The Ohio State defensive core stands strong during the Ohio State-Detroit Mercy game Feb. 5. Ohio State won 18-7. Credit: Zachary Rilley | For the Lantern
No. 5 Ohio State men’s lacrosse finishes up a three-game road trip in Ithaca, New York, to take on No. 9 Cornell as the Buckeyes look to get their second ranked win of the season against a Top-10 opponent.
Ohio State (4-0) is coming off a 17-12 win in Naples, Florida, over Harvard Saturday as the Buckeyes were led by the scoring attack of seniors attackman Jack Myers and midfielder Jackson Reid.
Myers, who leads the nation’s No. 2 scoring offense while averaging about 18 goals per game, added to his stat line against Harvard. Myers put up 11 points with five goals and six assists. He leads the nation with 17 assists this season.
Myers also was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row.
“He’s younger than me and I still look up to him as a great leader,” senior midfielder Justin Inacio said. “Always here for extra reps and getting the extra work in when we’re not practicing.”
Reid tallied a hat-trick within a single minute in the win over Harvard. He is 11 goals away from 100 in his career.
The Buckeyes have been able to get key possessions this season with the help of Inacio, who has led the nation all season in faceoff percentage, currently at .776.
Ohio State is second in the nation with ground balls and leads the Big Ten Conference with 40.25 per game.
“I think ground balls are one of the most valuable things in the game,” Inacio said. “That’s definitely a very big part of our success this year.”
In goal, senior goalie Caton Johnson has been consistent in the net, not having any losses this year.
On the other side, Cornell (3-0) is coming off a win Tuesday evening over Hobart in a close 15-12 game.
Cornell’s offense is similar to the Buckeyes: well-balanced with multiple aggressive scorers.
In the victory over Hobart, senior attackman Billy Coyle netted four goals and one assist. He was complemented by sophomore attackman CJ Kirst and sophomore midfielder Hugh Kelleher, who each had three goals and one assist apiece.
“They’re balanced, they got a really good attack. I think this will be as good as anything that we’ve seen,” Myers said. “It’s going to really challenge our defense. We’re going to have to really defend there and then settle in and make stops.”
The Big Red have had two other victories with a 16-8 rout over Albany and 9-5 win over Lehigh.
Cornell is led by first-year head coach Connor Buczeck, who was originally hired in 2020 but the pandemic forced him to wait to make his head coaching debut.
The Big Red have one of the top scoring defenses in the nation, ranking sixth with 8.33 goals allowed per game.
The game will be televised on ESPN+ at noon Saturday.
