Hell hath no fury like Michigan in the month of May.
For the second straight year, the Wolverines have won the Big Ten men’s lacrosse championship as the fourth seed in dominating fashion.
And for the second straight year, an at-large hopeful will miss the NCAA tournament because of their late-season surge.
Michigan shredded Penn State 16-4 in the conference final Saturday in Columbus, Ohio — normally enemy territory for the Wolverines. They made Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium their home, however, erasing a five-goal deficit to defeat Johns Hopkins in the semifinals Thursday and then scoring six of the first seven against the listless Nittany Lions.
The momentum never ceased. After Penn State scored twice to make it 6-3 early in the second quarter, Michigan poured in 10 unanswered goals, scoring at will against the nation’s seventh-best scoring defense.
The Wolverines (10-6, 2-3) shot a blistering 48 percent because of crisp and rapid ball movement that had the Nittany Lions off balance all night. Eleven of their 16 goals were assisted. Ryan Cohen alone accounted for seven assists. Two went to Justin Tiernan, who finished with a game-high five goals.
Faceoff specialist Justin Wietfeldt went 19-for-24 and goalie Hunter Taylor made 12 saves, never allowing Penn State to get untracked.
Michigan held the Nittany Lions scoreless for more than 35 minutes.
“We get to practice on Monday. We get more time together,” Wolverines coach Kevin Conry said on Big Ten Network. “That’s what this whole thing is all about.”
Penn State (11-4, 3-2) watched while Michigan celebrated on the field. Both teams are bound for the NCAA tournament, but only the Wolverines will do so as conference champions. Not that anyone saw it coming when Penn State defeated Michigan by six goals to drop the Wolverines to .500 (6-6) three weeks ago.
But just like last year, they beat Ohio State in the regular season finale and again in the Big Ten quarterfinals, using their archrival as a springboard.
“All of a sudden you find yourself out of Selection Sunday unless you win. It really hits hard when you have guys that are this close to each other,” Conry said. “It comes from belief and a lot of love.”
Taylor, a revelation last year during Michigan’s Cinderella run to the NCAA quarterfinals, credited Conry and the rest of the Wolverines coaching staff for the turnaround. He said Conry encouraged him to find his “happy place” before games, which included listening to songs by Bob Marley.
“This is the first game we played a full four quarters,” Taylor said. “This is Michigan lacrosse.”
It was ugly all around for Penn State, which couldn’t miss in a 19-9 semifinal blowout of Maryland on Thursday but shot a paltry 11 percent (4-for-36) in Saturday’s final. With their favorable metrics, the Nittany Lions still could earn a seed and first-round home game in the upcoming NCAA tournament, the field for which will be announced Sunday on ESPNU.
Michigan knows for sure it’s going back to the dance. The Wolverines beat Maryland 14-5 in last year’s Big Ten final, then upset eighth-seeded Cornell on the road in the first round.
