It's a new week, and a new game, so here's another preview for the lax fanatics. After a (relatively) meager 12-9 win over Cleveland State, the Buckeyes take on Boston University at the Woody tomorrow at noon.
23-0 in the friendly confines of the WHAC, Ohio State will be looking to improve in the areas they really struggled with against Cleveland State. And BU should be just what the doctor ordered.
Offensively this season, Boston will be paced by #4 Chris Gray. A preseason All-American at attack, Gray is a 5'7" sophomore who had 71 points last year.
And it appears he will be on the same track in 2019, as Gray totaled 4 points and 3 goals in a win against Providence. Paired with Gray is senior attackman #2 James Burr, who had 2 goals and an assist in the win over Providence.
These two combined for 23 of the Terriers 38 shots against Providence, while no other player had more than 3 shots. Gray is the initiator for the Terriers, dodging from all over the field to get the defense rotating.
Much like Pat Spencer, Gray is looking to feed first, but will score if necessary. And score he did in the opener, punishing Providence on wraparounds and off the catch from Burr.
If the Buckeyes want to win, they'll need to keep those two in check. Seeing as how the Terriers had more shots miss the cage entirely than actually get on target (20 to 18), it's a safe bet we'll see the Buckeyes do exactly that until someone else proves they can be effective.
Defensively, Boston was absolutely peppered by the Friars last week. Providence recorded 48 shots, 10 more than the trigger happy Terriers.
31 of those shots were on goal. Boston managed to eke out the victory behind 24(!) saves from their goalie Joe McSorley. This win was essentially the result of McSorley's brilliant display between the pipes.
For context, 24 saves from McSorley against Providence is nearly 20% of the saves Ohio State's goalies had in 15 games during the 2018 season.
If the Buckeyes want to win the way they should be able to win against the Terriers, their shooting needs to be on point tomorrow. A 40% outing against CSU on Saturday was a fantastic start, but Mcsorley will come in brimming with confidence after stonewalling the entire Providemce offense.
As a team, Boston did have 10 Caused Turnovers against Providence, but their ASM of -10 shows just how porous the defense can be.
The Buckeyes should find opportunities, but must convert them to avoid an upset like Duke suffered against High Point.
From a Special Teams perspective, BU failed to convert its two opportunities on Man Up, but also prevented Providence from scoring on Man Down.
After one game, it's impossible to make sweeping determinations for the Terriers, so I will just say the Buckeyes better improve on their 0-6 debacle against Cleveland State.
The team HAS to convert its extra man opportunities to take that next step. Or we will see another disappointing year.
At the faceoff X, #1 Sean Christman went 8 for 11 against Providence last week, while his partner Kevin Snyder (#35) went 3 for 8. Justin Inacio, meanwhile, went 11-23 against Cleveland State, meaning this week's matchup at the X will be something to watch.
After a stellar freshman season, Inacio will be looking to prove that last week was just a fluke. If the Buckeyes can win faceoffs, things should get out of hand for the Terriers quickly.
Overall, the season is just one game old, so we don't have a lot of data to be able to make serious predictions about games.
That said, this game SHOULD be another fairly easy Buckeye win (I know, I said that last week too).
With a serious struggle against Providence from BU, an undefeated record at the WHAC, some offensive pieces returning from injury (hopefully), and more time to gel, the Buckeyes are in great shape to go 2-0.
Final prediction: 17-9 Buckeyes.
