Just when the Cinderella Story appeared to be coming to an end, the Michigan men’s golf team was suddenly in position to upset another top-15 foe — a win that would put it one match away from its first national title since 1935.

Ultimately, the clock did strike midnight for the 39th-ranked Wolverines, who defeated No. 3 USC before falling 3-1-1 to No. 15 Texas A&M on the final hole in the NCAA Finals match play semifinals.

In the newly formatted Finals, the eight teams with the lowest 54-hole totals in the 30-team field advance to a match play playoff. Michigan stood in sixth after three rounds, and were the only team not ranked in the top-15 to reach the match play portion.

And the run didn’t stop there. Sophomore Lion Kim birdied the 17th hole against second-ranked Matthew Giles to win his quarterfinal match and seal a victory for his team. Michigan won 3-2 behind wins from three underclassmen: Kim, sophomore Alexander Sitompul and freshman Matt Thompson.

“I’m so proud of the guys, especially the young guys,” senior co-captain Bill Rankin said. “They put us on their backs and carried us the whole way.”

In the next matchup, the Wolverines squared off with the Aggies for the right to be one of the last two teams standing. With Texas A&M already up in the match, 2-1, they needed both Rankin and Thompson to win their matches to advance. But Michigan was fading as Rankin was trailing by two with three holes remaining.

Then, in triumphant fashion, Rankin won two consecutive holes to tie up his match heading to the 18th tee. He needed just one more win on 18, and his team’s magical run would have led to a chance at the NCAA Championship.

But a national title wasn’t in the cards as Rankin lost the hole, and Michigan’s postseason surge had come to a halt. It earned its best Finals finish since 1952 in just its second appearance since 1968.

“It was just a tight race in that final match,” Michigan coach Andrew Sapp said. “It would be nice to have won, but I’m really proud of the effort the guys put forth and making it this far and doing a great job in this tournament.”

After one round of the stroke play portion of the event, the Wolverines were in ninth. Sitompul led them into a tie for third at the end of the second day, which was shortened by rain, with five birdies and no bogeys on the back nine.

Michigan continued its stellar play on the third day of the event, completing 27 holes and sealing a match play berth with a second round 285 and a third round 287. With Sitompul in sixth and Kim in 13th, it was onto the quarterfinals to face the Trojans.

Even with the large difference in rank between USC and Michigan, Michigan’s win was not as shocking as it seems. The Wolverines had found success in the match play format, finishing second in the first-ever Big Ten Match Play Championship in February, defeating then-No. 7 Illinois before falling to then-No. 11 Indiana.

Their depth was arguably their greatest strength, and given that each player only needs to outplay one opponent in a match, Michigan's four tightly contested matches came as no surprise.

Despite the heartbreaking loss to the Aggies on the final hole, Rankin couldn’t be happier with the end result.

“There aren’t another four guys that I would have wanted to go into this with,” Rankin said. “It means the world to compete and be a part of a program that’s going in the right direction and doing everything right.”