Senior forward Zara Saydjari knew what was at stake Saturday against Indiana.

Playing in the final regular season game of her career with a chance to capture the Big Ten championship, Saydjari recorded her first career hat trick as the Michigan field hockey team secured a share of the conference title with Ohio State.

Saydjari and senior midfielder/forward Alicia Mayer led No. 12 Michigan to a 5-2 victory over the Hoosiers in Bloomington. Just 10 minutes into the game, Mayer opened the scoring for the Wolverines with an unassisted goal. Twenty minutes later, Saydjari scored two goals within five minutes – both assisted by Mayer – to close the half.

Saydjari then scored her third goal eight minutes into the second half. The senior’s hat trick set a career high with six goals this season. Mayer’s goal – her eighth of the season – also set a new career high.

“It was a good offensive show for everybody,” Michigan coach Marcia Pankratz said. “We connected really well on every level and our forwards, especially Zara, capitalized on their opportunities. The special thing about this team is that on any given day, it could be Zara today, Alicia tomorrow, (freshman Rachael) Mack the next day, or (senior) Meredith (Way). We’ve got a lot of different weapons.”

Michigan (5-1 Big Ten, 12-6 overall) appeared to have a stranglehold on the game, but Indiana fought back to close the gap. Just three minutes after the Wolverines’ fourth goal, the Hoosiers responded with two goals in less than 80 seconds. Despite several more chances, Indiana (1-5, 9-8) couldn’t complete the comeback and Way added another goal in the final 10 minutes.

The win secured the Wolverines’ seventh Big Ten regular season championship and their first since 2007 when the current seniors were freshmen. Ohio State – which gave Michigan its only conference loss this season – shared the title.

“Certainly one of the goals was to win the Big Ten regular season,” Pankratz said. “We trained super hard in the preseason and the offseason and stayed focused. We know every game matters all the way down to the very end, and it came down to the last game of the season and we pulled it out.”

The Wolverines will now prepare for the Big Ten Tournament, which begins this week in Evanston. Despite equal conference records, the Buckeyes are the No. 1 seed thanks to their win over Michigan. The Wolverines open play with Iowa on Thursday, and Michigan will be out for revenge, as the Hawkeyes ended the Wolverines’ season with a first-round victory in last year’s tournament.

“It’s funny because we won the title today, but the celebration was relatively understated,” Pankratz said. “The players know that there’s a lot of hockey left to play. It’s kind of like how the (Detroit) Red Wings don’t touch the Western Conference trophy – they still have their goals set higher.”