Whew. What a ride. Ohio State wins multiple national championships in a single day. Winter sports are still rolling. And now eyes turn to spring. There’s been a break in content for a while, as lacrosse was not exactly hopping during the football season. But now, lacrosse teams around the country are gearing up for what should be an utterly fascinating 2025 season.
The behemoth of Notre Dame has been hobbled with the graduation of Pat Kavanagh, though the program remains dangerous with Chris Kavanagh still in South Bend. Maryland is retooling, Syracuse is looking to return to its old form, and Johns Hopkins is fighting to resume its place among the elite. Through it all, Ohio State is looking to get back on track. And boy howdy, is there a LOT to unpack as we kick off the season preview. As in past years, I’m going to go through personnel changes, then individual units.
And we’ll leave a Big Ten preview for just before the season starts. Say what you will about the program, but the one thing Ohio State lacrosse never fails to be is interesting.
Personnel
Everything is different. The entire team, it feels like, has turned over from last year. I think, at last count, it was approaching 50% of the roster turning over. Tons of players walked out the door, with eager replacements matriculating to Columbus in search of glory. Let’s run down the returners first.
In one of the most interesting, if not predictable, turns of fate, Ohio State is actually in exceptional shape when it comes to offense. Statistically. Six of Ohio State’s top 8 point scorers from last season return for 2025. The Buckeyes return the top 6 goalscorers from last season as well. The past few years started with questions about who will score goals.
That’s not really the case this season. Depth at all six offensive spots is actually pretty robust. It will be a bloodbath to get a starting attack spot this season.
It's the defense that will be in serious trouble from an experience standpoint, mostly at midfield. Ohio State returns 2 players with serious experience in the rotation. Blake Eiland, who I will never stop insisting should be on offense full time, and Greg Langermeier are back for the Buckeyes in an SSDM rotation that is going to have some serious issues to resolve by the time big parts of the nonconference schedule roll around.
We’ll dig into the replacement pieces, but I remain unimpressed by the moves here from the staff. The weakest spot on the team is not the SSDMs. But it’s close.
At close defense, the Buckeyes lose stalwart Jake Snyder, who anchored the defense for much of his career. Close defense has actually been the deepest part of the team, with high school recruits really making a statement for the past few years. This season, Bobby van Buren, who has really struggled to be healthy his entire career, will look to have a great end to his collegiate career.
Flanking him will be Cullen Brown, who has developed really, really well, and likely Kyle Foster, who I would imagine slides down from LSM to take over the spot vacated by Marcus Hudgins’ graduation. That’s 3 really solid options, with van Buren likely a true difference maker, if he can keep his body from breaking down.
In goal, Caleb Fyock returns, and is going to try to build on his stellar freshman season. It’s a crime he wasn’t national freshman of the year. I don’t care what anyone says. He had freshman mistakes, but Fyock is easily the best Ohio State goalie since 2017 to man the cage. This team will need him even more than last year.
Faceoff is probably the weakest spot on Ohio State’s roster. Tommy Burke, who disappeared against top teams, has graduated, with Jack Oldman the lead-pipe lock starter at faceoff on February 1. Oldman seemed to come into his own late in the year, although he was struggling to get to 50% in conference play.
If Oldman took a step this offseason, the faceoff group will have improved dramatically. If not, then the Buckeyes are going to have to hope that they can find some ways to get turnovers, because it’ll be a long year against the Big Ten otherwise.
Moving onto newcomers, Ohio State brought in its best offensive group in years for this season. Probably ever, at least in one offseason. Liam White, a 5-star offensive middie who is a Buckeye legacy, looks to have seized a significant role in the offense. From the very limited information I have seen, White is going to be another off-ball player, but he looks to have already settled into the rotation. That’s impressive, given the number of transfers that have come in.
Speaking of which, the Buckeyes’ transfer class is loaded on offense. Griffin Turner, Ryan Donnery, Shane O’Leary, and Mason Bregman all moved from lower tier programs to Columbus this year. O’Leary and Turner are midfielders, while Donnery and Bregman are attackmen.
All 4 will figure to be heavily featured, though most will likely run through the box, regardless of position. None of these players are dominant dodgers, but that’s just been a perpetual sore spot for Ohio State since Jack Jasinski graduated.
Defensively, the Buckeyes brought in a DIII All-American SSDM in Braden Glushakow, who won a title with Salisbury in 2023. That’s a really, really good addition. I’m not sure how well his game translates to the Big Ten, but I’m going to be optimistic for a change. You can’t make a better move than adding a seasoned, elite player from a program, even if that program plays at a lower level. Hopefully it works well. Corey O’Connor, a transfer from High Point, is also joining the Buckeyes for 2025. O’Connor will, in my opinion, likely start at LSM come February 1.
Either way, the Buckeyes did their best to address some defensive holes in the roster through the portal. I don’t believe any of the freshman poles will play much this year, so we’ll move into the units individually.
