We have reached the end on a roller coaster regular season for Ohio State's men's lacrosse team. The Buckeyes have beaten the teams they're supposed to beat, and lost to teams they're supposed to lose to. All except for the Nittany Lions. With the boys in blue and white coming to town, Ohio State has a golden chance to right the biggest wrong of the season.
The last time these teams met, Ohio State was struggling in all facets defensively. Slides were late or non-existent. Goalkeeping was abysmal. Clearing was horrendous. There really wasn't much more that the Buckeyes could have done wrong.
Aside from beating a ranked Buckeye squad, Penn State has seriously struggled the rest of the year. Solitary wins over TTUN and Johns Hopkins followed the Ohio State game, putting Penn State squarely back into pre-Ament territory.
Mac O'Keefe's 2021 has paralleled Tre Leclaire's in so many ways. Excellent goalscorers off-ball, the pair have been givem more ball-carrying responsibilities. That's not really been successful for either player. Each has struggled to score for long periods, and neither has dished out that many assists. Still, Mac O'Keefe remains Penn State's biggest threat.
The only other player of serious note this year has been TJ Malone for the Nittany Lions. Malone and O'Keefe are the only Penn State players in double-digit goals, and that explains so much about why the team struggles. The midfield isn't there right now for Penn State either, and without Ament causing a huge imbalance for the D, goals are hard to come by.
Defensively, Penn State mirrors Ohio State pretty well. The Nittany Lions don't give up that many shots on goal, statistically, but they give up so many more shots per game that teams have been able to drown them. Much like the Buckeye defense has all year. It's a vulnerable unit, if the midfielders in Scarlet and Gray are up for it
Gerard Arceri is still at the faceoff dot, and is above 50%. Justin Inacio has had an up and down season, so he will look to head into tournament play on a high note. About as close a matchup for these two as you can get.
In goal, Colby Kneese and Alec van de Bovenkamp have had decent years, but not spectacular. Kneese is a better than average goalie, and keeps the Nits in games more often than they should theoretically have a chance. Kneese finally was solved in the Buckeyes' previous encounter, but could easily stymie an offense that has sputtered in big games.
Tomorrow's matchup is for essentially all of the Buckeyes' remaining marbles. An NCAA berth requires 3 straight wins right now to attain. If they lose, barring a run to an AQ slot, the Buckeyes won't make the tournament for the 3rd year in a row. That's not good enough anymore.
Fortunately, I think this is a winnable game. It's in Columbus, Penn State is winless away from Panzer, amd the Buckeyes know the deal. Win and survive, lose and they're essentially done. Because Maryland won't go down easy.
Final prediction: Buckeyes 14, Penn State 13 OT.
Go Bucks!
