After a shaky first quarter last week turned into a comfortable win, Ohio State takes the field against Cleveland State tomorrow looking to keep the big wins rolling. Detroit Mercy scored four goals in the first, then three in the final three stanzas as Ohio State cruised to an 18-7 win at home.
This week the Bucks are in the WHAC again for a tuneup against the Vikings, who are very much in a rebuilding year.
Offense
Offensively, Cleveland State lost its best scorer from 2021, and will look to find points from a roster that is very green. Of the 86 goals that were scored last year, 38 were scored by players not on Cleveland State's roster anymore. There are some big holes offensively, but the attack unit will be pretty strong.
Fifth-year Jason Sullivan (#23) scored 6 goals and had 11 assists last year. He will provide a nice facilitating presence, while junior Brendan Sigurdson (#16) will look to build on his 8 goal, 5 assist campaign this spring.
Most likely joining these two at attack will be fifth-year Derek Radke (#7). It will be a tough, but winnable matchup down low for the close D of the Scarlet and Gray.
The biggest midfield threat, who will draw a pole, is going to be senior Nick Polydoras (#48), who had 10 goals in 10 games for the Vikings last year.
Honestly, the Vikings have really taken a downturn with the departure of Dylan Sheridan (who is probably the best coach in America not on a college staff). Fight me on that last part.
The offense was bad, really bad, in 2021. As a unit they averaged 8.6 goals per game, but that's misleading as they scored 30 goals in 2 games against a VMI squad that is just woeful. Take out those two games, and the Vikings are only scoring 7 goals a game against not tremendous competition. The Buckeye defense should be able to smother their northern Ohio opponents.
Defense
Cleveland State started exactly one player on defense every game last year, and he graduated. The Vikings allowed 107 goals in 10 games last year, which obviously isn't great. Their best LSM also graduated in 2021, taking with him 2 goals and 2 assists. This wasn't a good defense last year, and won't be particularly good this year, either.
It's a crapshoot to figure out who starts, but my likely guesses are Tanner Cox (#36), Zachary Galovich (#17), and Jacob Humphreys (#88). This is only a series of guesses, I have no idea who will be there because I don't think the staff knows.
In goal, the Vikings lost last year's starter to points unknown, so yet again I have no idea who ends up starting in the cage. My guess is Gareth Haigh (#3), who it appears may have missed last year due to injury. Regardless, it will be a player with no gametime to fall back on.
If they don't have a glut of turnovers, we should see some pretty solid offense out of Ohio State. No one is matching Wiseman, Hughes, or Allen in midfield.
Faceoffs
This will be Cleveland State's deepest position, as their main FOGO returns for his sophomore season. Evan Moskwa (#40) won 40% of his 167 draws last year, which isn't terribly great.
He will probably fare a lot worse than that as Justin Inacio and Drew Blanchard come to town. It should be make it, take it lacrosse all afternoon.
Special Teams
Buckeyes have a big advantage here, as their pieces are all good, they're coming off a great performance against Detroit Mercy, and Cleveland State replaces pretty much everyone.
This should be an easy game for the Buckeyes. Cleveland State hasn't played a meaningful game yet. The Vikings aren't particularly talented or experienced. It should be a long day for the reserves.
Final prediction: Ohio State 20, CSU 9.
Go Bucks!
