The wait is finally over. Four years, 1,460 days, 35,040 hours, 2,102,400 minutes or 126,144,000 seconds; whichever way you measure it, the Michigan women’s soccer team has waited a very long time to make it back to the NCAA Tournament. Tonight, they take on No. 6 Oklahoma State (11-2-1 Big 12, 17-3-2 overall) on the Cowgirls home field in Stillwater, Okla.

At the beginning of the season, Michigan coach Greg Ryan met with his players and together they set a goal for the season: make the NCAA Tournament. In previous years, such an aspiration might have seemed bold and nearly impossible to achieve, considering their inexperience and recent trend of losing seasons.

Ryan said his teams of the past simply “lacked the attacking talent to go after teams,” comparing them to a “boxer on the ropes, playing defensively and trying to keep games tight.”

But this is a new year.

“The culture and chemistry of the players this year has been fantastic," Ryan said. "We have a huge, very talented freshman class that has blended seamlessly with a talented group of returning players. The combination just turned into an outstanding season.”

The season has been highlighted by an abundance of nail-biting games, seven of which went into double overtime. If the team wants to continue its success, it will have do so on the road.

“We’re just going to play our game," Ryan said. "They’re going to go after us and we’re going to go after them. I don’t think either team is going to back off.”

Ryan hopes the Wolverines (5-3-2 Big Ten, 10-4-4) will continue the aggressive style that has been their trademark all year.

“Going forward, we’re going to pretty much play an attacking style of soccer and go after our opponents, regardless of what they’re ranked,” Ryan said.

Emotions were running high Monday after the team was chosen second to last during the selection show for the tournament. The team erupted at the announcement, jumping up and down in elation.

“They are so happy to have taken the team back to the NCAA Tournament, to have rebuilt a strong program at Michigan," Ryan said. "But they’re still very focused and determined to win this weekend.”

Regardless of how his team performs in the tournament, Ryan is extremely proud of what they have accomplished already.

“One of the big things for me as a head coach and for the rest of the team was to send our seniors out as winners, as players that worked their way back into the NCAA Tournament, an achievement that they have never experienced," Ryan said. "We are so happy that this senior class can go out and know they helped rebuild Michigan into a great soccer program once again.”

But there is still an opportunity to continue the memorable season, starting tonight at 8:30 p.m. The winner will play on Sunday against the winner of the Memphis/Oregon State matchup.