Attack
The attack and midfield configurations are a literal crapshoot at this point. Ohio State has Jack McKenna, Garrett Haas, Alex Marinier, Ryan Donnery, Ed Shean, Mason Bregman, and Tate Jones all listed at attack. McKenna, Haas, Marinier, Shean, and Jones all registered points and saw time last year in the Scarlet and Gray. Haas was adjusting to college lacrosse after two years away from the game, and likely will push for more time this season. McKenna turned into the Buckeyes’ primary dodger down the stretch, with mixed results. Marinier was the big gun offball at attack.
Shean may be the Buckeyes’ best scorer, even though his game is a bit too hybrid between on and off ball. We don’t know anything about the transfers when it comes to Big Ten play. Quint Kessenich mentioned Ohio State doing two attack lines as essentially co-starting units in the fall. That tells me there’s not a lot of difference coming into 2025. Until the Virginia game, we’ll not have a good grasp on who is for real here, and who is just not good enough. I think the experienced players will have an early advantage here. The order is just a guess. But I’ll predict it anyway.
Utah starting unit: Jack McKenna, Ed Shean, Alex Marinier.
Midfield
Midfield is even more of a mess than attack, for prognosticating. Ari Allen has moved from offensive middie to SSDM, per USA Lacrosse Mag. More on that later. Ben Mayer, who was an attackman last year, is now a middie. Liam White, Ohio State’s best signee on offense since Tre Leclaire, looks to be in the mix for minutes. Griffin Turner comes in from Hofstra, having dished out 28 assists last year.
Dillon Magee is back, after a down year. Gannon Matthews, Ohio State’s best midfielder last season, returns for his senior year. Shane O’Leary also joins the ranks. Again per the USA Lacrosse Mag preview, Blake Eiland seems like he’s going to be pushed into more offensive sets this season after last year’s breakout run. Frankly, this may be the best offensive midfield unit in years for the Buckeyes.
And, from past experience, I would wager two or more attackmen will run on midfield lines to get different matchup opportunities this season. There’s serious talent, with loads of experience here. I think there are three options for dodgers here, depending on matchups, which would open up some pretty good lanes for McKenna and Marinier down low. This is, on paper, Myers’ deepest offensive midfield group since 2017.
Matthews is a lead pipe lock to start at offensive middie. Eiland should be here, but I think he’s going to be in the Terefenko role too much to truly be an offensive player. Eiland, really and truly, is a dangerous, good dodger. He’s been the most dynamic ballhandler for the Buckeyes going on 2 years now. Ohio State needs to be stronger than everyone at one spot, and this move would help the Buckeyes do that. Eiland would be able to set up every other piece of the offense for success off the dodge.
Maybe they’ll see that eventually. Dillon Magee seemed to regress a bit last season, and did not produce like he did in his freshman campaign. It’s difficult to pick starters for game one, given the options, but my stab at is below.
Utah Starters: Gannon Matthews, Shane O’ Leary, Ben Mayer.
Faceoff
Jack Oldman is going to be the starter. He’ll probably take 90% of the faceoffs, given Coleman Kraske’s issues last year. Freshman Sean Magtoto is a dark horse for some draws, but it seems unlikely he has much impact in 2025.
Utah starter: Jack Oldman
SSDM
This group is going to be wild after the top two. Blake Eiland will play a lot here, because he’s the best defender on the team with a short stick. Greg Langermeier will play a lot early, as he’s the most experienced. After that, it’s anyone’s guess.
The most shocking thing I saw about the 2025 Buckeyes is that senior Ari Allen will be moving to SSDM. If he is all for it, Ari could be an impact player, starter, and potential All American. Allen is athletically one of the most intimidating players in the country.
He’s just never translated his speed and quickness into dodging success, and doesn’t really have elite shooting or passing. As an SSDM, Allen is going to be raw, but have some great tools to work with. His change of direction is elite, his speed is first class, and he can stick with anyone, if he wants to. We’ll have to find out if Allen embraces his new role against Utah.
Braden Glushakow should be in the top 4, and the second SSDM pairing. I don’t know if J buy him being elite until I see it on the field. But DIII All Americans don’t grow on trees, and there’s elite talent at that level. If Ohio State hits on Glushakow or Ari Allen, this team could be in decent shape defensively. If the Buckeyes whiff, this is a bad season. If Ohio State found two diamonds in the rough, we could be looking at a really nice rebound year. A lot is riding on some very new faces.
Utah Starters: Blake Eiland, Greg Langermeier
Close Defense
This group is settled. Bobby van Buren and Cullen Brown are surefire starters. Either Kyle Foster or Jonny Cool could be the third defenseman, but it leaves the Buckeyes in a great spot either way. Corey O’Connor will get major minutes at LSM. There’s a lot of talent here, too.
Utah starters: Bobby van Buren, Cullen Brown, Kyle Foster, Jonny Cool (LSM)
Goalie
It all starts and stops with Big Tasty.
