Michigan Rallies Past Hopkins, 10-7, in Big Ten Semifinals 5/2/24

COLUMBUS, OH – Fourth-seeded Michigan answered a five-goal run by top-seeded Johns Hopkins with an eight-goal run of its own to turn an early five-goal deficit into a 10-7 victory over the Blue Jays in the Big Ten Men’s Lacrosse Semifinals Thursday evening at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium.  The win propels the Wolverines into the title game for the second straight season and improves Michigan’s record 9-6, while the Blue Jays had a five-game winning streak snapped and slip to 10-4.

A tale of two runs in the opening 30 minutes saw the Blue Jays dominate the first 16 minutes and build a 6-1 lead, only to the have the Wolverines score the final six goals of the half to grab a 7-6 lead at the break.

After the teams split the first two goals of the game, the Blue Jays reeled off five straight to grab the 6-1 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.  A low-to-low shot on the move from freshman Hunter Chauvette jump-started the spree for the Blue Jays, who would get three from Garrett Degnon and one from Russell Melendez during the spurt.  The second of Degnon’s three goals and the Melendez strike came in a 15-second span in the final minute of the quarter and Degnon added his third of the game 41 seconds into the second quarter to give the Jays the five-goal lead.

Michigan broke a scoreless stretch that had reached nine minutes when Michael Boehm got his hands free after a defender slipped at the 12:17 mark of the second quarter.  The Wolverines added three more goals over the next seven minutes to pull within one with 5:37 on the first-half clock, then grabbed the 7-6 halftime lead on strikes from Boehm and Ryan Cohen in an 18-second span in the final minute.

The Wolverines carried a 10-7 lead into the final period as Boehm scored twice and Aidan Mulholland added one with only a Melendez goal in the third quarter for the Blue Jays.  The Melendez goal with 7:25 remaining in the quarter halted what had become the eight-goal run for Michigan, but Boehm answered two minutes later with his fifth of the game to provide what would be the final goal of the game.

Neither team found the net in the final quarter as Blue Jay goalie Chayse Ierlan made two of his 13 saves in the final 15 minutes and his counterpart, Hunter Taylor also notched a pair of fourth-quarter saves for the Wolverines.

Inside the Box Score – Johns Hopkins
• Degnon scored a team-high three goals to move into sole possession of third place in school history with 157 goals.  The hat trick is also the 29^th of his career.
• Angelus moved into fifth place on JHU’s career assist list as his four tonight push his career total to 118.  He moved past Shack Stanwick, who had 117 during his career from 2015-18.
• Ierlan finished with the 13 saves, including five in the first quarter and nine in the first half.
• Logan Callahan was strong at the X for the Blue Jays as he was 13-of-20 with six ground balls on the night.

Inside the Box Score – Michigan
• Boehm had a hand in six of Michigan’s 10 goals as he added an assist to his five-goal performance.
• Cohen chipped in with two goals and one assist and Bo Lockwood added three assists.
• Taylor finished with eight saves, including seven over the final three periods – during that time he allowed just two goals.
• Michigan held a 48-25 advantage in shots and narrowly won the ground ball battle 26-25.

Up Next
Johns Hopkins remains in line to earn an at-large berth in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.  The bracket for the tournament will be announced on Sunday, May 5 (9:30 pm / ESPN2).