Ohio State’s men’s lacrosse team earned their first-ever Big Ten regular season championship on Saturday with their comeback win over Michigan.
Following just their second loss of the season to Maryland on April 12th, Ohio State’s men’s lacrosse team closed out their regular season on a high note, defeating Michigan 10-8. With the win in Ann Arbor, the Buckeyes clinched their first-ever Big Ten regular season championship.
The conference title was Ohio State’s first since 2014 when they tied for first in the ECAC, and their 13th overall regular season conference crown.
By defeating the Wolverines, the Buckeyes earned their first win over Michigan since 2022, as well as their first victory in Ann Arbor since 2021. Along with earning a regular season conference championship, Ohio State won their first Creator’s Trophy since 2022 thanks to wins over Michigan and Penn State. The Buckeyes have now won the Creator’s Trophy four times in program history.
On Saturday, Ohio State held a 3-2 lead heading into halftime. Michigan came out of the break sharper, scoring five goals in the third period to take a 7-5 lead into the fourth quarter. The Buckeyes scored five goals of their own in the fourth to erase Michigan’s 8-5 lead and secure the 10-8 victory. Gannon Matthews was the star of the game, scoring all three of his goals in the game in the fourth quarter. Matthews now has 14 goals this season.
With the Wolverines leading 8-7 with three minutes left in the game, Shane O’Leary scored with 2:45 left to tie the game. The Buckeyes needed just under a minute to take the lead, as Ed Shean’s goal at the 1:50 mark of the fourth quarter ended up being the game-winning goal.
Shean and Garrett Haas each scored two goals in the game. Haas now has 23 goals on the season, while Shean has 18 tallies, and O’Leary has scored 14 times. Leading Ohio State in goals this season is Alex Mariner, who has netted 41 goals through 14 games. Overall, the Buckeyes have eight players who have reached double figures in goals this season.
Despite having a shaky third period, goaltender Caleb Fyock improved to 12-1 this season with Ohio State’s victory. Fyock enters the Big Ten Tournament with a 7.58 goals against average and a .611 save percentage.
As a team, the Buckeyes have allowed 123 goals this year, while scoring 178 goals. By allowing just eight goals against the Wolverines, Ohio State recorded their first Big Ten game this season where they allowed less than 10 goals, and their eighth game allowing less than double figures this season.
Now Ohio State will be able to relax at home this weekend since as the top seed in the Big Ten Tournament they’ll have a bye. The Buckeyes will return to Ann Arbor on May 1st to play the winner of the quarterfinal matchup between Michigan and Rutgers.
While Ohio State won’t have any type of home-field advantage if they have to play the Wolverines, they can at least take confidence into the matchup following last week’s win over Michigan on their home turf. Michigan hosts Rutgers this Saturday.