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2012 San Francisco Fall Lacrosse Classic
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Alphabetical 2013 NCAA D1 Preview: Ohio State

Editor’s Note: Please welcome Billy Nguyen to LAS! Billy is a student at Ohio State, and he was the best public school lacrosse player in NYC during his senior year in high school, leading Columbus HS (the Bronx) to their first-ever PSAL Championship. Billy takes a look at the Ohio State Buckeyes, located in Columbus, OH, for our next Alphabetical 2013 NCAA D1 Preview!

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OSU finished their 2012 campaign with an 8-7 record, and ended up in the Top 20 at #19. They were 5-1 against ECAC opponents and 3-6 against non-conference teams. With talent returning, will 2013 be the year the Buckeyes make the NCAA tournament, and go on a deep run into the playoffs?

The Buckeyes have some new faces this year on the coaching staff, as they bring in Jamison Koesterer (bonus info: he was the opposing coach in Crooked Arrows), who was an All-American FoGo, and volunteer coach at John’s Hopkins before coming over. Koesterer will handle the defensive personel. The Buckeyes also welcome in a new strength a conditioning coach Dean Hanson.

The big question mark this year for the Buckeyes has to be the defense. The Buckeyes lost all 3 2012 starting close poles to graduation (Kawamoto, Ochwat, and Bonani) but return juniors Imbordino, Muerer, and Bowling, and bring in a big time transfer (Thomas Klasowki) from Onandaga Community College. Right now it looks like Imbordino, Muerer, and freshman Robby Haus will be the three starters down low. OSU returns with junior Greg Dutton in goal, who was fifth among NCAA D1 goalies with a 7.67 goals against average.

On offense, the Buckeyes return some serious heat and a lot of experience, bringing back some talented Canadian sophomores (King, Commeault, Evans) who helped Team Canada win a silver medal at the 2012 U-19 championships. Last year as freshman, these 3 combined for 40 points, and when you throw in senior attack Logan Schuss, who contributed another 57, that’s 97 points from the boys up North. Not bad for some Canadians, eh?

The Buckeyes will open up their 2013 season with a fairly light schedule facing Detroit, Jacksonville, and then Marquette. Then things really start to pick up after Marquette, as OSU will be tested in a stretch against Penn State, Denver, Virginia, and Notre Dame. These are all away games except for Denver, and this will be a tough run, and true test, for the Buckeyes.

2012 San Francisco Fall Lacrosse Classic

OSU will then round out the rest of the year against Bellarmine, Loyola, Hobart, Michigan, Air Force, and Fairfield. There are some very winnable games on this schedule and I predict that OSU will have a very good year with some close wins, and that could get them into the tournament.

I’m also curious to see what STX and Nike have in store for the Buckeyes this year. Last year’s gloves were great. And greater.

Click HERE to see Alphabetical 2013 NCAA D1 Preview posts for Air Force, Albany, Army, Bellarmine, Binghamton, Brown, Bryant, Bucknell, Canisius, Colgate, Cornell, Dartmouth, Denver, Detroit, Drexel, Duke, Fairfield, Hartford, Harvard, High Point, Hobart, Hofstra, Holy Cross, Jacksonville, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola, Manhattan, Marist, Marquette, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mercer, Michigan, Mount St. Mary’s, Navy, UNC, and Notre Dame!