Denver (14-2, 5-0 Big East), looking to advance to its fourth NCAA Tournament semifinal in the last five seasons on Saturday, will have to go through an Ohio State team that beat them 13-11 in Columbus in mid-March.
This time around, Denver will be the home team, with the game set to take place at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.
The Buckeyes (12-6, 3-2 Big Ten), are trying to advance past the quarterfinal round for the first time in program history.
Briefly recapping that game at Ohio Stadium, freshman Trevor Baptiste’s goal put the Pioneers up 11-9 with 14:53 remaining in the game. Four goals by four different Buckeyes and stellar defense paved the way for the upset victory.
Denver has won every game since then, 10 in a row. The Pioneers are coming off of a 15-9 win over Brown last week.
Ohio State faceoff specialists Christopher May and Jake Withers were dominated by Baptiste at the Horseshoe, who won 19 of 28 draws.
Baptiste, a Denville, N.J. native, leads the nation in faceoffs won (270) and win percentage (70.5).
May is 11th in the nation with a 60.4 win percentage.
Denver boasts a mighty offense, fifth in the nation putting up just over 14 goals per game and are allowing 8.31 goals per game defensively.
The aforementioned offense is led by sophomore attackman Connor Cannizzaro who has 53 goals and 31 assists, followed by fellow attackman, senior Wesley Berg with 44 goals and 19 helpers.
Senior long-stick midfielder Mike Riis leads the Pioneers with 14 caused turnovers and is second in ground balls on the team with 57 to his credit.
Ohio State’s defense is not too far behind, giving up 8.83 goals per game.
The defensive core of Brendan Barger, Ryan Borcherding, Erik Evans, Robby Haus and Evan Mulchrone, in addition to short-stick midfielders Kacy Kapinos and Reegan Comeault, represent the strength of the team.
The Buckeye offense has been inconsistent, although they did score 16 in the upset over Duke. They are producing just under 10 goals per game on average.
Senior midfielder Jesse King leads the team with 39 goals and 29 assists. Junior attackman Carter Brown has 35 goals and 17 assists.
Ohio State plays a two-man game, generating offense off of their picks and individual efforts.
Between the pipes, senior Ryan LaPlante carries 9th best goals against average (8.16) to go along with a .528 save percentage for the Pioneers.
Ohio State’s redshirt sophomore Tom Carey has an 8.75 goals against average and a .529 save percentage.
For a majority of the season, Carey has been the “x factor” for Ohio State. His timely and often spectacular saves have carried the Buckeyes through some games.
The special teams battle is an intriguing one.
Denver heads into the matchup showcasing the nation’s best man-up unit, converting on 58.6 percent of their chances. The Scarlet and Gray have struggled in that department, as they have only cashed in on 25.9 percent of their opportunities.
Conversely, Denver has found problems with their man-down unit while Ohio State’s penalty killers, perfect for a significant portion of the season, can be a game changer although they too, have found difficulty in recent weeks.
Game time between the Buckeyes and the Pioneers is set for 5:30 p.m. and can be seen on ESPNU.
GROUND BALLS… DENVER
Denver has the longest active home winning streak in the nation at 16 games.
This is Denver’s fifth-straight NCAA quarterfinal appearance.
Trevor Baptiste set both the overall DU single-season record and the NCAA record for faceoff wins by a freshman this season.
GROUND BALLS… OHIO STATE
Ohio State leads the all-time series between the teams 14-9 and have won three of the last five games against the Pioneers.
The 16 goals Ohio State scored against Duke last week was a season-high, and David Planning’s six goals and seven points in the game was a career-high.
Freshman attackman Colin Chell has three hat tricks in the last six games for the Buckeyes.
The Scarlet and Gray are one of three Big Ten Conference teams still remaining in the tournament (Johns Hopkins, Maryland)
