penalty. The Fighting Irish are the No. 2 team in the country. They’re bigger, faster and, most impor- tantly, they’re a program with many more years of experience than the Wolverines. Michigan takes each hit, each stick check and finds a way to work through it. It has faced tough teams in the past, but rarely does it face a team as good as the Fighting Irish, who fell to Duke in the national title game last season. Sophomore goalie Gerald Logan makes a save at point- blank range, and the crowd erupts. He finds an outlet, and Michigan rushes down the field. It runs its offense quickly until a shot goes wide. The Wolverines trail 2-1 at the end of the first quarter and somehow, it feels as if Michigan is still able to win the game. *** B uilding the Michigan men’s lacrosse team is like building a house. Coach John Paul tells his team that it is building each part of the house with every week. He’s built the founda- tion, as he says, if he can be so humble as to say he built the foundation. Really, he had to cut down the trees, level the land and build the road to get there, given how this team started. The head coach of the club varsity lacrosse team — essen- tially one step below varsity sta- tus — Paul and the Wolverines were granted varsity status in late May 2011. They began prac- tice for their first season the same year. Paul never had time to recruit his first class to come play, instead using the club players who had come to Michigan for academic rea- sons. Unlike the women’s team, which was given a year to build, Paul was thrown into the fire. “There were a lot of culture changes we had to go through,” Paul said. “We anticipated this would take a while, but we wanted to do it the right way and build culture first. “If you’d ask the guys, years ago, to give you an honest answer (about buying into the culture), I don’t know if that was the case.” But over time, Paul has brought in bigger, better recruiting classes. Now, as he says, this year is different because they have the “frame” in place. You can see the house being built, and now, you can see the tangible successes after double-digit-loss seasons. “You do so much work from a distance that it doesn’t look like you’re making any progress,” Paul said. *** T he second quarter, and really the remainder of the game, unraveled from underneath Michigan. Paul described his team as “emotional” afterward; unable to stay upbeat when it was knocked down. Notre Dame outscored the Wolverines 7-1 in the second quarter, forcing five turnovers with a defense that flustered the Wolverines. The Fighting Irish offense pushed the ball inside to create easy scoring opportunities. “I think, more than anything, they were disappointed in the way they were playing,” Paul said. “Our guys certainly feel like they could be a lot better than they were. And that’s what we want.” This used to be a team that slowed down the pace of play so that it could limit a game getting out of hand, and it dropped players back faster to make sure its defense wasn’t exposed. And now, it’s playing the faster up-tempo game it always wanted. “We showed what we’re capable of doing, and I think that’s a big step,” said senior attacker Will Meter. The Wolverines were silent heading off the field after the final horn, because this game stung. But in a different way than it used to. *** T he season ahead is filled with even more ranked teams, and the ones that aren’t have already built their houses. But this year is different because by now, they’ve been through a gauntlet schedule like this before. “If we’re going to get where we want to get with this pro- gram, at some point it’s got to stop being intimidating,” Paul said. “In the first three years, we’d approach games like this and say, ‘Man, I hope we can hang with these guys.’ And I don’t think that’s the case any- more.” But this year is different, not because a boy sits on his dad’s shoulders to watch or because players are older. It feels dif- ferent because, going to any game, it feels as if Michigan has a chance. And this team likely won’t be in line for some miraculous season, but it has its foundation and its frame. “We’ve turned a corner, and it’s visible when you see us every day now,” Paul said. “We’re a very different pro- gram.” That much has never been truer. Because a good house stays standing, even after it loses. Garno can be reached at ggarno@umich.edu or on Twitter @G_Garno. SAM MOUSIGIAN/Daily Michigan men’s lacrosse coach John Paul has made his team more competitive in each of its four seasons as a program. GREG GARNO Sunday, the Wolverines’ pass- ing was crisp and quick, never allowing Ohio State to set up its defense. The Buckeyes didn’t go to their zone until just three minutes remained in the first half, when Michigan found Doyle for an easy layup under the basket. And they didn’t go to their full-court press until 90 seconds into the second half, when Albrecht and Bielfeldt connected on a quick give-and- go to get Albrecht down the court safely. By that time, the Wolverines led by double digits and had set- tled into a rhythm offensively. It was too late. “We struggled against their press and how they guarded us in the first game when we played in Columbus,” Irvin said. “I just thought we’d be able to watch film and be able to counter that this afternoon.” Added Ohio State coach Thad Matta: “It seemed like we were on our heels too much defen- sively. Give them credit. They were able to do, especially in the first half, anything they wanted to do against us. You can’t do that with that type of offense.” When the going got tough, the Wolverines’ composure never wavered. They, not Ohio State, looked like the team with three seniors in its rotation. In the end, Albrecht and Irvin roared with delight after finally finishing off a win in February on their sixth try. “It was just a lot of frustra- tion let out in the last couple minutes,” Albrecht said. “We’ve had a tough stretch here these past five games, so to be able to finally get a win, it was awe- some.” Michigan used a classic Beilein offen- sive game to generate all kinds of opportunities. After Doyle’s screen on Rus- sell in the first two minutes, he leaked out from the paint and drained an open base- line jumper. A moment later, freshman guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman drove down the baseline and kicked out to an open Irvin for a 3-pointer. That passing continued for most of the first half as the Wol- verines built their