Michigan has never lost a Big Ten Tournament game.
With their first-ever conference tournament appearance, the Wolverines picked up their third win of the season via a 15-11 victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Quarterfinals on Saturday.
With every Big Ten team qualifying for the conference tournament this season, Michigan got their first chance to make some noise and did just that.
âItâs really exciting because it gave us an opportunity to compete and play our way into the final four. This has been a really interesting year playing everyone twice, not having any warm-up games and playing in the best lacrosse conference in the country,â head coach Kevin Conry said postgame. âAs we continually got better, we were on the cusp two weeks in a row and we just kinda let them slip away.â
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite a four-goal effort from Jackson Reid and 10 saves in goal from Alec Van de Bovenkamp, the Ohio State men’s lacrosse team dropped a 15-11 decision to Michigan in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday at Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes finish the season 4-7 while the Wolverines move on to Thursday’s semifinal where they will face top-seeded and undefeated Maryland.
The Short Story
The Buckeyes cut a five-goal Michigan fourth-quarter lead to three at 13-10 with 4:07 to play but could never get any closer. In addition to four goals by Reid, Ohio State also got a hat trick from Jack Myers, who finished the season with multiple goals in all 11 games.
Briefly on the Buckeyes
Ohio State finished the regular season with a 4-6 record after a tough 10-9 setback to Penn State last Saturday.
The Buckeyes’ offense scored 12 or more goals six times this year. That unit is led by the tandem of Jack Myers and Tre Leclaire, who have combined for 54 goals on the season.
Myers is tops of the team with 31 goals and has added 10 assists for 41 points. He ranks fourth in the league in goals per game (3.10) and sixth in points per game (4.10).
Leclaire, meanwhile, is 10th at 2.30 goals per game. Last week he became just the fifth player in program history to reach 200 career points.
The Creator’s Trophy
A win on Saturday would secure the Creator’s Trophy for Ohio State and bring it home to Columbus.
The trophy was established in 2012 between Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan – the three Big Ten schools that sponsored lacrosse at the time.
The coaches from Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State came together and fundraised for the Creator’s trophy prior to the formation of the Big Ten conference for lacrosse.
The trophy’s design includes three pillars to represent the three institutions: Ohio State, Penn State and Michigan
The team with the best head to head record amongst the three teams takes ownership of the trophy each year.
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