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It's All Over For The 2020 Men's Lacrosse Team: Epilogue

+15 HS
beserkr29's picture
March 12, 2020 at 9:15pm
36 Comments

Wow. That is really all there is to say. With a simple tweet, the men's lacrosse season is over. So are the seasons of every other sport in the college landscape. So many memories not made, so much promise not fulfilled. We will never know who the champions of 2020 winter and spring sports will be. They'll remain empty entries in the history books for the rest of time. It's incredible to have to write the brief epitaph on the season barely 7 games in, but here we are.

First, before I go on, let's go over the HUGE caveat to this. It is entirely possible, if not likely, the NCAA gives every senior in a spring sport one additional year of eligibility. I don't know if that will happen for sure, but I think the media pressure will be too intense to just ignore. We will see.

In the event that this IS the last we have seen of the senior class of 2020, it would be an absolute shame. Ohio State would say goodbye to the best goalscoring attackman they have ever had, who will leave without the all-time record due to a cancelled season. Tre Leclaire was special from the moment he stepped into the lineup. He helped Ohio State get to its first ever national title game in 2017, and the Buckeyes fell 3 goals short of the first ever national title.

In the years since, Tre Leclaire showed he was more than capable of carrying an entire program, as OSU struggled to replace their 2017 senior class. 2020 was supposed to be his swan song, his coronation as the best scorer in Buckeye history. And Leclaire was well on his way to making it happen. Leclaire came into this year needing just over 40 goals to break the record, and he finished 2020 with 26 in 7 games.

He had 5 to get the remaining 16, which was entirely doable. It's a crying shame. Leclaire's absence will be a HUGE hole in the Buckeye lineup. And I am not sure there will be anyone to fill it adequately.

Ryan Terefenko is another senior who will be sorely missed. He was an absolute dynamo for the Buckeyes in defensive midfield. Terefenko changed the game as a true two-way player, even playing on Man Up at various points. He was a horse athletically, able to get up and down the field with incredible ease.

If we're being fair, he probably wasn't the greatest lockdown SSDM in the game. But Terefenko had every other positive attribute you could want in spades. He is irreplaceable, although Connor Cmiel and/or Logan Santos will certainly try.

Every other senior has made a tremendous mark on the program as well, but I don't have the time or words to go through each. All helped this squad get through a tougher stretch than the program was used to, especially after 2017.

These young men were tremendous representatives of the university, of the program, and of themselves. They fought for each other through thick and very thin, even in the face of some tremendous odds, against teams with 2 or 3 times the talent. And more often than not, they prevailed.

It's a testament to the staff, the culture, and, most importantly, the players themselves that they leave the program (potentially) better off than they found it. It was fitting that they end their careers on a high note with a tremendous victory over a far more talented and deep Notre Dame squad.

Farewell, class of 2020. We won't forget you. How firm thy friendship…

Go Bucks!

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