Ohio State men's lacrosse coach Nick Myers admitted his team's defense wasn't exactly satisfied with its performance in last weekend's Big Ten tournament. The Buckeyes came within one goal of a conference title — they lost 10-9 to Maryland — but in both games of tournament play Ohio State allowed double-digit goals.
Myers and his team were determined not to let that happen again — this time on an even bigger stage.
The Buckeyes hosted Loyola on Sunday evening at Ohio Stadium and put on a defensive clinic. Ohio State advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to a 7-4 win over the Greyhounds in a game where nothing came easy for the opposing offense.
"I think the guys coming out of the Big Ten tournament felt like they were disappointed a little bit defensively," Myers said afterward. "We’ve tried to keep teams under 10 all year long and in both cases teams were over 10 so this week it was back to basics on that end of the field and I just felt like we had a really good week of practice and felt like today was kind of a result of that hard work we put in this week."
Led by goalie Tom Carey — who made 12 saves in net — and top defenseman Ben Randall, Ohio State suffocated a Loyola offense that entered Sunday's contest ranked in the top-10 nationally with an average of 12.9 goals per game.
Carey and Co. made it known from the jump it would be difficult for the Greyhounds to get anything going offensively and the redshirt senior goalie made a few key saves early that allowed the Buckeyes to build a 2-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“Yeah, it definitely helps to get a few early," Carey said. "The defense in front of me played really well and we gave up the shots we wanted to early.”
Ohio State's offense was far from flawless but it got enough thanks in large part to a hat-trick from Big Ten Freshman of the Year Tre Leclaire.
“It was a surreal moment and it was a fun game to play in, but a lot of credit to our defense for that, backing us up," Leclaire said. "They gave us the win for sure. The offense is going to go back to the drawing board and we’re going to work it out, come into next week with a new game plan.”
For Myers, it was comforting to see his team win a low-scoring affair against an opponent like Loyola in an NCAA tournament game — even if the Ohio State coach didn't see this type of game coming.
"I didn’t know exactly what the game was going to look like and I don’t think this is what any of us envisioned the game was going to come down to but proud of the way our men adjusted and fought," Myers said.
Up next for the Buckeyes is a matchup with Duke in the quarterfinals. The Blue Devils knocked off sixth-seeded Johns Hopkins in the opening round, 19-6.
So while another high-powered offense is on deck for Ohio State, there's a little bit of added confidence in the Buckeyes right now knowing they can rely on their defense if they must.
“I think it’s exciting," Myers said. "I’m just really proud that we’ve proven we can win different ways."
