Hey ILWT readers!
It’s another week, and there hasn’t been a need for an Ohio State lacrosse eulogy, so let’s continue with another week of talking about Buckeye lax.
*Disclaimer: I won’t get into the nitty gritty of this week’s NCAA Quarterfinal matchup with Denver. I will do that in my preview coming Saturday. I’m just going to give you my simple thoughts after watching the OSU/Duke game from my couch.
First things first.
Am I surprised that Ohio State beat Duke? Not really.
“[insert obscenity here] you Miles! You’re lying! Ohio State was a clear underdog. The game was in Durham.”
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
Let’s reflect on Ohio State’s year.
They got beat by Detroit to open up the year, squeaked by Bellarmine, got shutout by Notre Dame and got hammered by Rutgers.
They also beat Denver, Johns Hopkins, Maryland and Towson.
Moral of the story, this is a team that can beat anybody, but can also lose to anybody.
The question that remains is, what team is going to show up on Saturday against Denver?
On his bad days, redshirt sophomore Tom Carey is essentially swiss cheese, as the Rutgers game indicated. On his good days, he can go toe to toe with the best attackmen in the nation and laugh in their faces while he’s at it.
The defense, giving up just under nine goals a game, has the capability to shut down a Myles Jones to just one goal on eight shots. They can also collapse like a college student’s grades come finals.
Bellarmine, Marquette, Penn State and Maryland were all opponents that the Buckeyes struggled to shut down while having a lead late in the game. OSU went 2-2 in those games, beating Bellarmine and Penn State.
Am I surprised that the Scarlet and Gray put up a 16 spot on the Blue Devils? Partially.
I say yes because Duke is Duke. They were back to back champs and winner of three of the last five titles. I expected more out of a John Danowski coached defense this time of the year, regardless of what the numbers said heading into the contest.
On top of that, Ohio State’s offense has been very inconsistent.
Six goals from David Planning and four from Carter Brown complimented Jesse King’s two against the Blue Devils. That secondary scoring outside of King came to fruition and Planning brought the performance of his career down to Durham last Saturday.
But those aforementioned numbers are exactly why I say no. Duke’s defense had struggled for a good portion of the year. The Buckeye offense, although inconsistent this season, can bring it. When they do, the combination of that offense, Christopher May and Jake Withers at the faceoff x, their defense and Tom Carey can make them a force to be reckoned with if and only if they play a full 60 minutes.
Can they beat Denver again? Sure, but as I said I’ll shed some more light on that come Saturday.
While I’m at it, a quick tip of my cap to freshman Colin Chell, who had a hat trick in the game. He might not be a player that is on everyone’s radar like King, but this young man has a very bright future ahead of him.
His improvement over the course of the season and the postseason experience that he’s gaining now will make him tremendous to watch over the next three seasons. He’s fourth on the team in scoring this season with 20 goals and four assists. Don’t be surprised if he has an impact on a national level in the years to come.
To wrap this up, I’ll toss you some ground balls/food for thought…
- May and Withers won just 12 of 29 faceoffs last Saturday.
- OSU also lost the ground balls battle, the turnover battle and they were 0-2 with a man up while Duke was 2-4, which makes the upset more impressive.
- The turning point in the game was the scoring run that the Buckeyes went on beginning at the 13:05 mark in the second quarter. Down 3-1, Ohio State scored seven unanswered goals beginning with Jesse King’s 38th goal of the season.
- The Buckeyes advance to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years, as well as the third time in program history.
