After squeaking past a game Detroit Mercy squad following a loss to Marquette, Ohio State faces another nonconference foe on the road to the B1G title game. Up this week is Towson, a historically strong program that went deep into the tournament last year.
Ohio State swept last year's series with the Tigers, winning 6-3 in the regular season and 11-10 in the semifinals of the national tournament. This year, Towson looks to be a little bit down after losing a lot of the experience and talent that made last year's team so tough to play.
The Tigers are 2-3 on the year, having defeated Mount St. Mary's and UMBC, while losing to Hopkins, Loyola, and Georgetown.
Offensively, Towson is led in goals, assists, and (naturally) points by 6'4" Jon Mazza, a junior midfielder from Maryland. Mazza has poured in 12 goals and dished out 6 assists for 18 points in 5 games. Fellow junior Timmy Monahan, who plays both midfield and attack, is next with 11 points, and 6'5" attackman Brendan Sunday has contributed 7 goals as well. For those keeping track, the Tigers have some HUGE guys playing offense.
Mazza has gone between midfield and attack as Towson has needed him to, scoring in bunches at either position. Last week against UMBC, Mazza scored 5 of Towson's 8 goals. Mazza, obviously, has the ball a lot in Towson's offense. He really enjoys inverting, so OSU will see him behind the cage often. Shortstick, longpole, it doesn't matter, Mazza will go for the goal. And he is really, really good at it. For a change of pace, Mazza can wait for a step down shot from 15 yards and rifle home, too. It's pick your poison. The defensive midfielders will have their hands full all day with Mazza.
Defensively, Towson starts senior Sid Ewell, junior Chad Patterson, and sophomore Gray Bodden. The Tigers are being outscored by their opponemts 47-57 thus far in 2018, and have caused only 24 turnovers. Currently the Tigers are giving up 11.4 goals per game, as well. On the whole, Towson likes to wait until the last second to rotate on dodges, especially from up top. Their short sticks are aggressive, but can be beaten by athletic midfielders fairly easily. The question is, can Ohio State get out of its offensive funk in time to take advantage of a Towson squad still trying to put the pieces together?
Towson is irrefutably strongest at the faceoff X. Alex Woodall is crushing it at the X, going 72-105 for a .686 winning percentage. Woodall also has 44 groundballs already. With only 5 games played! It will be a tall task for the Feliziani/Inacio combo on Saturday. Wing play will be vital each and every faceoff. The Buckeyes seem to have moved back to Feliziani as the starting FOGO, as he took the lion's share of faceoffs against Detroit.
Special teams for Towson have been decidedly not special. The Tigers are 5-21 on EMOs, for a poor .238 conversion percentage. The Tigers have also given up 9 goals in 15 man down situations, allowing opposing teams to convert 60% of the time. That's good news for Ohio State on both fronts.
In goal, Towson has yet to really settle on a starting goalie. 2 players have started a game this season, and Josh Miller and Shane Brennan have played nearly the same number of minutes. Brennan has given up more goals and made fewer saves, but has also started 4 of 5 games. Football has the adage that if you have 2 quarterbacks you really have none. I kind of feel the same about goalies. Pick a guy and stick with him. Hopefully Ohio State will be able to make Towson pay on Saturday for their indecision.
Amateur prediction: Bucks squeak by again, 7-5.
