Pathetic. At this point, no other adjective fits the state of this program. And this year's team, to be frank. An all transfer team has turned out to be a complete disaster. And if somehow the new AD allows the lacrosse Scott Frost to continue after this season, I will riot.
Ohio State's defense, to start, deserves nothing but praise. The Buckeyes held Denver below 10 goals for the first time all season, and Caleb Fyock played well enough to keep the Pioneers looking downright ordinary on offense. Everything the Buckeyes needed to do defensively, they did.
Offensively, this team is both lost and inept. No one can dodge. No one can shoot. No one can make an elite pass. It's pretty much much as putrid a unit as you could imagine.
The Buckeyes scored two fourth quarter goals for their entire 2nd half output. As mentioned before, they shot under 20% on the day. I don't care who you lost, 17% shooting is unacceptable. Un. Acceptable.
A DIII national runner up, 40 goal scorer, and conference midfielder of the year all transferred into a team that lost one (admittedly big) piece on offense, along with a significant role player. And the offense just went right off a cliff.
I can't even describe to you how perfectly wretched this team is when possessing the ball. No one knows how to execute a double roll back. Or use a pick. Or cut. Or generally do anything except look to shoot from a poor angle or to a poor spot.
It's hard to process how much this team regressed, even with the pieces they added. What makes matters worse is that the 2022 team could easily have made the Final Four with this keeper in net. It's all just a waste.
Ohio State got off to a slow start, scoring with barely 10 seconds left in the 1st quarter after Denver had 2 scores.
The Buckeyes then traded tallies with Denver over the next 6 minutes of game time, as Alex Marinier scored on Man Up. A stifling stretch of defense allowed Denver to get the score to 6-2, and essentially the game was over at that point.
Ohio State scored twi goals over the final 71 seconds of the 1st half. The Scarlet amd Gray wouldn't score again until the fourth quarter. Granted, Denver only scored once in the third. But the Buckeyes have been guilty of disappearing from games on offense for long stretches. And it cost them yet another winnable game.
This has gone too far, and gone on too long. It can't continue like this. The women's coach was replaced last year. The men's coach needs the same thing.
Up next is a visit from Penn State. That game could get really ugly, really quickly.
Go Bucks.
