Wolverines to Host Buckeyes in Big Ten Quarterfinals Matchup
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The No. 19-ranked University of Michigan men’s lacrosse team, seeded fourth in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, will host the fifth-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes in the quarterfinal round on Saturday (April 27). Faceoff is slated for noon and the contest will be broadcast on B1G+.
• The Wolverines (7-6) reenter both the Inside Lacrosse and USILA Top 20 polls at No. 19, and are No. 14 in the latest RPI ranking. Michigan’s strength of schedule also sits at No. 9 in the nation.
• The Wolverines are led by their attack unit that features the trio of senior Michael Boehm (24, 25a), junior Ryan Cohen (26g, 26a) and graduate student Justin Tiernan (44g, 3a) to combine to form one of the top attack trios in the NCAA with 148 points amongst the group. Tiernan ranks third in the country in goals per game (3.38/contest), while Cohen (4.00) and Boehm (3.77) rank third No. 3 and No. 4 in the Big Ten in points-per-contest. Cohen also recently became the third player in U-M history to mark 82 goals and 80 assists to join the 80/80 club (Boehm, Josh Zawada).
• Tiernan’s 44 goals are one away from Boehm’s single-season record of 45 (2023). He has registered a hat trick in all but three contests every game as a Wolverine — and has scored at least one goal in 25 straight contests, the 11th-longest streak in the NCAA. He also has a team-high 118 shots, 15 behind the single-season record, and 83 shots on goal — six behind the program record (Zawada)
• With five points (2g, 3a) against Johns Hopkins (March 30), Boehm broke the U-M career record for goals, assists and points. He now boasts 123 goals, 98 assists and 221 points in his storied Wolverine career. The assist mark is two short of becoming the first Wolverine in program history to reach 100 helpers in a career.
• Senior faceoff man Justin Wietfeldt ranks fourth nationally in faceoff win percentage (62.6 percent) and third in the country in ground balls per game (9.38). With 122 ground balls on the season, he recently broke former teammate Nick Rowlett’s single-season record of 100 (2021, 2023) with ten pickups against Penn State (April 13).
• U-M is No. 17 in the country in scoring offense (12.83 goals/game), No. 16 in assists per game (7.85) and No. 8 in extra-man offense (49 percent) as well as No. 17 in points per game (20.69).
• Graduate close defender Cathal Roberts leads the Big Ten and is No. 15 nationally in caused turnovers per contest with 1.85/game. As a team, U-M is tops in the conference and No. 15 nationally in caused turnovers per contest with 9.31/game.
• U-M’s has held opponents to a clearing percentage of 81 — leading the conference in the category and ranking No. 11 nationally.
• Last season, U-M sat at 1-2 in Big Ten Conference play and fell to 1-3 in league play with a 11-9 loss to the Nittany Lions at U-M Lacrosse Stadium (April 16, 2023). From there, U-M defeated Ohio State on April 21 to move to 2-3 in Big Ten play before going on a four-game winning streak and falling to No. 1 Duke in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.
• U-M is 7-1 on the season when scoring first in a contest.
• Michigan has won the last three contests in the series and four of the last six against the Buckeyes. Most recently, U-M knocked off OSU, 13-12, in Columbus, Ohio, to close the 2024 regular season and secure a host seed in the Big Ten Tournament. In 2023, Michigan won back-to-back contests against the Buckeyes in Ann Arbor on April 21 (19-14) and April 29 in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal by a 14-10 score. This will mark the third straight season where the Wolverines played the Buckeyes in consecutive contests in the last game of the regular season and the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament.
