Almost no one would’ve expected this three weeks ago.
The now-No. 17 Michigan men’s lacrosse team had lost three consecutive games and fallen outside of the top 25 teams in the Inside Lacrosse poll. It was 1-3 against Big Ten opponents and had seen its offensive production dry up after a red-hot start.
But now, those worries have been assuaged. To cap off a four-game winning streak, the Wolverines retained their crown, winning the Big Ten Tournament in style with a commanding victory over No. 9 Penn State.
Michigan (10-6 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) beat the Nittany Lions (11-4, 3-2) 16-4, dominating the game from start to finish to defend their title.
“We had 62% of the possession time,” Michigan head coach Kevin Conry said. “So it was really awesome for us to really value the ball, and (it) gave us a lot of confidence.”
The Wolverines play at their best when they have the ball control to slow down opponents with their passing and open up scoring positions — when they do this, they tend to score a lot of goals. And having so much of the possession allowed them to get into that offensive rhythm. The onslaught began early in the game, as senior midfielder Michael Boehm opened the scoring for Michigan just six seconds in. The Wolverines led 5-1 by the end of the first period and never trailed at any point during the game.
It was the performance of junior attacker Ryan Cohen that enabled such dominance by Michigan. Cohen registered a staggering seven assists, and his playstyle — in which he often pushes to the upper left corner of the field, and directs the ball towards some of the more natural finishers onf the team — was what truly allowed the Wolverines to dictate possession.
And to finish Cohen’s assists and passes, Michigan turned to the same man they had looked to for goals all year: — graduate attacker Justin Tiernan. Tiernan put up his joint-best performance of the season, with five goals, after being held to only one by No. 2 Johns Hopkins in Thursday’s semifinal.
“Justin is a competitor,” Conry said. “And he was very disappointed in his performance on Thursday. He made it his mission to do whatever he could for his teammates to make sure that he was much better at the X tonight.”
Tiernan and Cohen dominated the stats sheet, but they weren’t alone in their offensive contributions. Graduate midfielder Christian Ronda, junior attacker John Morgan, junior midfielder Aidan Mulholland and senior midfielder Justin Brown also helped the Wolverines maintain possession of the ball and facilitate the attack with second assists, which then allowed Cohen to make the decisive passes necessary for goal.
And while the offensive effort was tremendous, the defense did its part by holding the best scoring offense in the Big Ten to just four goals. Sophomore defenseman Mason Whitney led the way, causing three turnovers, while also aiding the transition with three ground ball pickups.
The defense’s efforts were also largely in part due to the outstanding efforts of sophomore goalkeeper Hunter Taylor. Taylor established command of the net with 12 saves from 16 shots faced, including three in the first period to help Michigan establish momentum early on. Taylor also supported the Wolverines’ transition game, with three ground ball pickups and a caused turnover.
“He went out with a mission to just be calm and be under control,” Conry said. “And really executed that today and I thought he was a big spark for us.”
It was a near-flawlessly executed game for Michigan on both ends of the ball, with every positional unit playing their role to perfection, and the result was a resounding triumph.
Coming off a three-game losing streak and a drop-off in offensive production, it would have been safe to wonder if the Wolverines weren’t quite the same unit that stormed to a Big Ten Tournament victory last year. But after a winning surge and sensational run in the tournament, capped off by a dominant championship game performance, Michigan is king of the Big Ten, once again.