Ohio State and Maryland Advance to Big Ten Men’s Lacrosse Tournament Championship
Photo by Jaime Crawford
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Ohio State and Maryland won their respective Big Ten Tournament semifinal games Thursday afternoon to advance to the championship.
Ohio State (13-2) bested Rutgers (7-9) 11-7 in the first semifinal matchup at U-M Lacrosse Stadium.
The No. 1 seed Buckeyes trailed 2-1 early in the first period after two consecutive goals from the No. 5 seed Scarlet Knights' Colin Kurdyla. Ohio State then responded with a 5-0 run, holding Rutgers scoreless until 12:03 in the third period. Rutgers never got within two goals the remainder of the game.
Gannon Matthews and Alex Marinier each notched a hat trick, and Big Ten Specialist of the Year Caleb Fyock totaled 14 saves on 21 shots to keep the Scarlet Knights at bay.
No. 2 seed Maryland prevailed 10-8 against No. 3 seed Penn State. The Terrapins (10-3) led 6-2 at the end of the first half, but the Nittany Lions (10-4) responded with a four-goal run to tie the game 6-6 entering the fourth quarter.
After back-and-forth goals from each team, Maryland jumped out to a 9-7 lead after two goals from Daniel Kelly with 5:18 remaining. Kelly had five goals on the day and Matthew Keegan added a hat trick for the Terrapins.
Despite the Nittany Lions 18-4 advantage in the crease on the day, the Maryland defense held strong in the final minutes to close out the win.
Ohio State and Maryland meet at 8 p.m. ET Saturday in the Big Ten Championship Game. The last time the two met in the championship game, the Terrapins prevailed 10-9 thanks to a
late fourth period goal by Colin Heacock
.
If Ohio State wins, it will be their first Big Ten Tournament Championship title. Maryland will look to claim its fifth and first since 2022.