WHERE: @ Ohio State
WHEN: Saturday February 22 @ 12:00
Anyone who would’ve thought that, A. Marquette would have a better record than Ohio State heading into this matchup and B. Ohio State would be 0-2, please raise your hands. Now put your hands down because all of you are lying.
Ohio State has had their hearts ripped out of them with consecutive overtime thrillers against Johns Hopkins and UMass respectively. Their offense and defense have taken turns in carrying the team while one scary constant remains, their lack of execution at the faceoff ‘X.’
Meanwhile, Marquette may be turning the corner as a program. They dropped their season opener to Lehigh 13-6 but rebounded with a 11-9 road win at Hofstra. While I am not too impressed with the Golden Eagles, lax guru Quint Kessenich is, and he has them ranked No. 20 in his own personal poll, for whatever it is worth.
Are the Buckeyes ready to stop their losing skid or will the Golden Eagles announce themselves among the nation’s best?
Ohio State Offense vs. Marquette Defense
Edge: Ohio State
The talent gap is pretty wide between these two teams. Ohio State’s offense has the Canadian Trifecta in Jesse King, Turner Evans and Reegan Comeault. While King was quiet against UMass after a huge outing against Hopkins, Evans, Comeault and Carter Brown all stepped up to put 11 goals in the back of the cage.
On the flip side, Marquette’s defense is unimpressive. They are allowing an even 11 goals a game so far this season and their goalie play has been weak. Senior JJ Sagl has been unimpressive, posting a 23.5 save percentage against Lehigh and a 47.1 save percentage against Hofstra.
Ohio State has a much better offense than those two and, thus, will give Marquette fits on defense.
Ohio State Defense vs. Marquette Offense
Edge: Ohio State
After playing very well against Hopkins two weeks ago, the Buckeyes defense looked quite average in their loss to UMass. Allowing 11 goals to an offense that lost its top two scorers from last season is a head scratcher. Goalie Greg Dutton looked a step slow in goal as well as he only made nine saves on 21 shots. That is a complete 180 degree turn from the Hopkins game where he looked great. I don’t know if he got an extra adrenaline rush from playing in his home state two weeks ago but he needed to play better.
On the other hand, Marquette doesn’t boast a true stud on offense but they have their own pair of Canadians in Tyler Melnyk and Kyle Whitlow who have combined for nine goals this season. They are also extremely young, as all their top scorers are either freshmen or sophomores. They will get a nice challenge from a veteran-laden Ohio State defense.
One last note, the combination of Joe Meurer, Dominic Imbordino and Darius Bowling are all honorable mention All-American type players and should be playing much better for a defense that is allowing 11 goals a game this season.
Faceoffs
Edge: Push
Honestly, neither of these teams are too adept at the faceoff ‘X.’ Whether Ohio State has used a pole at the faceoff or a normal faceoff man they can’t win a faceoff to save their lives. Marquette is better but not by much. Cullen Cassidy has only won 34 percent of his faceoffs. This will be an interesting battle for sure.
Prediction
Coming off two overtime heartbreakers, Ohio State will be fired up to get off their mini-losing streak and bury Marquette in their home opener. Ohio State is more talented both on offense and defense and should win this game. Faceoffs won’t hurt them too much as they will take advantage of Marquette’s inexperience on offense to force offense and get into the transition game for some easy goals.
Ohio State 12, Marquette 5
