That seals it. Ohio State takes down Rutgers, 11-7, to secure a berth in the Big Ten Tournament title game, a top seed in the NCAA tournament, and easily the most successful season of Ohio State lacrosse in history. There’s already a championship secured, another is on the table on Saturday, and the NCAA national championship is absolutely on the table.
In 2017, Ohio State failed to win a single title of any kind. As magical as that season was, we’re living through the literal golden age of Buckeye lacrosse. And, my friends, I really think this just the dawn. Because the Buckeyes are going to get even more talented on offense next year. But first, we celebrate the current team.
After an absolutely perfect shot from Alex Marinier put the Buckeyes up 1-0 to start the first quarter, Rutgers responded with 2 goals. Ohio State’s not been behind all that much this year, aside from their 2 losses.
The Buckeyes shook off the jitters, and turned to their Canadian Cannon. Marinier hit another shot with time and room, then hitched past a defender to score a running goal offside hip to put the Buckeyes up for good. The Buckeyes never trailed again, though Marinier failed to score after the first quarter.
Neither team forced the ball virtually the entire game, as the Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights barely reached 30 shots total on the day. The difference maker, for me, has to be Caleb Fyock. Fyock ended the day with 14 saves, a 67% save percentage, and allowed the Buckeyes to get back to the Big Ten Title game for the first time since 2017. Fyock, obviously, is a generational talent at goalkeeper.
Fyock has done nothing but stonewall opponents since he arrived on campus. With the steps that Ohio State has taken on offense the past 2 years, something special is really brewing for the Buckeyes. They can do so much more knowing that Fyock will keep 3-4 goals off the board that would appear with an average Division | keeper.
Rutgers managed 5 goals in the final 30 minutes, but were outdone by Ohio State’s 6 over the same period. The teams traded goals, long stretches of scoreless play, and generally struggled to clear the balls. Ohio State managed to score a lot of goals off skip passes throughout the day, although Liam White’s effort in scoring goal number 8 was exceptional.
Falling backwards over his defender after bodying the player to the ground, White hit a shot that went right over Cardin Stoller’s opposite shoulder. Not many players in the country could hit that shot. White’s going to be a special player when he gets to have a bigger role in the offense.
The biggest concern for Ohio State has to remain faceoffs. The way that the Buckeye faceoff unit has struggled over the course of the Big Ten season is the only thing keeping me from declaring Ohio State a lock for a Memorial Day appearance. The Buckeyes will almost certainly host a 2nd round game this season, against an opponent that is likely to be much easier than they’re used to.
If the Buckeyes win the Big Ten title game, then they’re looking at a 2 seed at the very minimum, with a lot of favorable matchups. A loss to Maryland likely means a 4 seed, but we’ll see. In any way, I expect the Buckeyes to be making fairly deep runs for the next 3 national tournaments, barring catastrophic injuries.
Ohio State will find out its opponent for Saturday after the second semifinal concludes, obviously. I can’t imagine it would be anything other than a rematch with Maryland. That game is going on currently at time of posting. The time for sweating is over, now we can just enjoy some excellent lacrosse as the next few games play out. Have fun, Buckeye fans!
