It was even better than I could have hoped. Ohio State was efficient, ruthless, and totally dominant in everything that mattered Saturday afternoon. Detroit Mercy was pleading for mercy by halftime, and went over scoreless over the final 42+ (or so) minutes of the game.
Ohio State jumped out to an early 3-0 lead before Detroit scored its first goal in transition. The running theme of today was Ohio State only giving up goals when things broke down completely.
Detroit's second goal came off a bad Buckeye turnover on offense, but was not caught on camera. Thanks B1G+. And the final goal for the Titans with about 13 minutes left in Q2 was a triple screen from Ohio State defenders that had Medium Tasty flailing.
Otherwise, Ohio State dominated. Ferociously. Whomever allowed Russell Melendez to sign with Ohio State should be canned by the rest of the league, because that guy looked outstanding. Melendez ran out of the box early, but eventually Ohio State settled on putting him at attack.
The 2 quarters (over 3) that Melendez was at attack saw Marinier and Garrett Haas complete what is easily the best attack line in Ohio State history. And I strongly believe is the best attack line in DI this year. All three players had 4 points, with Marinier scoring 4 goals, Melendez netting 3 with an assist, and Haas scoring 2 goals and assisting twice.
The Buckeyes put in the subs early in the 3rd quarter, and scored in bunches. There was a LOT of surprises today. But the ability of Ohio State to score was not one of them. The Buckeyes look dangerous.
I was impressed with the scheme of Coach Purpura off the bat. Ohio State did far less standing than usual. Additionally, there was some flair in passing and dodging that we haven't seen, well, ever.
Liam White looks like an absolute unit in midfield. His shooting has taken a jump from last year. He has a laser shot. The first dodge for a goal was good, even though his defender was useless.
Brad Sharp is a really dangerous dodger who got separation at will. It remains to be seen if White and Sharp can make the jump during Big Ten play when it comes to dodging. But they looked good against hapless competition.
Now, the surprises. The worst was Bobby Van Buren missing today's game. After last season, I was hoping his injuries were behind him. Hopefully it was precautionary.
Ohio State still turns the ball over way too much. Their 17 today is shocking. That's something to watch moving forward as the competition gets better. In a few weeks.
On the plus side, the Buckeyes got good contributions from some of their really young talent. Jake Struck was involved early, and had some good moments. Jack Deliberti, who was an under the radar baller off Long Island, played on a bit of a yo-yo between the second and third lines of midfield. Winter Rivera, the first Seneca player Ohio State has had sign with them (as far as I know) had a goal late in the game dodging a shorty.
And finally, the total lack of work for the goalies throughout the entire game was pretty shocking. Ohio State only allowed 8 shots to hit the net, with 5 of those being saved.
The Buckeyes also doubled up Detroit Mercy in shots, 44-22. Ohio State had 33 shots hit the net (75% SOG), over 4 times the number of Detroit Mercy. That's stunning and awesome.
Overall, this game is noteworthy for how dominant Ohio State performed despite being far from perfect. The offense is still trying to get its cohesion. The defense didn't have its most dominant player. And yet the Buckeyes scored 19 goals while only allowing 3. That's astounding.
Of course, the caveat is that Detroit Mercy is one of the worst teams in DI. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy this beat down. Because I can assure you that this team will get better with more practice. And more games.
Heck of a day.
Go Bucks!
Cleveland State next Saturday. Can't wait.
