Ohio State sophomore midfielder Justin Inacio (30) faces off against Rutgers at Ohio Stadium on Mar. 31, 2019. Ohio State lost 6-14. Credit: Willow Mollenkopf | Lantern File Photo
In a record-setting performance for Buckeye graduate attackmen Tre Leclaire, the Buckeyes could not couple team success with individual accomplishment.
No. 15 Ohio State (2-3) took on the No. 3 Maryland (5-0) in Ohio Stadium in a 16-8 win for the Terrapins. Despite the loss, head coach Nick Myers pointed to some areas the Buckeyes have had success through their opening stretch.
“I thought for our men the positives to take away were the goals and the faceoff, two important areas as you build a team. That’s what we’re doing, the first half of the Big Ten season were building,” Myers said.
Maryland — the lone undefeated Big Ten squad — played a complete game against the Buckeyes, impressing on both offense and defense.
The Buckeyes struggled to get quality shots early as the Terrapins defense stood on their heads. Senior defenseman Nick Grill picked up a ground ball while holding graduate attackman Tre Leclaire to only a goal.
The Buckeye defense struggled to contain the Maryland offensive attack. However, graduate defenseman Eric Wenz caused one turnover as well as picked up a ground ball.
Graduate goalie Alec Van De Bovencamp picked up 14 saves and had a save percentage of .467 in his second start as a Buckeye.
For the Terrapins, sophomore goalie Logan McNaney stopped 11 shots, allowing only eight goals. The sophomore had a save percentage of .579.
Although the Buckeyes struggled to find offensive success at times, Leclaire’s goal was enough to pass former Ohio State attackmanLogan Schuss as the sole owner of the career goals record with 148.
Aside from Leclaire’s success, junior attackman Jack Myers continued his success this season. Finishing with four goals and two assists, Myers was the only goal scorer for Ohio State to find the back of the net on multiple occasions Saturday.
Senior attackman Logan Wisnauskas and sophomore attackman Daniel Maltz both scored four goals for the Terrapins.
Tewaaraton Award Watch List nominee and senior attackman Jared Bernhardt also scored three goals. Bernhardt recorded two assists as Wisnauskas assisted three.
The Buckeyes were dominant at the faceoff though as senior faceoff midfielder Justin Inacio established himself from the first whistle — earning all of Ohio State’s 19 faceoff wins in 27 attempts.
Maryland utilized two faceoff men to try and stop Inacio’s success. Senior faceoff midfielder Justin Shockey won one faceoff on seven attempts. Sophomore faceoff midfielder Luke Wierman won seven on 20 attempts.
The Buckeyes went into halftime down 8-3. However, a late third quarter comeback allowed them to cut the deficit to three goals heading into the fourth quarter. The comeback would quickly disappear though, as Maryland came alive in the fourth, outscoring the Buckeyes 6-1.
“Things just got a little bit away from us there in the fourth,” Myers said. “We made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the middle of the field, walked away empty offensively and ultimately Maryland capitalized.”
As the Buckeyes reach the halfway point of the season a game below .500, Myers said the team continues to learn from their losses.
“We’ll use this opportunity to grow and hopefully we’ll close the gap before we see them again later in April,” Myers said.
Traveling to Ann Arbor, Michigan, next weekend, the Buckeyes will take on Michigan for the second time this season March 27 at 1 p.m.
