Saturday March 14, Michigan hosted its first 15 games of the spring season against Grand Valley State University at Mitchell field on the recently installed turf. The boys in blue brought out an A side with plenty of young players on the roster to challenge the opposing team. The forwards had quite a game with all of the points for Michigan being scored by props and locks. GVSU started off strong with a try in the first few minutes following the kickoff but would not convert it. GVSU would follow up again with another try with a conversion to bring the score to 0-12. Michigan, eager to not be shut out at the half, seemed to regain some composure and had a few big breaks but could not seem to maintain ball possession long enough to finish the drives. Finally Nick Azzopardi finds his way into the try zone to put some points on the board for Michigan. The score at the half was 5-12.
The second half saw plenty of substitutions from Michigan in the second half to get the full roster out on the field. Drew Vecchio powered in a try to close the gap 10-12, but GVSU would answer with a try of their own to gain a favorable 10-17 lead. Nick Fehrman scored for blue and the opportunity to tie was there, but Blue couldn’t make the conversion and still trailed 15-17. The last 20 minutes of the match was a battle for the try to put the nail in the coffin. Michigan could have taken it but once again could not finish on opportunities. In the final seconds of the game GVSU is awarded a penalty, and they kick for points. The kick is good and the game ends with GVSU taking home a win 15-20.
Lineup:
1 Jeremy Reid
2 Jackson Wagner
3 Nick Azzopardi
4 Mike Shay
5 Drew Vecchio
6 Jason Anthony
7 Cody Griffin
8 Brian Chu
9 Albert Foo
10 Justin Malin
11 Tomer Chen
12 Ron Marine
13 Luke Mallery
14 Juan Aguirre
15 Meng Shi
16 Nick Fehrman
17 Kyle Gruebnau
18 Ben Costarelis
19 Guy Burke
20 Austin Girelli
21 Alex Bordeaux
22 Mike May
