U-M to Face Johns Hopkins in Big Ten Tournament Semifinals

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 17-ranked University of Michigan men's lacrosse team, seeded fourth in the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, will take on the No. 2-ranked and No. 1-seeded Johns Hopkins in the semifinals of the tournament on Thursday (May 2) at 6 p.m. The tournament is hosted by Ohio State at OSU Lacrosse Stadium. Joe Beninati and Mark Dixon will lead the call on Big Ten Network.

Notes

• The Wolverines (8-6) remain ranked in both the Inside Lacrosse and USILA Top 20 polls coming in at No. 18 and No. 17, respectively, and are No. 16 in the latest RPI ranking. Michigan's strength of schedule also sits at No. 10 in the nation.

• The Wolverines are led by their attack unit that features the trio of junior Ryan Cohen (29g, 26a), senior Michael Boehm (26g, 27a) and graduate Justin Tiernan (47g, 3a). They boast 158 points to form one of the top trios in the country. Tiernan leads the Big Ten and is third in the country in goals-per-game (3.36), while Cohen (3rd, 3.93) and Boehm (4th, 3.79) rank in the top four in points per game. Boehm also recently became the first Wolverine to reach 100 assists in a career with two helpers against Ohio State (April 27). Cohen has scored at least one point in 44 consecutive games.

• With three goals against Ohio State, Tiernan broke Boehm's single-season goal record (45, 2023), lifting his season total to 47. With 11 hat-tricks on the season, he has scored a goal in 26 straight contests, the 11th-longest streak in the NCAA. His 126 shots are seven behind the single-season record for shots in a season.

• With five points (2g, 3a.) against Johns Hopkins (March 30), Boehm broke the U-M career record for goals, assists, and points. He now boasts 125 goals, 100 assists, and 225 points in his storied Wolverine career.

• Senior faceoff man Justin Wietfeldt ranks fourth nationally in faceoff win percentage (62 percent) and third in the country in ground balls per game (9.14). With 128 ground balls on the season, he recently passed breaking former teammate Nick Rowlett's single-season record of 100 (2021, 2023) with ten pickups against Penn State (April 13).

• U-M is No. 22 in the country and second in the Big Ten in scoring offense (13.00 goals/game), No. 18 in assists per game (7.64) and No. 14 in extra-man offense (45 percent) as well as No. 18 in points per game (20.64).

• Graduate close defender Cathal Roberts leads the Big Ten and No. 11 nationally in caused turnovers per contest with 1.86/game, and is one caused turnover from equaling Nick DeCaprio's season record of 27 (2018). As a team, U-M is second in the conference and No. 16 nationally in caused turnovers per contest with 9.14/game.

• Last season, U-M sat at 1-2 in Big Ten Conference play and fell to 1-3 in league play with an 11-9 against Penn State at U-M Lacrosse Stadium (April 16, 2023). From there, U-M defeated Ohio State on April 21 to move to 2-3 in Big Ten play and a four-game winning streak before falling to No. 1 Duke in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

• Michigan head coach Kevin Conry and assistant coach Joel Tinney each played for the Blue Jays. Conry played for the Blue Jays from 2001-24, while Tinney was a two-time first-team All-American and team captain during the 2015-18 stint in Baltimore.

• Michigan owns one win in the series history during the 2021 season. The Wolverines defeated the Blue Jays, 13-10, on April 4, 2021, at Homewood Field. Earlier this season, U-M fell to the Blue Jays by a 15-11 count on March 30 in Baltimore. Boehm had five points on the day and Wietfeldt went 13-of-14 at the dot in the first half, but JHU outscored U-M, 7-4, in the second half en route to the victory.

• The Wolverines are 4-2 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament, highlighted by last season's Big Ten Tournament Championship (3-0), and are 2-1 in neutral site matchups. U-M has yet to face Johns Hopkins in the tourney.

• Michigan has played postseason competitions in Columbus on two occasions, the last time coming on April 30, 2022, falling to Ohio State, 16-10, in Ohio Stadium. Previously, U-M played a postseason tournament in Columbus was the 2014 ECAC Tournament against Fairfield at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.