Two Ohio State teams could bring home their program's first championship trophy this week: men's lacrosse and women's tennis.
Lacrosse
At one point, the Bucks were down 8-3 to Towson in the NCAA semifinals, but that lead wasn't enough for the Tigers and the Scarlet and Gray staged a huge comeback to win 11-10.
Freshman Tre Leclaire led the team with three goals and four points, but the senior-heavy squad employed plenty of help from its upperclassmen to ensure the win. Seniors Eric Fannell and Austin Shanks each put two goals in, senior Jake Withers won 15-of-25 faceoffs and had 10 groundballs and senior goalie Tom Carey had 10 saves.
In addition, a school-record six Buckeyes were drafted in the Major League Lacrosse draft, including Withers who went inside the top 10 and Fannell as the 13th overall selection. The Ohio Machine have been taking note of the team's success and selected Buckeyes with their sixth, seventh and eighth round picks.
With the win, the Buckeyes will play in the program's first-ever national championship against Maryland. This season, the Bucks have played the Terrapins twice and have split those two games.
The NCAA Championship Game is less than 24 hours away.
— Ohio State Men's LAX (@OhioState_MLAX) May 28, 2017
Look back at how the Buckeyes advanced. #GoBucks #NCAALax https://t.co/PI3qZBkL18
Tennis
In a week where the women's tennis team was eliminated from the NCAA team tournament in a heartbreaker (4-3 loss to Stanford on May 22) and all singles players were knocked out of the singles bracket — including an upset of sophomore No. 1 Francesca Di Lorenzo — it can be hard to find the positive.
Luckily, the duo of Di Lorenzo and senior Miho Kowase are here to make sure you know what it is as the two will be competing for the NCAA doubles championship at 1 p.m. Monday.
This is the program's first-ever appearance in the NCAA doubles championship. You can find more details here and see the live stream of the championship match here.
NCAA Championship match today at 1 p.m. #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/7REVnoO6Hg
— Ohio State W Tennis (@OhioState_WTEN) May 29, 2017
The men's squad also entered the week with high hopes but suffered a loss last Monday and was eliminated from the team tournament.
In the singles bracket, No. 1 seed Mikael Torpegaard and No. 7 seed Hugo Di Feo both seemed poised to make deep runs, but Di Feo suffered a first-round upset loss while Torpegaard was beaten in the round of 16. Freshman JJ Wolf also took part in the singles tournament and was beaten in the first round, but his opponent — North Carolina's William Blumberg — went on to the championship round.
Other Events
Ohio State women's rowing placed fifth at NCAA Championships. The team's best finish in any event was in the 1V4 race, where the Scarlet and Gray placed third.
Ohio State track and field will send eight individuals to the NCAA Championships June 7-10 after impressive performances in the NCAA East preliminaries. The competitors advancing are Rachel Weber (800m run), Deshawn Marshall (200m dash), Zack Bazile (long jump), Nick Demaline (shot put), Champ Page (400m dash), Maggie Barrie (400m dash) and Donovan Robertson (110m hurdles). In addition, the men's 4x400 and 4x100 and the women's 4x400 will also try for a championship in Eugene, Oregon.
Ohio State women's golf advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, but the team was eliminated 3-1-1 by USC.
Upcoming
- May 29 - Men's Lacrosse NCAA Championship vs. Maryland 1 p.m. (Watch the game on ESPN2)
- May 29 - Women's Tennis NCAA Doubles Championship vs. Alabama 1 p.m. (Watch the match live here)
- June 7-10 - Track & Field NCAA Championships (Eugene, Oregon)
