After the final buzzer, the Denver bench sprinted onto the field, racing to mob each other, running and jumping and laughing. On the other end, the Michigan players walked slowly, taking their good sweet time to form a huddle of their own.
Adriana Pendino could do nothing but let her emotions take control.
Molly Garrett won the draw and surged headlong into the teeth of the Jacksonville defense.
Playing on senior night in front of the first sell-out crowd in University of Michigan Lacrosse Stadium history, the Michigan men’s lacrosse team fed on every ounce of additional motivation en route to a 13-10 victory over the 10th-ranked Buckeyes.
Despite the efforts of senior midfielders Curran and Brent Noseworthy, who together contributed five of the Wolverines’ nine goals, Michigan (3-9 overall, 0-4 Big Ten) fell to Rutgers (7-6, 2-2) on Saturday in an intense, back-and-forth chess match for contention in the Big Ten Tournament.
In one season, the team that was once a cautionary tale on the difficulties of starting up a high-major lacrosse program from scratch has become a success story.
A matchup against the nation’s No. 1 team in Penn State (3-0 Big Ten, 10-1 overall), proved to be too much for the Wolverines (0-3, 3-8), as they dropped their seventh game in a row in a 17-7 defeat.
For the Michigan men's lacrosse team (3-8 overall, 0-3 Big Ten), the moment was the lone bright spot on an afternoon where offense was hard to come by. Penn State (10-1, 3-0) would score seven unanswered goals after Curran's goal en route to a 17-7 throttling of the Wolverines.
Sophomore attacker Caitlin Muir, positioned behind the goal, received a pass from sophomore midfielder Maggie Kane off the opening draw. She wrapped around and took a shot that found the back of the net, giving the No. 8 Michigan women’s lacrosse team (14-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) the lead over Rutgers (5-9, 0-4) just 17 seconds into the game en route to a 12-8 win on Saturday.
When the No. 7 Michigan women’s lacrosse team (3-1 Big Ten, 13-0 overall) left town, Maryland stood alone atop the conference. The Wolverines fell 14-3 to the second-ranked Terrapins (4-0, 14-0), dropping their first game of the season and snapping a 15-game winning streak dating back to last year’s campaign.