Utah starter: Caleb Fyock
Schedule
Ohio State did a complete 180 from last year. Instead of scheduling as many tough schools as possible, the Buckeyes are going to do what the Wolverines did a couple of years ago, and play a bunch of lower tier schools to pad their win total. Virginia, Notre Dame, and Denver make the nonconference respectable, but the entire ASUN seems a little excessive for Ohio State to be scheduling.
One or two of those schools, maybe. But all of them? I get wanting to build chemistry, but the 3 teams I mentioned are going to make or break the entire season. Ohio State, outside of 2020’s Big Ten only slate, has never won more than 3 conference games. Never. Ohio State was 1-4 in conference play in 2022 and 2023.
At this point, the Buckeyes are going to be challenged to get to 1-2 against the best three teams in the nonconference slate. Is a win over Denver or Notre Dame, with losses to the other two, going to be enough to offset whatever happens in the Big Ten? It feels unlikely. I would have liked to see Cornell on the slate, as well as a Delaware or High Point.
If the Buckeyes can really take a step or two forward from the past two seasons, the schedule could really be helpful. In a not unreasonable world, Ohio State could finish the noncon at 6-2, and go into the Big Ten tournament at 9-4. One Big Ten Tourney win, and 10-5 Ohio State would have a chance, depending on conference wins. If Ohio State gets to 7-1, losing only to Virginia, this would be a high bubble team if they had a 3-2 Big Ten record, depending on the wins.
I just think a slightly tougher noncon would have been better. I understand wanting to get pieces to mesh, but the Buckeyes didn’t do that last year through 15 games. You have to put the team in the best position possible.
Overview
Holistically, this Ohio State team is completely different from last year. All the problems that were very apparent on offense last year don’t apply to this year’s squad. Depth on offense, even without transfers, was always going to be great this season. Talent is the question.
Defensively, the SSDMs were always going to be a problem.
A lot of major pieces have gotten another offseason together, building chemistry and understanding. Defensively, every starter on close defense will almost certainly have been in the program for at least 3 years. For as many answers as we’ll see, each spawns two questions.
How will the SSDMs shake out? Can Ohio State get results with a bunch of lower tier players that are moving from a small pond into the best college lacrosse in the world? We saw Tommy Burke really struggle with the change.
We also saw Gannon Matthews have struggles too, after a white hot start. Will the 5-star freshman have success? Is Jack Oldman going to be able to win 50° o of his faceoffs against non-ASUN opponents? While the weaknesses of last year have been erased by the turnover, there are no clear solutions to those problems of last season, either. It’s a lot of guessing.
The Buckeyes have, apparently, had some decent success on offense in fallball. Spring scrimmages start up this weekend, and then we’ll see real games come fast and furious. I think the season starts out really strong. No matter their problems, with Fyock in goal and the defense, Ohio State should roll through the ASUN. Utah is decent, as is Air Force. Bryant, coached by a former Buckeye coach, is dangerous. Virginia is likely a rough defeat. No shame in it, Virginia is just on another planet from Ohio State right now.
After that, things get really dicey. Notre Dame lost a Kavanagh, but they’re recruiting better than anyone in the country right now. Full stop. Denver hasn’t lost to Ohio State in ages. Penn State, the Big Ten opener, has beaten the Buckeyes pretty much every year, except for a mauling a couple of years ago when TJ Malone got hurt.
Maryland and Johns Hopkins are dangerous, with Hopkins really knocking on the door of what they once were. Rutgers and the Wolverines are not as good as they have been, especially with some massive personnel losses. We’ll know more as we see the season shake out, but at this point, we know next to nothing. And I’ve been scarred. Massively scarred.
I think Ohio State is likely headed to a 8-7 season, going 5-3 in nonconference play, 2-3 in Big Ten play, winning the Big Ten quarterfinal against Rutgers, and ending on a sour note with a semifinals loss to Maryland or Hopkins. Between Bobby van Buren having a hard time staying healthy, a serious issue at faceoff, and real issues at SSDM, I just think there are too many holes for Ohio State to patch over a whole season.
And then we’ll await the fallout. Hopefully things turn out much better. I will be the happiest man on this forum if that occurs. If it ends up worse, just look out.
Ohio State had its only scrimmage of the preseason this past Saturday. From the scraps of information I’ve found, the Buckeyes performed rather poorly. Owen Duffy lit them up, and the offense scratched out only 12 goals. Unofficially.
Does this mean anything? Maybe. Maybe not. Interesting rumor was that Henry Blake started the game for Ohio State. If it is supposed to be indicative of the future, that’s utterly ludicrous. If this scrimmage was just a final audition, things are different. I do not feel better about the state of the defense after this weekend. We will see how 2025 goes. But I’m gathering my prediction above is more accurate than I’d like it to be. And may be rosier than the Buckeyes deserve. Time will tell.
Go Bucks! Bring on the season!
