Michigan Throttles Maryland to Claim First Big Ten Championship

BALTIMORE — Quite a few people in the lacrosse world were probably wondering exactly how Michigan wound up celebrating a Big Ten tournament championship Saturday night.  

Truth is, the Wolverines also needed a little time to process the most momentous victory in the 12-year history of the program.

“I don’t know if it’s really sunk in, to be honest with you,” Michigan coach Kevin Conry said after his fourth-seeded team clobbered third-seeded Maryland 14-5. “We were walking off just looking at each other. ‘Did that just happen?’ We’re in the pinch-ourselves phase right now.”

When the euphoria abates a bit in the next day, Michigan (9-6) will be able to catalogue several program firsts.

First Big Ten title. First NCAA tournament berth. First time there’s been a reason in Ann Arbor to even watch the bracket unveiled on Selection Sunday.

Eight days earlier, Michigan owned exactly one Big Ten tournament victory since the league began sponsoring the sport in 2015. Then it ripped Ohio State, dominated the middle of the field in a 17-15 defeat of Penn State on Thursday and then throttled the Terrapins (10-5) to set off a celebration in front of 3,400 at Homewood Field.

“The growth this program has had in five years has been insane,” said defenseman Andrew Darby, one of seven Wolverines named to the all-tournament team. “More guys are believing in what we’re doing. More guys are believing in Coach Conry. There’s just a general belief and want to be here.”

And at this point, who can blame Michigan? The evidence was overwhelming Saturday that what it is doing is working.

The Wolverines shredded an inexperienced Maryland defense that had defenseman Ajax Zappitello on the sideline with his right arm in a sling for the third consecutive game. Michael Boehm, the tournament’s most outstanding player, scored five goals. Bryce Clay added four goals and two assists, while Josh Zawada had two goals and four assists.

Michigan never trailed and shot 47.6 percent in the first half en route to a 10-4 lead at the break. And while it was a solid 11 of 21 on faceoffs, it generated much of its offense just by handling the basics — cutting, passing, pinpoint shooting — in six-on-six settings.

“It was basically ‘Do what we do,’” Clay said. “They can throw anything at us; it doesn’t really matter. If we hit singles and do what we need to do and if you play offense the right way and do the little things the right way, the ball is probably going to find its way into the back of the net.”

Conry also stuck with freshman goalie Hunter Taylor (14 saves), who entered at halftime of Thursday’s semifinal victory in place of Shane Carr and stabilized the defense. He was even better against Maryland, which was held scoreless for the final 27:33 and scored just once in the last 41:37.

It was Maryland’s most lopsided stumble since a 15-5 loss to Virginia in 2006. The Terps were held to their lowest offensive output since a 5-4 loss at Notre Dame in 2017.

“When the game is over, people need to know they watched Maryland lacrosse [with] the way we play — playing hard, playing smart, playing together, having poise,” coach John Tillman said. “We didn’t have that. When we didn’t have energy, it hurt us. Then when we were trying to make plays, we tried a little too hard or we’d have a penalty or we’d force something on offense.”

The last two rounds of the tournament encapsulated what the Terps’ season has looked like. Maryland hasn’t won more three in a row all season, mixing in some notable highs (a victory at Virginia, defeats of Johns Hopkins and Penn State) with a handful of duds (five-goal losses to Loyola and Michigan in the regular season).

Even with the high-ceiling, low-floor nature of the season, last year’s Big Ten and national champions are well-positioned to land a first-round home game.

“Hopefully, we have down the road another opportunity to get to play two in three. … ,” defenseman Brett Makar said. “You’ll definitely see a different group, a more buttoned-up group next week.”

Michigan, meanwhile, will be certain to savor its breakthrough victory for a day or two. After all, when Conry took over the Wolverines after serving as Maryland’s defensive coordinator during its 2017 title run, Michigan owned a 1-14 record in Big Ten play.

Conry’s first five years yielded a 4-21 league mark and a 26-35 overall mark. Even this year, the Wolverines were 5-6 entering their regular-season finale against Ohio State before rattling off four victories in a row.

In a sense, their postseason effectively started a couple weeks ago. That’s not the worst thing as it heads into the NCAA tournament for the first time.

“We’ve had a win-or-go-home mentality for the past few weeks here, so I think that’s nothing really new to us,” Boehm said.

Still, there is something different for Michigan to get used to now: the title of league champions and the shiny trophy that comes with it.

“We’re Big Ten champions,” Conry said. “I think it’s pretty unbelievable.”