Michigan defeats Hofstra, 11-10, on last minute goal

With 1:31 left on the clock and the game tied at 10 points apiece, the Michigan men’s lacrosse team called timeout. Forty seconds later, senior midfielder Jacob Jackson drilled the ball into the net, leaving Hofstra scrambling.

The Pride (0-2) came up empty handed in the last 51 seconds, leaving the score 11-10 Michigan to hand the Wolverines (1-1) their first win of the season.

“I felt like (last game), we made too many mistakes and didn’t execute our game plan fully,” sophomore defenseman Kees van Wees said. “So I think we focused on executing our game plan and just minimizing mistakes defensively.”

Long before the game winner, Michigan jumped out to a hot start with sophomore attacker Ryan Cohen netting the first goal in 11 seconds – the fastest goal in program history. But the Wolverines didn’t hold onto their lead for long. Hofstra scored three goals in the next six minutes, capitalizing off of Michigan’s defensive breakdowns and offensive turnovers. The Wolverines fought back, though, scoring three goals of their own to finish out the quarter by slowing down their offense and getting better looks. 

Michigan started the second period man down, due to an illegal stick penalty on Michael Boehm, and the Pride took the opportunity to score their second man up goal of the game. While the second period started off strong for the Wolverines, with graduate attacker Bryce Clay and Jackson slinging another two goals into the net, Michigan devolved with multiple turnovers and a key faceoff violation. With Hofstra scoring three unanswered goals, the Wolverines and Pride went into halftime tied at seven.

The frustration was palpable. 

“I think we let the pressure get to us a little bit, it was a close game,” Jackson said. “We wanted to come out and bring it to them and that didn’t happen in the first half.” 

Looking to improve on its performance in the second half, Michigan started the third period with a quick goal from Jackson, capping off his hat trick. However, sloppy passing, another set of turnovers and issues clearing the ball left the Wolverines scoreless for the next fourteen minutes. Hofstra capitalized on those mistakes, scoring another two goals to retake the lead going into the fourth period. 

Michigan once again started the period strong as senior attacker Josh Zawada scored 31 seconds in. Sophomore midfielder Aidan Mulholland netted another goal off of a ground ball picked up by Zawada, and the Wolverines retook the lead with six minutes to go. Two minutes later, Hofstra midfielder Griffin Turner capitalized on a Michigan turnover, knotting the game up once more.

“Our defense really … clamped the doors in the second half,” Michigan coach Kevin Conry said. “I think our offense just took a look down at the other end and goes ‘they’re not gonna score, we’re going to have our chance to be in a really strong spot to win this game, we just got to settle in and play our game.’ ”

Key defensive plays by van Wees and senior defenseman Ryan Schrieber kept Michigan in the game, as well as graduate face off taker Nick Rowlett’s domination of 50/50 balls. 

This all led to Jackson’s fourth and final goal that sent the Wolverines to victory, although he acknowledged that a buzzer-beating win against an unranked team is not their end goal. 

“It’s one day at a time,” Jackson said. “We’re not where we want to be in May, right now.” 

“That’s February lacrosse,” Conry agreed. 

February lacrosse or not, it’s clear that Michigan has a long way to go in terms of consistency. Following a narrow loss to the number one team in the country last week, a last minute win against Hofstra does not show the depth of personnel that the Wolverines claim to have. 

Michigan is looking to build off of its first win of the season and its lock-down defense, and it hopes the offense will follow.