Ohio State men’s lacrosse celebrates a goal during the first quarter of the Buckeyes’ game against Johns Hopkins Saturday at Ohio Stadium. Ohio State won 12-10. Credit: Casey Smith | Assistant Lantern TV Sports Producer
No. 8 Ohio State travels to College Park, Maryland, Saturday to face the top men’s lacrosse team in the nation, No. 1 Maryland.
The Buckeyes (8-3, 2-1 Big Ten) are coming off a conference win over Johns Hopkins in a 12-10 victory at home Saturday. The Terrapins (10-0, 3-0 Big Ten) had a top-10 showdown Sunday against No. 3 Rutgers and dominated in a 17-9 rout on the road.
Maryland has been the team to beat all season for any Division I opponent and is the final remaining unbeaten in the nation. The Terrapins have the nation’s best scoring offense, averaging 18.3 goals per game.
Saturday’s contest will be a major challenge for Ohio State, and head coach Nick Myers said he knows how tough this opponent is.
“They’re incredibly well coached; they’ve seen every scheme they could imagine this year. Every slide, every defense — they’ve seen,” Myers said. “It’s a really talented team from front to back, from goalie play, and the faceoff unit is the best in the country. They ride and clear well, and offensively they get going downhill in a hurry. You can’t get too consumed with having an answer for everything.”
Defensively, Maryland is just as sharp as its offense. The Terrapins have the nation’s No. 6 scoring defense, allowing 9.6 goals a game.
Leading the charge for the Terrapins is projected first overall pick in the PremierLacrosse League draft and the all-time Maryland points scorer, fifth-year attackman Logan Wisnauskas.
Wisnauskas leads the dangerous Terrapin offense behind three goals per game — ranking second in the Big Ten and No. 26 in the nation.
In goal for Maryland, junior goalkeeper Logan McNaney leads the Big Ten in goals against average at 9.03 goals allowed per game.
Maryland senior long-stick midfielder John Geppert was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week Tuesday. Geppert played a vital role in the victory over No. 3 Rutgers, collecting five ground balls.
Ohio State seeks to match Maryland’s scoring output behind the No. 11 scoring offense in the nation with 14.36 goals scored per game.
Ohio State comes into this game with two of the top-four scorers in the Big Ten. Senior attackman Colby Smith is third in the conference in goals per game, averaging 2.82 goals, while the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and senior midfielder Jackson Reid sits at fourth with 2.64 goals per game.
Reid netted five goals and an assist in the victory over Johns Hopkins.
“We know we have to go out there and play Buckeye lacrosse this weekend and execute our game plan well against a very good team,” Reid said.
Ohio State’s scoring defense ranks No. 25 in the nation, allowing 10.73 goals per game.
Winning possessions will be key, and both teams have some of the top contributors in the faceoff circle.
For Maryland, junior faceoff specialist Luke Wierman ranks second in the nation at faceoff win percentage at .673. On the other side, senior faceoff specialist Justin Inacio for Ohio State is eighth in the nation in win percentage with .613.
The much-anticipated matchup will take place Saturday at 4 p.m. in College Park, Maryland, and will be televised on Big Ten Network.
