Around the Oval: Lacrosse Beats Loyola Maryland, Tennis Teams Dominate Round 1 of NCAA Tournament and Women's Rowing Wins Big Ten for Fifth Straight Time

By TJ Neer on May 15, 2017 at 1:05 pm
Ohio State men's lacrosse after a win in Ohio Stadium against Loyola Maryland.
Ohio State Athletics.
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Men's Lacrosse

The squad took to Ohio Stadium with their home field on the line Sunday against Loyola Maryland and did not disappoint. When the dust cleared, the Buckeyes came out victorious, 7-4, over the Greyhounds.

Senior goalie Tom Carey was especially good for the Scarlet and Gray, totaling 12 saves in 60 minutes of action while allowing only four goals. Freshman Tre Leclaire stayed hot with three of the Buckeyes' seven goals.

To round out the scoring, seniors Eric Fannell and Austin Shanks, junior Colin Chell and sophomore Jack Jasinski each added a goal of their own.

While scoring only seven goals seems like it could be cause for concern for the Buckeyes moving forward, the team was able to play stellar defense against one of the top 10 offenses in the country. 

The Scarlet and Gray will take on Duke in the second round of the tournament at noon in Uniondale, New York, May 20.

Tennis

Both teams earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tourney and both teams went out and proved why they deserved it with their impressive first-round performances.

On the men's side, the Bucks swept Butler 4-0 in the first round before advancing to take on No. 42 Louisville in the second round. The Bucks swept both matches, with especially dominant performances coming from senior Herkko Pollanen. Between the two matchups, Pollanen outscored singles opponents 24-3 and, along with partner Mikael Torpegaard, picked up two doubles wins.

The team will take on No. 14 Oklahoma May 18 at noon as they try to advance to the quarterfinals.

The women's team was just as dominant, sweeping Buffalo in the first round before taking Notre Dame to the second round.

Senior Sandy Niehaus had a very impressive week, too, as she collected career singles win No. 100 against Buffalo and career doubles win No. 100 against Notre Dame. With that mark in doubles victories, Niehaus is now the program's all-time leader in doubles wins.

Along with Niehaus, sophomore Francesca Di Lorenzo and senior Miho Kowase captured singles wins against the Fighting Irish to give the Buckeyes a dominant second-round win. In fact, as the match came to an end, the Bucks were leading on all six courts.

The team will take on No. 14 seed South Carolina May 19 at noon in the round of 16.

Baseball/Softball

The baseball team had another disappointing week. Despite the offense being really strong, the team finished with a 1-3 mark against Ball State and Iowa.

Pitching couldn't get anything going against Ball State in the midweek matchup, and the Bucks dropped the matchup 14-4 in their lowest scoring game of the week.

On Friday, the Bucks lost by four runs, 9-5, to Iowa before capturing their lone victory of the week Saturday.

The win was a very impressive showing by the Buckeyes on offense, as the team put up 12 runs. Senior Zach Ratcliff and junior Tre' Gantt each went 4-for-5 with two runs scored while freshman Conner Pohl got his first collegiate home run.

Sunday, the Bucks seemed to be on the right path as Freshman Domonic Canzone knocked in four with a grand slam and Pohl went 4-for-4 with three runs scored, but the team happened to be on the losing end of a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth.

Kicking off Big Ten tournament action Saturday, the softball team looked good with two straight wins over Wisconsin and Michigan State, beating both the Badgers and Spartans by one run each, but were bested by Minnesota in the Big Ten championship game 6-0.

Senior Shelby Hursh fanned a season-high 10 batters in the first-round matchup before a committee of Hursh, sophomore Morgan Ray and junior Shelby McCombs combined to allow only three runs in round 2.

Three Buckeyes were named to the All-Tournament team: Hursh, who finished with a 2.71 ERA in tournament competition, and sophomores Emily Clark and Lilli Piper. Clark finished with a .333 batting average and a perfect fielding percentage at second base while Piper batted .500 on the weekend with a home run.

With the performance, the squad earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as part of the Knoxville Regional group. The Buckeyes will take on South Carolina Upstate in their first matchup on Friday.

Other Events

Ohio State women's rowing is a perennial powerhouse and continued to show that with its fifth straight Big Ten Title over That School Up North Sunday. 

Ohio State men's track & field finished second at Big Ten Championships while the women's squad finished fourth. Deshawn Marshall (100m dash), Champ Page (400m dash), Sade Olatoye (shot put), Nick Demaline (shot put) and both 4x400 relay teams got gold in their events.

Women's golf finished fourth out of 18 at the NCAA Columbus Regional.

Upcoming

May 16

  • Baseball vs. Toledo
  • Men's Golf, NCAA Stanford Regional (Stanford, Calif.)

May 17

  • Men's Golf, NCAA Stanford Regional (Stanford, Calif.)

May 18

  • Men's Tennis vs. Oklahoma (Athens, Ga.)
  • Baseball vs. Indiana

May 19

  • Women's Tennis vs. South Carolina (Athens, Ga.)
  • Softball vs. USC Upstate (Knoxville, Tenn.)
  • Baseball vs. Indiana
  • Women's Golf, NCAA Championships (Sugar Grove, Ill.)

May 20

  • Men's Lacrosse vs. Duke (Hempstead, N.Y.)
  • Baseball vs. Indiana
  • Women's Golf, NCAA Championships (Sugar Grove, Ill.)

May 21

  • Women's Golf, NCAA Championships (Sugar Grove, Ill.)
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