Tom Carey vividly remembers the moment he realized he wanted to be a college lacrosse player at the highest level. It was seared into his brain at the same location Ohio State is set to put its season on the line this weekend.
“I can remember back in 2009, I think it was one of the last times it was held at Gillette [Stadium], I remember going up with my dad and brother and seeing that game,” the Ohio State redshirt senior men's lacrosse goalie said on Thursday. “Soaking in that atmosphere, hoping and imagining that someday I'd be there.”
That day is nigh. The Buckeyes boarded a plane Thursday afternoon and headed east to Foxborough, Massachusettes, where the Final Four is slated to be held at the House of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.
In 2009, Syracuse drilled Duke 17-7 in the semifinals before inching past Cornell in overtime, 10-9, in the final. An east coast native from Connecticut, Carey had a front row seat.
“It's challenging to beat a team twice.”– Nick Myers
Now, he and the rest of his teammates are set to live out their dreams, forged as they grew up watching the lacrosse national championships on television every Memorial Day weekend. Ohio State is about to play in it for the first time in the program's 64-year history, starting Saturday at noon against Towson.
“I couldn't be more excited,” Carey said.
“That's when you'd see some of your heroes going out and battling for national titles. It was on ESPN, you'd sit there, watch the semis and pick a team,” added senior midfielder JT Blubaugh. “Then watch the finals on Memorial Day. It's a really special weekend for our sport and being a part of it is so awesome.”
To advance to Monday's national championship match, the Buckeyes must take care of business against Towson, a team who entered the season unranked but has won eight of its last nine contests. Ohio State beat the Tigers once this season, doing so in Maryland by a score of 6-3.
That came in March, however, what feels like a lifetime away for head coach Nick Myers.
“It's challenging to beat a team twice,” Myers said Thursday. “We had the situation with [Johns] Hopkins and certainly Maryland, so we're familiar with that second time against a team.
“I don't think there is a lot of comparables in the sense that both teams have changed a fair amount. I know we have and looking at film, they certainly have. They're playing their best lacrosse right now, we feel like we are. I think you have to look at the last two- or three-game spreads on both teams to get a better sense of their true identity as we go into this weekend.”
The Buckeyes fell to No. 1 Maryland 10-9 in the Big Ten Tournament final on May 6, the second time they had faced the Terrapins this year after beating them in overtime a month ago. Ohio State then topped Loyola (Maryland) 7-6 in the NCAA's opening round before it blew past Duke in the quarterfinals, 16-11. For Towson, the Tigers won the CAA Championship game 9-4 over then-No. 3 UMass beat No. 8 Penn State in its backyard 12-8 and then held on for a major upset over No. 2 Syracuse 10-7 in the quarterfinals.
Like Myers said, both teams are clicking at the right time.
“They know who they are. This is a Towson team that has a clear identity. I give their coaching staff a lot of credit for that,” Myers said. “Offensively, defensively, special teams and we feel the same way about ourselves.”
Big Ten Freshman of the Year Tre LeClaire scored three goals against Loyola in Ohio State final home game of the season.
Film study is helpful, especially when facing a team that was found on your schedule at the beginning of the season. Though Carey noted that Towson has shown changes since the last time they played Ohio State, 72 days ago.
“I think we definitely try to take something from it, he said, “but we went back and looked at the tape and there were things that they did differently that we're going to be aware of.”
Added Blubaugh: “We played them on a really cold day, really tough elements for us and them, obviously. We expect a cleaner game than we had last time. They're a really good team across the board, we have a lot of respect for them as a team.”
So while dreams will come true for a program and set of players participating in their first Final Four ever, staying the course is essential. Towson is no joke, and Myers knows the Buckeyes must not let the grandeur of the moment and Gillette Stadium overwhelm their attention to the task at hand.
“I think that the Big Ten, the exposure we've gotten this year, we've been in big stages, we've been in big games, played a ranked opponent every week for 10, 12 straight weeks,” he said. “Having played every team left on the board, we feel right now like our biggest opponent is ourselves.”
“We know as a team if we want to achieve our goal of being a national champion then we have to stay the course and have that tunnel vision,” senior midfielder Jake Withers added. “Not let other stuff that doesn't matter cloud our vision and our motivation.”
