That was perhaps the sloppiest game Ohio State has played in a long, long time. If Ohio State had managed to beat Rutgers in their second game, I might have considered the Buckeyes to be pretty close to a shoo-in for the national tournament. But at this point, it would be hard to say that the Buckeyes are going to be in the field of 16 at all.
The big 3 for Maryland feasted on the Buckeyes. Jared Bernhardt had 6 goals on 10 shots, Dylan Maltz scored 4 on 5 shots, and Logan Wisnauskas had a ho-hum 1 goal, 2 assist day for the Terps.
In midfield, Kyle Long added 4 assists, making him the 3rd-highest scorer in the game. Tough to get anything going when 2/3 of your opponent's goals are assisted. That's an astronomical figure.
It's hard to fault the defense too much. It was a sloppy, sloppy day from all sodes. Ohio State struggled to make basic passes in the clearing game, on offense, in transition, pretty much all over the field. Every time it looked like the defense secured a turnover, a call or missed pass gave Maryland another opportunity.
Alec van de Bovenkamp had a poor day, but it's tough to stop shots from 5 feet. The new OC in College Park is absolutely loving his new role. It's tough to get canned, but Bobby Benson should have been snapped up by any number of programs before Maryland had an opening. Including Ohio State.
Offensively, the Buckeyes were bad. And it's honestly not a schematic thing. The team has evolved in terms of X's and O's. The style of offense they're trying to run is better with shooters in the midfield and superior dodgers at attack. Ohio State isn't set up that way. The Buckeyes have zero dodgers who can beat their man consisteny, no matter the opposition.
Johnny Wiseman is good against mid-tier defenders, but found no room. Grant Mitchell is more fast than quick, and is probably not suited to the high- and mid-wing dodges we saw today. Griffin Hughes does well there, but he's drawing a pole these days. Mitchell Pehlke can't dodge past Big Ten defenders at the top level. He would be a good interior attackman or middie, I think.
Johnny Wiseman did have two goals today, tying for the team lead. Tre Leclaire had 2 goals and 1 assist lead the Buckeyes in points. Jack Myers had two goals, and Jackson Reid had a goal and an assist. Tough sledding for everyone.
Point is, the Buckeyes are in transition. Again. I truly feel like they're getting guys in they need, especially in the 2022 class. But some of these ranked players need to hit at middie. Not sure if any can. We can hope, though.
At the faceoff dot, Justin Inacio went 16-29. There were several wins, though, that immediately were wasted as Ohio State couldn't get a handle on a pass or committed some imaginary infraction that resulted in a turnover. Enough to win the game if the teams were more balanced in talent, but nothing Inacio could do.
A bad, but expected, loss. There's not a lot you could have expected the Buckeyes to do to pull out the upset. No disrespect intended for JL Reppert, but Bobby Benson is a much better coach schematically, and the Terps are humming on O. Ohio State has a pretty good freshman SSDM, and two good poles on the field at any one time. That is not a great recipe for success against Rutgers and Maryland this year.
Penn State in the finale on Saturday.
Go Bucks!
