Only bit of good news first: Congratulations to Tre Leclaire on becoming Ohio State's all-time leading goalscorer. He's going to be at the top for a long, long time. Kudos to him for being such an impact player for a team sorely in need of offense year in and year out.
The bad: nearly everything else. Ohio State converted just 3 of its 14 1st half shots, including Tre Leclaire's record-breaking tally in the first quarter. Maryland was comfortably ahead, 8-3, at halftime, and could have gone to OT without registering another goal. They definitely registered more goals.
Maryland's attack unit exploded, going ham by scoring 11 of the Terps' 16 goals, and registering 16 of Maryland's 28 points. The lowest point-scorer was Daniel Maltz, who scored 4 goals on 5 shots. The unit went 11-20 shooting. Better than 50% is definitely not a good thing.
Maryland's defense smothered Ohio State until the 3rd quarter, where the Buckeyes managed to score 4 goals and draw within 3 of mighty Maryland. Only to watch the coffin lid slam shut as the Bucks only managed a single goal in the final quarter.
On the day, Buckeye turnovers were back near 20, the team shot a paltry 22.8% for the day, and the offense was shown to be absolutely abysmal. The defense held up as best it could, but after 3 quarters of a shooting gallery, you can only do so much. Maryland just has another gear that Ohio State can't reach.
In all honesty, following this season, it's most frustrating that you can't really see any progress by any unit as the games tick by. Hopkins has fought hard, and had Rutgers on the ropes today until late in their game. The Jays have some holes, but they're fighting. With Ohio State, it feels like this season has been a wash since game 3. Hopefully the back half sees a turnaround. But as of now, I don't know that any game except next week's rematch with the Wolverines is winnable.
Stranger things have happened. But it's easily conceivable that Ohio State goes 1-4 or 2-3 and misses the postseason. Again. I hope to be wrong. This team just isn't what we all thought it could be. Terefenko or no.
Up next: a trip to Ann Arbor.
Go Bucks.
