Postgame Quotes: Michigan 12, Denison 8
2/4/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
Feb. 4, 2012
Michigan Head Coach John Paul
On how the game went today ... "Pretty well. We had a lot of young guys stepping up; we had guys playing out of position that had to step up. We had a lot of depth -- we had to use Brian Greiner facing off the whole game. From the perspective of guys stepping up in their roles today, I thought it went really well."
On individual players who stood out today ... "David McCormack, he played great. He's a freshman attackman who we didn't recruit. He would have been a club walk on for us, and he's in a starting role right now. There have been guys out who would have been ahead of him on the depth chart, and he's taken advantage of that in practice. He's really been improving, and he had a great game today."
On the importance of players stepping up ... "Everybody has to step up. Even our best guys have to step up. We're 0-0 right now; this is a scrimmage, so now it starts. That's what we just talked about. This is great, it's great to win, it's great to play pretty well, but we have a lot to work on and we have to keep getting better every week, because the competition gets better every week."
On what the team needs to build on ... "You work so much on so many things, and you don't know really how it works until you get against an opponent, because you're running your offense and your defense knows your offense, they're playing it a certain way, and you finally get to play against somebody and see if what you're doing actually has a chance to work, and a lot of things that we do did look like they were going to work, we just have to clean up the mistakes, so it felt pretty good."
On seniors as role models for the younger players ... "What (Trevor) Yealy is doing is so important for us. He's a fifth-year senior, he's been a leader since he got here, but every single player is setting the table for what's going to happen in the future, and that's what this year is about for us. It's about setting culture, and what we're going to be as a Division I program is going to happen over the course of the next four or five years. Team One has an opportunity to set the culture that's going to lay the foundation for that. Every guy on the team, from the top guys to the freshmen, they're buying into that, that's their role."
U-M Fifth-year Senior Attackman Trevor Yealy
On how his five-goal game can be an example for the younger players ... "It helps a little bit, but in the end people are going to lead no matter what. We've got plenty of other guys that stepped up and led. So the goals, it helps, it's nice to get off to that kind of start, but I was really happy more so with how the freshmen played. We had two freshmen on attack (David McCormack and Will Meter), and I think it's more important for them to get good starts, which they did, and a lot of younger guys in different positions, guys playing defense that they've never played before, so I think that was more important in terms of leading us. Everybody seeing how the system is going to work, how it worked, was successful today, and to believe in it."
On the importance of this final exhibition game ... "Really important. For the last month-ish, maybe a little more than a month, we've just been playing against ourselves, beating up on ourselves. There's frustrating practices, there's good practices, so it's hard to say where we really stand, but a day like today really shows, one, where you stand, two, who's playing well, who's meshing, and three, it gets confidence up. Like I said earlier, for a lot of these younger guys, it's all about them finding their spot, falling into place, and having that confidence for the rest of the season. We need it, so that was a good start."
On how the game went, regardless of the score ... "Overall, it went pretty well. I was happy with performance everywhere, but our coaches just talked to us, there's still a lot to work on. We still have a lot to improve on this week going into next week and into the rest of the season, but I was pretty happy with the start. We're off on the right foot so far."
On what he needs to do to take the team to where it needs to be ... "I think most importantly throughout this spring to keep everybody focused. If we have a winning streak, keep everybody level, or should things get rough, if we have a rough stretch, is to keep guys up. But that's the biggest thing, for me to stay calm and keeping our eye on the prize and keep the program, keep the team moving forward no matter what, if we're winning or losing, just to make sure we're all still focused on what we're doing and not getting down on ourselves or getting too confident and too cocky. That's the biggest goal of myself and the other seniors."