lead, bringing to mind some of their perfor- mances of the past two years. “We had 13 assists. We haven’t had 13 assists in a long time (only once since Jan. 6),” Beilein said. “I know that’s a stat a lot of you don’t value probably as much as I do, but it means you made two people guard you and you got somebody open.” In the last seven minutes, Ohio State had a 20-point defi- cit trimmed down to three after blocking a shot near the end of the shot clock and scoring at the other end. But the Wolverines’ motion on offense worked to perfection again, giving Irvin an open tri- ple from the corner. Then it was just a matter of Michigan making the plays it hasn’t all month. This time, the Wolverines put themselves in position to finish the game. “I wasn’t going to let us lose that game,” Albrecht said. “I did not want to lose that game.” The Wolverines’ lead bal- looned to as many as 20 points in the first half before Ohio State whittled it to three in the sec- ond. But Michigan has struggled to hold late leads and close out tight games in recent weeks, most notably in overtime losses to Michigan State and Illinois. That wasn’t the issue on Jan. 13, when the Wolverines were, by and large, run out of the gym against the Buckeyes’ 71-52 Ohio State victory. The Wolverines were deter- mined to flip both narratives on their heads in their rematch with the Buckeyes (8-6, 19-8). Albrecht, Irvin and senior for- ward Max Bielfeldt, especially, made sure Michigan didn’t suc- cumb to its late-game malaise of weeks past. Irvin made a critical layup following a steal by fresh- man guard Aubrey Dawkins with 1:01 left in the game, and Albrecht drained an equally important pair of free throws with 55 sec- onds left to push Michigan’s lead to 60-50 and eventually seal the Wolverines’ victory. “I don’t think it was as much relief as it was just excitement,” Bielfeldt said of finally getting over the hump. “We hadn’t had a good win like that in a while. It reminded me a little bit of the day where we had those big wins more often.” Albrecht finished with 16 points, five assists and four rebounds. Irvin, who has strug- gled periodically throughout the season, put together a complete game Sunday, finishing with 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Freshman guard Muham- mad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman was impressive early as well, breaking through the Buckeyes’ front line multiple times. The penetration left sophomore forward Zak Irvin and junior guard Spike Albrecht with open looks at 3-pointers on multiple occasions — the pair col- lectively shot 4-for-7 from beyond the arc in the first half. Sunday’s win, Beilein said, was a case study in playing college basketball the right way. “I told our freshmen today, ‘Watch Spike Albrecht.’ That’s what college basketball is gravi- tating to,” Beilein said. “Diving on the floor, playing at high speed, playing so hard that you can’t breathe sometimes — that is what the great players do, and we’re learning that.” Michigan upset bid falls short vs. Irish By TAHMEED TUREEN For the Daily Fans walked into Oosterbaan Field House hoping to get a glimpse of the Michigan men’s lacrosse team’s match against No. 2 Notre Dame. But not all fans were able to watch the game firsthand, as the game sold out, resulting in fans being turned away. But the Fighting Irish made sure those who couldn’t get in didn’t miss a major upset, topping Michigan 17-8. The game started off with both teams fighting for ground balls and goals. Sophomore attackman Ian King started off the scoring with 9:38 left in the first quarter, while sophomore goalie Gerald Logan backed up the team with six saves. Notre Dame (2-0) responded with just two goals to end the first quarter. The atmosphere promised a thrilling game for both fan bases. However, the momentum changed when the Fighting Irish began to dominate from the X with consecutive face- off wins. With much more possession than the Wolverines, the Fighting Irish netted seven goals in the second quarter while Michigan was only able to score once from the stick of senior attackman Mike Francia. The seven Irish goals came from six different players. Michigan’s second-quarter offense wasn’t able to settle down due to constant pressure from the Fighting Irish defense, as they also kept the Michigan offense from entering into their territory. The transition game was key during this game, which ultimately gave the Fighting Irish the upper hand until the final whistle. “(Notre Dame is) a very strong transition (team) with big shooters and nifty inside attackmen,” said freshman midfielder Parker McKee. “They definitely, definitely got their chances (off transitions).” The third and fourth quarters were a much better representation of the game in comparison to the second quarter. Notre Dame was held to eight goals by the Michigan defense while the offense rattled the Irish net six times. King scored his third tally with 9:37 left in the third quarter, and junior midfielder Mike Hernandez and senior midfielder Will Meter followed King with a goal apiece. However, Notre Dame outscored the Wolverines once again, scoring five unanswered goals to pull ahead 17-6. Meter would tally one more goal, and King added another with 23 seconds left in the game. King had a total of four goals and two assists while Logan had 16 saves between the pipes. Hernandez also scored his first goal of the season in the second half. On the other side of the field, Matt Kavanaugh, known as the face of the Irish attack, scored three goals and three assists. Brother Rice (Michigan) High School graduate Sergio Perkovic also scored two goals in his return to his home state. While it was a tough loss for the fourth-year program, Michigan can take some positives from the experience going forward. The Wolverines still have to face lacrosse powerhouses Johns Hopkins and Maryland during Big Ten play. “Thankfully, we have a game like this to prepare before we get into the Big Ten,” said Michigan coach John Paul. “I’m really glad we scheduled this game.” But the season goes on for the Wolverines, and they’ll have to move past the tough loss, especially with Canisius coming to town in a week. MEN’S LACROSSE NOTRE DAME MICHIGAN 17 8 JAMES COLLER/Daily Sophomore forward Zak Irvin totaled 15 points, seven rebounds, three 3-pointers and a career-high four assists Sunday. MICHIGAN From Page 1B BEILEIN From Page 1B “It seemed like we were on our heels too much defensively.”