The Ohio State lacrosse program has been in a really weird state for the past couple of years. Since making a run at a national championship appearance back in 2018, the program has never even come close to returning to the same level of relevance. As an Ohio State fan, this has been disheartening. It has been frustrating to see Michigan come from behind and surpass Ohio State in accolades in less time. Ohio State clearly has all of the resources required to be a consistent NCAA tournament team and compete for Big Ten championships.
Looking back at the 2024 season, this one probably hurt the most. Going 2-8 in the last 10 regular-season games, with one of those wins being against Detroit Mercy, was just devastating. What made it hurt even more was the last three-game stretch featuring a one-goal loss to Maryland, a one-goal loss to Johns Hopkins, and a one-goal loss to Michigan to round out the regular season. Many Buckeye faithful have had nothing really to look forward to except for blind optimism as the team has underperformed in recent years.
Flash forward to today, and it seems like the ship may be headed in a better direction. Kicking off the year with a shocking loss to Utah at home was certainly less than ideal. However, it appears that this was the spark the team needed to really kickstart their year and find their proper adjustments moving forward. Sometimes, an early-season loss helps a team understand where their flaws are that they may have overlooked throughout the fall. Since that loss, the Buckeyes have been on a five-game win streak, all featuring wide margins against Detroit Mercy, Cleveland State, Bellarmine, Air Force, and Virginia.
There are many caveats to take away from this stretch, however. The first is the quality of the opponents, as four of these five teams certainly are not in the upper echelon of Division 1 lacrosse. Secondly, all of these games have been home outings for the Buckeyes, which plays a major factor. They have not been tested on the road yet, nor have they had to travel. That will change in a week and a half when Ohio State has to travel to both South Bend and Denver the following week.
Regardless of the difficulty of schedule or the home-field advantage, there’s no denying that the Buckeyes have made the most of their schedule thus far following the Utah loss. The team currently has the longest winning streak in Division 1 lacrosse and has scored the second-most goals at 88. The offense has certainly been clicking since the Utah loss, but where I’ve been most impressed is on the defensive side of the ball. Over the last five games, the Ohio State lacrosse program has allowed an average of just 5.5 goals per game. Many would call this a fluke due to the quality of the opponents, but they did it against a high-powered Virginia offense. When Ohio State made a run at a national championship years ago, that team was fueled by a lockdown defense.
A lockdown defense stems from great defensive players, which the Buckeyes truly have. Bobby Van Buren and Cullen Brown have been lights out so far this year, which is no surprise to anyone following Big Ten lacrosse. Caleb Fyock has been very consistent between the pipes, putting up a 66% save percentage on the year so far. What might be most impressive about that was his 12 saves for 70% in their last outing against Virginia. Things certainly feel different for the Buckeyes this time around. However, it is worth noting that the team started 4-1 last year before going on their losing skid.
The main difference from last year to this year is that the defense seems poised and veteran compared to years past. I’m not saying this Ohio State lacrosse team can make a run at a national championship, but I wouldn’t count them out as one of the best defensive units in the country. If that is the case, there’s no reason this team cannot win the Big Ten Championship this year.
