The Michigan men's club lacrosse team is preparing to play its third straight ranked opponent when it takes on No. 13 Simon Fraser tonight at the Oosterbaan Fieldhouse. The Wolverines will be looking to win their MCLA-record 44th straight game, the final game of their self-declared mini-tournament.

“Coach broke our season down and created a first round, second round, semis and finals for the first four games of our season,” senior midfield faceoff specialist David Reinhard said. “Being on the road it was really important to start the season off right. We didn’t want to be concerned with the rest of season or trying to go 20 and 0 again. We're just concerned about the present games and really trying to break each one down so we can focus on it.”

Michigan (3-0) will have to get off to a better start in tonight’s game than it has in its previous three games. The Clansmen are a talented team, and Michigan coach John Paul stressed how important it will be for Michigan to come out strong in the first quarter.

“Our word of the week this week is ‘explode,’ ” Paul said. “We’ve been talking about that all week. It’s funny because it’s not that we are not playing well in the first quarter – first quarter against ASU we had the ball probably 14 out of 15 minutes. We were getting good opportunities, we just weren’t finishing, we were turning the ball over.

"We’re doing a lot of good things in the first quarter, we’re just not clicking. There’s nothing we can really do except keep focusing on being as sharp as we can to start the game.”

One key to starting the game off on the right foot revolves around Reinhard's performance. An All-American last year, the senior midfielder excels as the team’s premier faceoff specialist.

During the regular season so far, Reinhard has been on fire – winning 15 of 24 faceoffs against Arizona, 17 of 24 against BYU, and a staggering 21 of 25 against No. 3 Arizona State.

“Getting possessions can really swing the momentum of the game in either direction,” Reinhard said. “Doing well on faceoffs is really important to winning games and keeping momentum. It’s not just the faceoff guy, its everybody involved – possessions end up winning games.”

Simon Fraser will also to begin the game strongly as it tries to correct its season before it spirals out of control.

Michigan will need to stay focused against the Clansmen, especially since Michigan would could overlook Simon Fraser due to their early struggles this weekend.

“(The players) have been focused on this game for awhile,” Paul said. “It’s our one home game this year against a ranked team. They are excited because Simon Fraser is usually a national contender and talent-wise, we expect them to end up being a contender again this year as well. It’s our home opener – there is going to be huge crowd here, there is no problem having (the players) fired up for this one, they’re going to be ready.”

Ranked No. 3 in the preseason poll, the Clansmen started off their season like a legitimate top-five team, stomping on Division-II Western Washington 18-3. But after nearly four weeks off, Simon Fraser traveled out to Colorado, where it lost two more games.

Against then-No. 11 Colorado State, the Clansmen were shocked and lost 12-6. They continued their freefall with a 17-7 loss against then-No. 7 Colorado.

“Even though they struggled the (last) two games, we know that they’re a dangerous team still,” Reinhard said. “If we let them, then they can definitely play with us and give us a run. I don’t think anyone is going to overlook them despite their recent troubles.”