Men’s Lacrosse: Buckeyes snap three-game losing streak, beat Detroit Mercy Titans 16-10

Luke Caputo
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 19:46:36 +0000
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The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team celebrates a goal, beating Detroit Mercy 16-10 on Tuesday at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium. Courtesy I Ohio State Athletics

The Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Detroit Mercy Titans 16-10 Tuesday at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium, putting an end to a reeling three game losing streak.?

The Buckeyes now move to 9-1 against the Titans all-time, winning all of their home games since they first started playing each other in 2011.?

“I think we’re just trying to continue to build on the identity that we’ve established from earlier in the year,” head coach Nick Myers said.

The Buckeyes jumped out to a fast start, scoring two goals just two minutes into the game from junior attacker Jack McKenna and sophomore attacker Matt Caputo.

Detroit Mercy got on the board with a score coming from freshman attacker Sean Donahue, cutting into Ohio State’s lead. Still, the Buckeyes continued on in the first, scoring five more goals in the quarter and establishing a 7-1 lead by controlling faceoffs and forcing Tiger mistakes.

The second quarter featured graduate student Danny Brady starting at goalie in place of freshman starter Caleb Fyock, changing the tone and momentum of the game.

Detroit Mercy capitalized on the substitutions Ohio State made in the second period, allowing the Tigers to put five consecutive goals in the back of the net before the Buckeyes could score again. Brady was swapped out for Fyock at the 3:50 mark.

The Buckeyes held onto their lead despite being outscored five to one in the second period. Freshman faceoff Jack Oldman said the mentality going into this week was how they responded to challenges.

“Coach Myers really harps on how our response is,” Oldman said. “I think this was a great test for us to respond.”

The third quarter immediately kicked off with a goal by McKenna, following a turnover from Detroit Mercy graduate defenseman Kyle Loken within the first two minutes of the half.?

Ohio State’s defense corrected their mistakes from the second quarter, forcing turnovers and shot clock violations from the Titans, controlling the time of possession and correcting earlier mistakes.?

The Buckeye defense was able to stop the Tigers’ scoring for a majority of the third quarter and generate some offense inversely with sophomore attacker Caputo punching in a goal at the 5:46 mark in the quarter, his third of the night.

The Tigers came out with more aggression in the fourth, winning the initial faceoff and scoring two and a half minutes in with a goal from freshman midfielder Lucas Goeller, his first of the season.?

The goal put the Detroit Mercy within two, making the score 11-9 — the tightest it had been since the second quarter.

However, Ohio State’s defense held strong, limiting Detroit Mercy to only four shots on goal and two goals scored in the quarter while forcing 11 turnovers in the second half.

The Buckeyes also dictated faceoff wins and ground balls in the fourth, beating the Tigers in faceoffs 7-1 and in ground balls 13-7.?

“I liked the way we finished the game in the fourth quarter, really strong,” Myers said. “With it being spring break, this a great opportunity for us to just continue to grow and get better.”

The Buckeyes are set to take on No. 5 Denver on Sunday at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium at noon. The game will broadcast on Big Ten Plus.