Ohio State Wins First Regular Season Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Championship in School History With 10-8 Win Over Michigan

By George Eisner on April 19, 2025 at 7:07 pm
Ohio State men’s lacrosse with the Big Ten championship trophy
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Ohio State is a Big Ten regular season men's lacrosse champion for the first time in school history.

In a thrilling game between the Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines in which both rivals led at various points during the final two quarters, Ohio State emerged victorious, 10-8, to claim its first Big Ten title in program history on Saturday afternoon.

OSU concluded the first quarter tied at a score of 1-1 before midfielder Ben Mayer scored a goal with just under four minutes left in the first half to take a 3-2 lead into halftime.

Ohio State then scored an additional goal just eight seconds into the second half before alternating goals with Michigan en route to a 5-3 lead. Unfortunately, the Buckeyes would then allow five unanswered scores to the Wolverines that gave U-M an 8-5 lead with roughly 12 minutes remaining in the game.

The Buckeyes needed to dig deep if they wanted to come back and win their first conference title in school history. Midfielder Gannon Matthews began that effort with his 12th goal of the season at just under five and a half minutes left in the contest.

Matthews then followed up that goal with another a minute and a half later to reduce Michigan's lead to just one.

Less than a minute afterwards, reserve player Shane O'Leary knotted the game at eight goals apiece.

Ed Shean then scored his second goal of the day to recapture the lead for Ohio State with just under two minutes left in the game.

Finally, Gannon secured his fourth-quarter hat trick with a goal that put the Buckeyes ahead for good by a final score of 10-8 and ensured the school's first conference lacrosse title in school history.

Ohio State ended the day with six different players scoring a total of 10 goals, including the aforementioned hat trick from Matthews that materialized entirely during the team's fourth quarter comeback bid. The competitive game saw a combined 74 total shots between the teams, while the Buckeyes attempted only two more than the Wolverines.

The Buckeyes are now the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten men’s lacrosse tournament, which begins next Saturday, April 26. As the No. 1 seed, the Buckeyes receive a first-round bye to the tournament semifinals, which are scheduled for Thursday, May 1 in Ann Arbor (5 and 7:30 p.m., BTN). The Big Ten Tournament championship game will be played on Saturday, May 3, also in Ann Arbor (8 p.m., BTN).

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