Ohio State excellence is not exclusive to the football field or the basketball court. Around the Oval is our way of keeping you updated on what's happening with some of the other sports on campus.
Tobacco rolled
The Ohio State men's lacrosse team headed into this weekend's showdown with No. 5 North Carolina unranked and as a decisive underdog, but left with a massive non-conference win to start the season.
The Buckeyes absolutely crushed the Tar Heels in Chapel Hill by a lopsided score of 20-8.
Victory!
— Ohio State Men's LAX (@OhioStateMLAX) February 20, 2022
Huge team win down in Chapel Hill.
11 Different goal scorers
22 Faceoffs
12 Saves #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/AVz8JzUOrD
The game was actually close at the half with Ohio State leading just 6-5, but the Buckeyes took over in the second half, outscoring North Carolina 14-3 to pull off the blowout upset on the road.
It was a well-rounded effort as 11 different Buckeyes scored with six different players scoring multiple goals. Former Tar Heel goalie Caton Johnson also had a big game, notching 12 saves against his former team.
After the big win, Ohio State leapt from unranked all the way to No. 8 in the latest media poll. The Buckeyes are now the third-highest-ranked team in the Big Ten behind top-ranked Maryland and No. 5 Rutgers.
Senior Day sweep
The No. 2 Ohio State women's hockey team finished the regular season right, sweeping No. 3 Wisconsin in two games this weekend to close out the year. With the win, the Buckeyes also set a new program record for wins in a single season.
SENIOR DAY SWEEP #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/BLjLgo1wA4
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) February 19, 2022
The Buckeyes close the regular season 25-6, behind only Minnesota in both the national and conference rankings, and have been led this season by probably the most dominant and versatile player in the country, Sophie Jaques, who notched another goal on Friday as part of Ohio State's 5-1 win over the Badgers.
Just a lil @_sophiejaques stat update for your Friday afternoon...
— Ohio State Women's Hockey (@OhioStateWHKY) February 18, 2022
Headed into this evening's regular season finale, she leads the nation with 1.79 points per game... AS A DEFENSEMAN #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/wDvzcBnMKY
The Buckeyes now head to the WCHA Playoffs as the tournament's No. 2 seed. Ohio State will take on No. 7 seed St. Cloud State in a best-of-three series this weekend on the Buckeyes' home ice.
Call it a comeback
The Buckeye baseball team officially kicked off its season this weekend – on the road, of course – and took a perfect record into Monday, but not without quite a bit of drama on Sunday.
Playing in the Snowbird Classic down in Port Charlotte, Florida, Ohio State handled its first two games with relative ease, beating Marshall 15-4 and Indiana State 9-3. But the second game against the Sycamores got a little dicey.
Indiana State took an 8-0 lead into the fifth inning, but the Buckeyes rallied, pushing across nine unanswered runs highlighted by a five-run eighth inning to take a 9-8 lead into the bottom of the eighth. From there, preseason All-American TJ Brock handled business, notching a two-inning save to clinch the victory.
Ohio State will close out its Snowbird Classic schedule with an afternoon showdown with BYU at 12:30 p.m. Monday.
