Season Review: 2023 Michigan Men's Lacrosse

Men's Lacrosse 2023 Big Ten Tournament Champions

(Michigan Photography)

6/22/2023 10:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse

By: Scott Kemps

• Record: 10-7 overall, 2-3 Big Ten Conference
• Big Ten Tournament: Champions
• NCAA Tournament: Quarterfinals

The University of Michigan men's lacrosse team secured the best season in program history with a program-record 10 wins, a Big Ten Tournament championship, a first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance and win, a trio of All-Big Ten honorees and the program's first-ever USILA All-America selection.

Anthem lineup

Shot vs. Cornell

Team Highlights

• The Wolverines turned in a program-record 10 wins, earned its first Big Ten Tournament championship and first NCAA Tournament berth and victory.

• The Wolverines went 2-3 in Big Ten play, with two of the three defeats coming by two goals or fewer: at Rutgers on April 7 (13-12, OT) and against Penn State on April 16 (11-9). The victories were by five goals over Maryland on April 1 (16-11) and Ohio State on April 21 (19-14).

• The program closed the regular season (week 11) ranked No. 15 in the USILA Coaches poll, topping out at No. 14 in the ranking during week 12. U-M entered the postseason ranked No. 8 in the Inside Lacrosse media poll, its highest ranking ever, and No. 12 in the NCAA RPI.

• U-M was ranked for six weeks in the USILA coaches poll.

• Michigan's magical end-of-season run began with back-to-back wins over rival Ohio State. The Wolverines downed the Buckeyes 19-14 at U-M Lacrosse Stadium on April 21, and eight days later (April 19) took down OSU 14-10 at Homewood Field in Baltimore, Md., in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament. In the tournament semifinals, U-M downed Penn State 17-15 on May 4 to reach the championship game. Facing a bubble-out scenario to reach the NCAA Tournament, U-M took a must-win contest over Maryland by a 14-5 score to hand the Terrapins their worst loss in nearly 15 years and earn Michigan an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament -- its first-ever appearance.

• For the first time, the Wolverines won three contests versus top-10 teams, knocking off No. 2 Maryland (16-11, April 1), No. 4 Penn State (17-15, May 4), and No. 7 Maryland (15-5, May 6) en route to capturing the Big Ten Tournament title.

• In the NCAA Tournament's first round, U-M drew No. 6 Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y. An overtime winner from graduate student and Ann Arbor native Peter Thompson lifted U-M to a 15-14 win over the Big Red, giving U-M its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory and a trip to Albany, N.Y., for the tournament's quarterfinals. However, U-M was overpowered by No. 1 Duke, falling 15-8 to the eventual NCAA Tournament runner-up at Casey Stadium.

• Michigan went 7-1 on the year when scoring first, 6-1 when leading at halftime and 8-0 when scoring between 15-19 goals and 10-5 when winning more faceoffs.

• U-M has had back-to-back sellout crowds for the first time in program history. The Wolverines welcomed 2,387 fans to U-M Lacrosse Stadium on April 16 versus Penn State, and followed with 2,057 fans against Ohio State.

• U-M set new high water marks for points in a season (360), goals (230), ground balls (533) and assists (130).

• The Wolverines ranked in the top 10 nationally in faceoff winning percentage (No. 8), and shooting percentage (No. 7).

Michael Boehm

Bryc Clay

Justin Wietfeldt

Individual Highlights

• Junior Michael Boehm, senior Josh Zawada, and junior Justin Wietfeldt were named All-Big Ten first team.

• Seven Wolverines -- Boehm, Zawada, Wietfeldt, graduate students Bryce Clay and Andrew Darby, junior Jack Whitney, and freshman Hunter Taylor -- were named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team. Boehm had 10 goals and five assists (15 points) throughout the tourney and was named tournament MVP.

• Rowlett became the seventh Wolverine to be drafted by a professional outdoor lacrosse franchise, as he went to Chaos LC with the 23rd pick (third round) of the PLL Draft on May 9. Additionally, Darby inked a free-agent deal with Archers LC.

• Zawada set the school record for career goals (119) en route to becoming the first Wolverine to reach 200 points in a career (213), while Boehm (172), Clay (105) and sophomore Ryan Cohen (110) all reached 100 career points. Additionally, graduate student Nick Rowlett became the first player to reach 300 ground ball pickups in a career (311).

• Boehm led the team with 73 points and set a new single-season mark for goals with 45. His is 28 points away from becoming the second player to reach 200 in a career and is one goal shy of becoming the third player to reach 100 goals.

• Wietfeldt topped the Big Ten and was No. 4 nationally in faceoffs, winning 149 of 231 (64.5 percent) of draws.

• Boehm set a career best with nine points, reaching the number against Harvard (March 11), and Canisius (Feb. 21). Against Ohio State (April 21), he reset the school record for goals in a contest with eight. He totaled nine hat-tricks on the season, followed by six from Zawada, four from Cohen, and two from Clay and Jackson.

• Cohen has a point in 31 straight contests and has scored at least one point in every game of his U-M career. He also led the team in multi-assist games with nine.

• FOGO Rowlett had 14 ground-ball pickups, the second most in a contest in program history, against Ohio State on April 22.

• The duo of Rowlett and Wietfeldt combined to win a school-record 29 faceoffs against Ohio State (April 21). Wietfeldt put together the best faceoff season in program annals, winning 65 percent (146-for-229) and ranked No. 4 in the country. Rowlett's mark of 57 percent (148-for-263) ranked third in program history and was 23rd in the NCAA this season.

• The offensive unit had 10-plus scorers in three games against Canisius (Feb. 21), Delaware (March 4) and Penn State (May 4).

• Zawada (April 4) and Boehm (April 26) were named Big Ten Offensive Players of the Week, while Wietfeldt took home Specialist of the Week honors on April 4. Boehm (March 14), Wietfeldt (April 4) and Rowlett (April 26) also were named to the USILA Team of the Week.

• Freshman goalie Hunter Taylor took over in goal for U-M's postseason run, entering at halftime of the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal matchup against Penn State (May 4), and made eight saves against five goals allowed. Prior to the Duke contests, he had 38 saves against 14 goals allowed (9.35 goals-against), and a save percentage of 62. Overall, he played in 11 games with six starts and stopped 51 percent of shots faced.

Honors and Awards

Josh
Zawada

Ryan
Cohen

Michael
Boehm

Andrew
Darby

Nick
Rowlett

Justin
Wietfeldt

Josh
Zawada

Peter
Thompson

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association
All-America (Third Team): Justin Wietfeldt
All-America (Honorable Mention): Michael Boehm, Josh Zawada
National Team of the Week: Michael Boehm (March 14), Justin Wietfeldt (April 4), Nick Rowlett (April 26)

Big Ten Conference
All-Big Ten (First Team): Michael Boehm, Justin Wietfeldt, Josh Zawada
Sportsmanship Award: Bryce Clay
Tournament MVP: Michael Boehm
All-Tournament Team: Michael Boehm, Bryce Clay, Andrew Darby, Jack Whitney, Hunter Taylor, Justin Wietfeldt, Josh Zawada