The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team gathers during a timeout during the Ohio State-Cleveland State game Feb. 12. Ohio State won 17-9. Credit: Zachary Rilley | For the Lantern
After a major road victory over then-No. 4 North Carolina Saturday, No. 8 Ohio State will travel to the Southwest Florida Shootout to take on Harvard.
The Buckeyes (3-0) rose to No. 8 in the InsideLacrosse Top 20 this week despite being unranked prior to their win over the Tar Heels. Harvard (1-0) earned its lone win against New Jersey Institute of Technology Saturday, crushing the Highlanders 17-4.
Ohio State has been top-notch on both sides of the field this season, ranking No. 6 in the country in both offense and defense with 18.33 goals scored per game while allowing eight goals a game.
The balance from Ohio State is a standard head coach Nick Myers set for his squad, and he added that they are playing “Buckeye lacrosse.”
“It’s doing things that others won’t, the little things, the toughest plays that some guys might not want to,” senior attackman Jackson Reid said. “I think of Trent DiCicco clearing the ball by himself and getting the ball to our attackman are just some of the little things our fans might not see but what we see in our locker room that we are really proud of.”
The team has relied on senior attackman Jack Myers, who has eight goals and 11 assists this season. Myers was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
“I think it’s awesome having a player of that caliber. We know what we are going to get out of him and I think personally he is one of the best players in the country. I told that to him many times,” Reid said.
Joining Myers on the attack line that has been so efficient are seniors Colby Smith and Jason Knox. Smith has a team-high 10 goals this season and Knox has been able to find the net with nine goals and one assist.
“Everyone gets involved, this is not a one-man show where everyone is doing their job to the best of their ability,” Reid said. “There are a ton of guys on our team that are awesome players that you haven’t even seen yet this year which is exciting that we have so much depth.”
On the other side, Harvard’s win over NJIT was the first game for the Crimson in over 700 days since March 2020.
Myers said the Buckeyes relied on film from the 2020 season in order to scout the Crimson, but pointed to multiple facets that makes Harvard a difficult opponent.
“It starts in the back end. They got a great goalie and they have an elite attackman that was similar to the challenge we had last week,” Myers said. “They have a lot of pieces in between the midfield. They’re hungry.”
Harvard had 11 different goal scorers in its home win over NJIT, led by senior attackman Austin Madronic and freshman attackman Miles Botkiss, who had three goals apiece.
Leading the Crimson is head coach Gerry Byrne, who is in his third season at Harvard and has a 3-2 record. His first team was 2-2 before the remainder of the 2020 season was due to the pandemic.
Byrne was the assistant coach at Notre Dame for 16 seasons during two stints and helped the Fighting Irish to 14 NCAA postseason appearances.
“Coach Byrne and his staff are excellent and really well-seasoned and we have had battles with them for years against Notre Dame,” Myers said. “I have a lot of respect for him.”
The accolades continued to roll in for senior faceoff specialist Justin Inacio, who was named Big Ten Specialist of the Week for the second time this season Tuesday.
Inacio leads the country with a .812 face-off win percentage and has won at least 18 face-offs in each game this season. Myers credited the entire faceoff room for being on top of their game.
“Justin and that faceoff stable is a five-man crew that works really hard and is doing whatever they can to be ready,” Myers said. “Coach (Ian) Moore has done a great job preparing them each week.”
In goal for the Buckeyes is senior transfer Caton Johnson, who has started all three games and has a 7.89 goals-against average and .551 save percentage — both of which are among the top-20 nationally. Johnson enters Saturday’s contest off of a 12-save performance against North Carolina, which was a season high.
The Buckeyes hope to make it to the 4-0 mark for the fourth time in six years while staying undefeated all-time against Harvard.
The game will be televised on BTN+ from Naples, Florida, at 7 p.m. Saturday.
