That's about all she wrote. Ohio State HAD to have this victory to sniff the national tournament barring an improbable Big Ten Tournament run. To have Denver drop 17 on you is just the final nail in the coffin. This has been a rough year since opening day, and it's just a matter of going through the motions until The Game.
Ohio State and Denver had almost the same number of shots today, but as I mentioned in the preview, Denver makes you take bad looks. The Pios had 18 of their first 21 shots be on goal. That is appalling if you're a Buckeye fan.
Good teams get 60% on cage. Denver got 85%!! How that happens in a DI game is beyond me. Needless to say, that exceptional shooting led to a 10-4 Denver advantage at halftime, which meant the game was effectively over already. Again.
Ohio State allowed Denver's best goalscorers to utterly dominate them, giving up 12 goals to just 2 players. I don't know what happened to the defense, but somebody has to right the ship sooner rather than later.
The biggest weakness for Ohio State remains their defensive midfield. Year after year, this group remains a problem on the whole. Ryan Terefenko papered over so many issues while here. The void after he left was gaping.
Everything runs through that group on D, and they're just never up to the task. I don't know that it gets better next year, either.
The other massive issue for Ohio State was faceoffs. Drew Blanchard didn't play, which meant the shallowest group on the team got absolutely worked by the best FOGO in lacrosse. The Buckeyes didn't win the faceoff battle in any quarter, and that group will need some massive reinforcements in 2024.
The dropoff after Justin Ignacio has been massive, which goes to show just how vital recruiting is at the FOGO position. It's a team game, but the Buckeyes require many more possessions to get wins. It's one fatal flaw among many for the program.
Offensively, it wasn't a banner day. Colby Smith started at attack, but did the most damage of any Buckeye on the field. Have to tip your cap to the 5th-year. Smith scored 4 goals on 9 shots. That will do. Unfortunately, that meant Ed Shean didn't get the ball, and so the super sophomore only got 1 assist on the day.
Kyle Borda got a hattrick on 7 shots, which is better than he had been. Freshman Matt Caputo seems to have cemented a place in the second midfield, going off for 2 goals and an assist.
As a unit, Ohio State shot well for the day (.324), but needed a better defensive outing to hope for a win. And that certainly didn't happen.
At this point, we can hope for a nice Big Ten Tournament run and a win over the Wolverines. That's the best case scenario. Worst case is we see Ohio State crater like Penn State last year.
I am hoping for the former. This team shouldn't be this bad defensively. If they could get to holding teams to just 9.5 goals per game, Ohio State could be Final Four bound. They just can't stop anyone at the Power 3 level (ACC, Big Ten, Big East). Until they learn unit defense, we will continue to see mediocrity.
Big Ten play starts with Rutgers on Saturday. Big time matchup.
Go Bucks.
