Since the Big Ten has apparently decided to go after copyright infringement hard on YouTube, making video recaps impossible, I will take a hard turn and go into some different content for the men's lacrosse team.
Welcome to trending! I will go through a few story lines that are playing out on the roster and the schedule, then prognosticate the future.
Trending Up
Griffin Hughes
The senior A/M has only continued his evolution into a tremendous asset for the Buckeye offense this season. Hughes has as many goals and points as Tre Leclaire (12 g, 14 pts), albeit in a completely different manner.
Hughes has been excellent as a scorer, dodging and cutting his way into a legitimate threat in B1G play. Bouncing between attack and midfield, #9 has been tremendous wherever he plays on the field.
If Hughes comes back for his Covid year (fingers crossed!), the Buckeye offense will be in very good hands.
Alec van de Bovenkamp
It's early, I know. But wow, did the transfer really do his part to keep the Buckeyes from extending their losing streak to 3. Van de Bovenkamp has taken a bit to get in the swing of things, but his effort on Sunday was exactly what Ohio State needed.
Statistically, the defense has been about average, but a lot of goals have been given up. With an improvement in performance at the goalie position, Ohio State will be looking at the back half of the schedule with renewed vigor.
The Unknowns
A catch-all for the new faces emerging in the midfield, there's been a near constant churn in players as the staff looks to the bench for production. And it appears some players are doing their best to seize an opportunity.
Scott White, a junior who came to OSU to basically sit behind Tre Leclaire, bumped up to midfield this season and had the most filthy feed you will see from a Buckeye player for Jack Myers' dagger on Sunday. It's perfect.
Mitchell Pehlke, who many know for his YouTube presence, got into his first game against the Wolverines. No stats, but Pehlke looked pretty decent as an offensive depth guy. And finally, Trent DiCicco has burst onto the scene the past two weeks, adding three points (1 g, 2 a). DiCicco is a true freshman, has looked really good as a dodge-to-feed guy right now, and could easily evolve into a Hughes-like scorer in a couple of years. There's a lot to build on for all these guys.
Trending Down
Ryan Terefenko
Not his fault. Terefenko got injured two games into the season, and his absence has been glaring. The Buckeyes were counting on him to be a steady force on the defensive end, given how shaky the rest of the SSDMs are, and the difference is stark without him there. Get well soon, Ryan!
Buckeye Defense
A logical continuation of the above point, but still important to note. For the third year in a row, the defense is allowing double-digit goals per game to their opponents. The offense is putting in 13 goals per game. That's championship-caliber offense, especially in the Big Ten. The defense is allowing opponents to score 13.75 goals per game. That's definitely not postseason-worthy. Some blame falls on the goalkeeping issue that has plagued OSU since Tom Carey graduated in 2017.
But the defense hasn't looked solid in a couple years now. There's talent there. It just isn't gelling right now. I picked on the shorties, but the poles have been out of sorts since the Hopkins game. Slides are late, tentative, or non-existent. Players are not ready to go, unaware of when to rotate, and lose their marks.
The oldest position group outside of the attackmen, and still there are fundamental issues. This unit will determine the ceiling of how well the year will go.
Roster Composition
There's been some struggles in recruiting for a few years now. The struggles we see on a regular basis can, in large part, be attributed to how much the roster changes almost from month to month. Midfield has been an issue for years, and it seems like there's always a search for guys in the 3-6 slots.
Jack Jasinski was the guy for two years there. He never really had a second guy to work with at middie on offense. Top 100 players have come and gone. Several poles have appeared, started, then quit lacrosse. Some top 100 and 4-star players never made it to campus. It's hard to build continuity when your pieces are constantly changing. One former top 100 player has already transferred, two other freshmen have opted out of the season at least, and could also jump ship after the spring.
There's real hope in the class coming this fall, but the track record for incoming classes isn't great recently. Transfers will abound, certainly, but the staff needs to figure out what they want the identity of the team to be before that time comes. This year's transfer crop has been a mixed bag thus far, and bringing in bodies just to fill out the roster is no longer viable in the Big Ten.
Keep an eye out for any news regarding Ryan Terefenko's status on Saturday, though I can almost guarantee it won't be known until faceoff.
Preview drops tomorrow as usual.
Go Bucks!
