Thanks nearly entirely to the efforts of Jack Myers and Jackson Reid, the Buckeyes escaped with a two-goal win over Johns Hopkins at home. The offense on the whole sputtered, the faceoff group was inconsistent, and goalie play was poor until Q4, but the season continues to have meaning still.
Were it not for Jackson Reid posting 5 goals and 1 assist, Ohio State would be rueing another season wasted. Reid was lights out, posting a .500 shooting percentage and finding all the right spots in the Hopkins D. Jack Myers posted 4 assists, most of them to Reid, to flay open a Johns Hopkins team that is 100% out of the national tournament. Again.
The supporting cast was not exactly on fire. They did enough to win, but posting a .272 shooting percentage won't win any awards. For long stretches, especially early, the O stagnated. Not going to beat good teams like that.
On the plus side, the offense was in rare form on turnovers. The Buckeyes, usually good for close to 20 a game, only committed 9 turnovers. That's a trend you like to see, although against Hopkins you're not seeing a lot to rag about.
Defensively, the Buckeyes were pretty stout outside of goalkeeper. Johns Hopkins was under 25% shooting on the day, and fewer than half of their 41 shots were on goal. Even though the unit is poor, Johns Hopkins has enough pieces to feel good about this accomplishment.
Garrett Degnon got a hat trick for Hopkins, but it took him 11 shots to do so. You will take volume shooting every day of the week. Former top 10 prospects Epstein and Grimes were scoreless today. Shows how hard it is to project lacrosse talent.
All in all, the defense made a big difference in the outcome, which is all ypu can ask of a unit. Goalkeeper was a different matter.
In the 4th quarter, Skylar Wahlund came alive. He had 3 big saves to keep the Buckeyes in it. But man, the years-long search for a difference-maker between the pipes is getting old. Wahlund was under 50% yet again at .444 on the day. Next week is going to be a rough outing. I can already feel it.
Faceoff was a mixed bag today, again. Inacio was excellent early, good late, and pretty bad in the middle quarters. Ended up at 56% for the day, which is above average. Not his usual dominant self anymore. But there's no one to replace him.
Special teams were invisible today, for the most part. No goals were on the Man Up for OSU, but only one goal was scored on the Buckeyes while Man Down. Simultaneously as useless and useful as a group can be.
This week was about not losing. Ohio State successfully did so. There's nothing to worry about next week, as there's literally zero chance of a Buckeye upset. But there's also nothing to lose. The outcome next week will essentially zero impact on the Buckeyes. It's all to play for against the Wolverines to end the regular season.
Enjoy a solid week, we'll hope for a miracle next Saturday, but it all comes to a head on the 23rd. Bucks are in 3rd place, coasting to the Big Ten Tournament. For now.
Go Bucks!
