Michigan junior goalie Mark Stone stopped a low screamer of the stick of Arizona State’s Ryan Westfall as time expired, preserving an 11-10 victory for the top-ranked Wolverines on Wednesday evening. Arizona State (3-1) entered the game as the No. 4 ranked team in the MCLA.
Stone made the pivotal save, but it was the work of junior face-off specialist David Reinhard that allowed Michigan (2-0) to rally from a late deficit to run their consecutive winning streak to 42 games by winning 21 of his 25 draws on the evening.
“I think we would have had some major trouble if he didn’t have the kind of night he had,” said Michigan coach John Paul. “He was clearly our MVP tonight, and it’s as dominant of a performance as you’re going to see at face-off. He was doing whatever he wanted with the ball and that was key.”
The Wolverines got on the board first following an ASU turnover that resulted in a transition attempt for the Maize and Blue. Senior midfielder Anthony Hrusovsky fed fellow senior Clark McIntyre just out front for the early 1-0 lead. Freshman attackman Thomas Paras increased the Wolverines lead to 2-0 on a dodge from the left GLE before firing high over the goaltender’s shoulder.
Following an ASU timeout and an ensuing face-off win from Reinhard, U-M turned the ball over deep in their own end which resulted in a wide-open chance for the Sun Devils from 10 yards out. ASU buried the shot to cut the lead to 2-1 with 10:51 left in the first quarter.
The Sun Devils evened the game at 8:05 on a transition tally before almost grabbing their first lead of the game with just over two minutes left, ringing one off the left post. Just over a minute later it was junior attackman Trevor Yealy who helped Michigan regain the lead right before the quarter break, shoveling one home in front after scooting the ball along the grass to himself and around the ASU goaltender.
Leading 3-2 after a quarter of play, Michigan earned the first solid possession of the second. Yealy a took feed from senior captain Svet Tintchev and finished from just outside the crease as Michigan regained the two-goal lead early in the second. Paras banged home his second of the game just moments later, but ASU quickly answered themselves following the ensuring face-off with a long-pole goal on the transition as the Wolverines led 5-3 with 12:48 left in the first half.
The Sun Devils slowed the Michigan momentum, scoring from the near right wing with over eight minutes left in the second, but senior captain David Rogers got Michigan rolling again with a blistering shot from the far right wing. The back and forth action continued as ASU answered immediately following the faceoff as Michigan led 6-5 with 5:31 left in the second.
Both teams put together solid possessions during the remainder of the second quarter, but neither team was able to find the back of the net as Michigan took a 6-5 lead into the second half of play.
Michigan came out in the third quarter with a different look between the pipes as Stone took over for fellow junior Andrew Fowler.
“I don’t think Fowler had a particularly bad first half, but I thought he was just on his heels a little bit because they were getting a lot of chances right on the doorstep,” said Paul of the goalie switch.”We have a lot of confidence in all of our goalies but we’re going to be quick to make changes if we feel it’s going to give us an advantage or it’s going to change momentum a little and I think that happened today. Stone was ready to go and I think it sparked us a little in the second half.”
Hrusovksy and Rogers hooked up three minutes into the third quarter with Hrusovsky taking a feed from Rogers and firing from 15 yards straight out as Michigan regained the two-goal lead early in the second half. U-M was called for a slash on ASU’s next possession and paid the price as the Sun Devils scored from the left wing.
ASU knotted the game up at 7-7 just under four minutes later on another transition tally following an initial shot that rang off the pipe. The Sun Devils immediately scooped up the rebound and fired again.
Michigan regained the lead at the 4:02 mark, winning the whistle as Yealy found a wide-open Tintchev right out front following a errant shot. Tintchev’s goal closed out the scoring in the third quarter with Michigan leading 8-7 entering the final frame.
ASU scored just over two minutes into the third quarter to tie the game at 8-8 on a quick stick tally before scoring 20 seconds later on the transition to earn their first lead of the game early in the fourth.
The Wolverines earned possession following the ensuing face-off and immediately called a timeout once they entered the ASU box. Michigan was unable to score coming out of the break, but Rogers found senior attackman Kevin Zorovich soon after on the transition. Zorovich fired high from the right wing to tie the game with 11:04 left in the fourth.
The Wolverines had a golden opportunity soon after, as the Sun Devils took two penalties on the same play, but the Wolverines were unable to capitalize. After more than eight minutes of back and forth action, Rogers broke the tie with his second of the game on a dodge around the cage. Senior midfielder Jordan Kirshner scored the eventual game winner two minutes later, taking a feed from McIntyre and cutting inside before firing.
With just 54 seconds left and Michigan up by two, the Wolverines won the face-off and raced into the ASU zone only to turn the ball over. A long clear attempt from the Sun Devils was snatched out of mid-air by Stone just outside the Maize and Blue crease, but he was immediately checked and the ball squirted in as Arizona State clawed within one. ASU won the ensuing face-off and put the ball in the hands of Westfall who dodged to his right and fired low from 20 yards out. Stone went low to make the save as time expired and the Wolverines earned their second win on their opening-season road trip.
“I’m proud of the guys for gutting that out versus a very good ASU team, but we didn’t help ourselves out with the way we were turning the ball over or the way we were playing in general,” said Paul. “Some days you have it and some days you don’t and we were never able to correct the mistakes we were making but we got it done and ultimately I’m proud of the guys for a getting a win on the road against a great team.”
Statistically, Michigan dominated in all areas but one. UM out-shot their opponent 46-26, and recorded 58 groundballs to the Sun Devils 39. UM was 21 of 25 on face-offs, and finished 17 of 25 on clears, while riding ASU to 18-36 totals. Michigan failed to score on two man-up attempts with Arizona State finding the net once on two tries. It was Michigan’s inability to make the smart play or simple pass the kept the game close as UM registered 39 turnovers in the game, with many unforced.
The Wolverines will look to clean things up when they take on rival #4 Brigham Young this upcoming Saturday, March 6, in Provo, Utah at 7:00 p.m. MST.
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