Still licking their wounds from a stinging loss to Cornell, Ohio State gears up to take on an undermanned Hofstra tomorrow. The Cornell debacle still stings, and hopefully will lead to some serious overhauling of the approach Ohio State takes offensively.
Cutting down on turnovers and penalties are paramount. Luckily, Hofstra is the perfect opponent to start that process with. This preview will be a tad shorter, as there's really only one player who will be a serious threat.
Offensively, Hofstra is fairly anemic. The Pride are a team that rely on volume more than anything to put up their current mark of 13.2 goals per game. Hofstra shoots at a .296 rate, which is certainly not great. The Pride average 45 shots per game, however, which makes up for their lack of efficiency. Through it all, however, Hofstra relies on one player exclusively: Ryan Tierney.
The senior attackman (#13) has 16 goals, 10 assists on the year, and has nearly triple the points (26) of the next highest scorer on Hofstra's roster (10). Tierney has taken 54 of Hofstra's 223 shots, or 24% of all shots taken by the Pride. That's an insane share of the offense.
Tierney is who will beat the Buckeyes tomorrow, if anyone will, and it is imperative that they shut him down. On the whole, the offense is pretty mediocre with Tierney unfettered, but if Ohio State can really shut him down, they will have another comfortable win. Here's hoping that's what we see.
Defensively, Hofstra is pretty poor. They're allowing opponents to score at an identical rate to their offense, allowing a shooting percentage of .296. The only real difference is that opponents average 11 fewer shots than Hofstra's offense. Hofstra has yet to play a truly good offense, their stiffest opponent this year likely being Villanova, who put up 10 on the Pride.
Hofstra certainly hasn't played anyone with a scorer of Tre Leclaire's caliber, who will almost certainly end up as Ohio State's best goalscorer in program history by the time the season ends. Ohio State should have lots of opportunities tomorrow to really shake the lead out and get some good offensive lacrosse going.
In goal, Hofstra starts redshirt junior Bobby Casey (#22), who is about as average as you can be. Despite his two first names, Casey has a season save percentage of .489. That's pretty not great, especially considering who the Pride have played.
Ohio State should be licking it's collective chops offensively, as a soft D and mediocre goalie should be ripe for lots of goals. Josh Kirson has remained surprisingly steadfast, so the Buckeyes should have a hefty advantage in this game.
At the faceoff X, Justin Inacio is absolutely killing it. He's right around 75% for the year (albeit in two games played), making him the Buckeyes' best game changer. Hofstra is currently starting junior Brian Herber (#1), who has won 64% of his faceoffs.
Herber will offer a decent test for Inacio, but this should be a matchup Ohio State feels really good about. There should be a lot of make it, take it lacrosse for Ohio State.
Finally, on special teams, Hofstra is fairly decent. The Pride are converting 39% of their Man Up chances, which is actually a really good rate. Ohio State is currently sitting at 29%, a much less than adequate figure. On Man Down, Hofstra is keeping opponents to a 27% conversion rate, which is also pretty good.
That number is dwarfed, however, by Ohio State allowing opponents to convert a meager 18% of their opportunities. That's beyond impressive, and a huge improvement. This should be a draw between the two teams, and not play too much of a factor in tomorrow's game.
On the whole, Ohio State should have little trouble taking care of business against Hofstra. Last year's team won very comfortably, and I believe this year's squad is much better across the board. A great opportunity to fine tune some things before a brutal run of games starts.
Final prediction: Ohio State 17, Hofstra 6.
Go Bucks!
