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'M' men's lacrosse grounds Falcons

Dominant -- an adjective often overused in the world of sports.

Overused, yes, but in this case, all too appropriate. How else could you describe the play of the Michigan men's lacrosse club over the past three games?

A 22-6 victory over Bowling Green Wednesday night in Oosterbaan Fieldhouse kept up the momentum for the Wolverines, following two blowout wins against Toledo and Marietta.

What has keyed this dominance over the past week for Michigan has been the offense. The scores from the previous three games are a testament to Michigan's firepower. Prior to the 22-6 win over the Falcons Wednesday night, the Wolverines destroyed Toledo, 23-1, and then followed that with a 26-4 victory over Marietta.

"We are playing excellent lacrosse," Michigan coach Bob DiGiovanni said. "You need to play that way to beat top-notch teams."

Michigan's most recent effort didn't initially look to be quite as dynamic. Bowling Green started the game with a quick goal in the first minute. However, the Falcon goal only lit the fuse for yet another explosive Wolverine victory.

Michigan quickly responded, as midfielder Dave Reichel took a feed from attacker Doug Henke to tie the game. From there, Henke and the Wolverines never looked back, as they scored four straight goals -- three of which were scored by Henke.

And just as Bowling Green thought it had ended the drought by scoring a goal of its own, Michigan turned around and scored twice, ending the quarter 7-2.

The Wolverines continued their precision on offense in the second quarter, as they outscored the Falcons 6-2 in the period. The highlight, or lowlight, of the quarter occurred a few minutes before halftime, as a fight broke out between a Bowling Green player and Michigan defender Marc DeCristofaro.

Both players were ejected from the game following the incident, and both the Wolverines and Falcons were forced to play with a man down for three minutes. Yet, with only a few minutes remaining in the half, the penalty carried over into the third quarter.

Just as the penalty carried over, so did the momentum of Michigan's offense. The Wolverines scored the first five goals of the quarter, before Bowling Green finally stopped the bleeding with a goal, making the score 18-5 as the teams headed into the final stanza.

The Falcons peaked at the beginning of the quarter, as they scored their second straight goal. Unfortunately for them, Michigan wasn't done just yet.

The Wolverines scored the final four goals of the game, the first of which a textbook fast-break -- which highlighted the evening. The play was started by Michigan defender Alex Cedro -- who made the defensive stop -- and was ended by midfielder Spencer Alstodt scoring the goal off a pair of assists from attackers Fred Yun and Tom Lall. Lall ended the game with four assists, in addition to two goals.

Passing was key to the evening's best goal, just as it was to the overall success of the Wolverines. Michigan assisted on 16 of its 22 goals -- an incredible statistic.

"The more shots you are assisting, the better shots you are taking," DiGiovanni said.

And the Wolverines were taking quite a few shots -- 55 on the night to be exact. Consider the fact that Bowling Green took as many shots as Michigan scored goals, 22, and you get the idea about the constant offensive pressure the Wolverines put on the Falcons all night.

Michigan will attempt to maintain its dominating ways when it goes to Midland on Sunday to face Northwood at 2 p.m. A home game against the Notre Dame lacrosse club was scheduled for tomorrow, yet the Irish forfeited, making Wednesday night's contest the last home game of the season.