Buckeyes at Inaugural ECAC Tournament – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/5/2011 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
OHIO STATE at 2011 ECAC Tournament Semifinals – Thursday, May 5 #2 Loyola vs. #3 Fairfield – 4 p.m. MT/6 p.m. ET #1 Denver vs. #4 Ohio State – 7 p.m. MT /9 p.m. ET Championship – Saturday, May 7 – 11 a.m. MT/1 p.m. ET Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, Denver, Colo.
BUCKEYE QUICK SHOTS • This week marks the inaugural ECAC Tournament. Regular season champion Denver is the tourney host, but the site of the championship was predetermined. The winner of the four-team tournament earns the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. • Sophomore Logan Schuss leads the Buckeyes with 31 goals, 19 assists and 50 points. He has 106 points in 29 career games to rank 24th in program history and has at least one point in each collegiate contest. He is in the Top 20 in the NCAA in points and goals per game. • The Buckeyes had four players named to the All-ECAC teams, led by ECAC Defensive Player of the Year Matt Kawamoto. Kawamoto and Logan Schuss were first team all-conference selections, while Dominique Alexander and Joe Bonanni earned second-team spots. • Ohio State, led by defensive starters Matt Kawamoto, Joe Bonanni and Keen an Ochwat, is 14th in the NCAA in team defense and 18th in man-down defense.
OHIO STATE LACROSSE THIS WEEK The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team (8-7, 3-3/t-3rd ECAC) travels to Denver, Colo., this week for the inaugural ECAC tournament. The tournament winner earns the league’s automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
Ohio State, the No. 4 seed in the tourney, will take on No. 1 seed and ECAC regular-season champion Denver at 7 p.m. MT/9 p.m. ET Thursday in the semifinals. No. 2 Loyola will face No. 3 Fairfield in the first semifinal at 4 p.m. MT/6 p.m. ET. The championship game will be at 11 a.m. MT/1 p.m. ET Saturday. All games will be in Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium in Denver.
Denver, the tournament’s host school, will carry a free video stream of both semifinals on its website, denverpioneers.com. The championship game will be televised live by ESPNU and streamed online at ESPN3.com. Live stats for Ohio State games can be linked from the men’s lacrosse schedule page at OhioStateBuckeyes.com.
The tournament central website, with links to live stats, video and ingame blogs, can be found by clicking http://go.osu.edu/ECACTourney11. Each coach will hold a short press conference Thursday, with a live stream available through the tournament website. The press conference begins at 11:45 p.m. MT/1:45 p.m. ET.
BUCKEYE SNAPSHOT Ohio State, which wrapped up the regular season with a 13-7 win over Bellarmine last Saturday, is 8-7 on the year and tied for third in the ECAC with a 3-3 record.
The team is averaging 9.73 goals a game, while allowing 7.87 to rank 14th nationally. The Buckeyes, who average 32.6 shots a game, have a 29.9 shooting percentage, ranking 18th in the country. The team is 13-for-46 (.283) on man-up chances and 33-for-45 (.733) on man-down defense, ranking 18th nationally.
The squad is led in scoring by sophomore Logan Schuss who has a team-high 31 goals, 19 assists and 50 points. Sophomore Jeff Tundo is second with 23 goals and 35 points and freshman Tyler Frederick is second with 14 assists, ranking third in goals (16) and points (30). Sophomore Dominique Alexander is fourth in goals (15), assists (8) and points (23).
Freshman Greg Dutton has started 14 games in the cage and has an 8.15 goals-against average and .525 save percentage. Freshman Shawn Kaplan has won 93-of-179 faceoffs (.520) and has a team-best 49 groundballs, while sophomore Trey Wilkes has won 48-of-98 faceoffs (.490 percent). Junior Keenan Ochwat is second with 33 groundballs, followed by redshirt junior Matt Kawamoto and freshman Joe Meurer with 28 each. Ochwat is 18th nationally averaging 1.79 caused turnovers a game.
BUCKEYES HONORED Four Buckeyes were honored by the ECAC when the year-end awards were announced Tuesday. Redshirt junior Matt Kawamoto was voted the ECAC Lacrosse League Defensive Player of the Year and was joined by sophomore attacker Logan Schuss on the all-conference first team. Sophomore midfielder Dominique Alexander and junior defenseman Joe Bonanni both earned spots on the All-ECAC second team.
Kawamoto was a second team All-Great Western Lacrosse League selection in 2009 before missing most of the 2010 campaign with an injury. Schuss has been named to the All-ECAC first team each of his first two years. Alexander and Bonanni were both honored for the first time.
BUCKEYES PICK UP FINAL WEEKLY AWARDS After the Buckeyes’ win over Bellarmine to wrap up the regular season, sophomore Dominique Alexander and freshman Shawn Kaplan both earned ECAC player of the week honors Monday. Alexander was the league’s offensive player of the week for the second time in 2011, while Kaplan is now a two-time rookie of the week.
Alexander had three goals, two ground balls and a caused turnover in the Buckeyes’ 13-7 triumph at Bellarmine. The win clinched the last playoff spot in the upcoming ECAC tournament for Ohio State. In leading the offense, Alexander gave the Buckeyes a 2-0 lead in the first quarter and scored twice in the third quarter, with his goal at 9:30 giving Ohio State a 9-4 advantage. His man-down goal at 11:42 of the third was the first such tally for the Buckeyes since Ohio State had three in 2008.
Kaplan won 13-of-18 faceoffs for a .722 success rate and had a team-best, career high-tying eight groundballs in the win at Bellarmine Saturday. He was 3-1 in both the first and second quarters, helping Ohio State to a 6-3 halftime lead. The 13 faceoff wins were one short of his career best.
In all, Ohio State was honored with eight ECAC player of the week honors in 2011. In addition to the two awards earned by both Alexander and Kaplan, goalie Greg Dutton was a three-time rookie of the week and Jarred Bowman was named the league’s offensive player of the week Feb. 21. In addition, Logan Schuss was the Nike national player of the week Feb. 21.
OHIO STATE VS. DENVER Ohio State leads the all-time series with Denver, 11-6, with a 4-4 ledger in Colorado. The squads met earlier this season at INVESCO Field in Denver, an 11-6 win for the Pioneers. The last time the teams met at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium, Denver’s home field, was in 2009, a 16-10 Buckeye victory. The series began in 1993 and the teams have since met each year since 1997. PIONEER POINTS Denver, ranked No. 5/6 in the national polls, enters the game 11-2 on the year and won the ECAC regular-season title with a 6-0 mark. The squad is third nationally in scoring offense averaging 12.85 goals a game and is fifth in man-up offense (.456). The Pioneers are allowing 8.46 goals a game and have won 57.6 percent of their faceoffs.
Mark Matthews, the ECAC Offensive Player of the Year, leads the team with 38 goals and 58 points, ranking in the Top 4 in the country in both categories. Alex Demopoulos is third in goals (23), second in points (46) and first with 23 assists, followed by Matthews with 20 assists on the year. Todd Baxter is second with 23 goals and third with 16 assists and 41 points. Chase Carraro has won 173-of-288 faceoffs (.601) and is first on the team with 80 groundballs. Jamie Faus has played 13 games in goal, starting 12, and has an 8.28 goals-against average and .526 save percentage.
NO. 18 Logan Schuss leads the Buckeyes with 50 points, 31 goals and 19 assists this season, ranking 12th nationally in points per game (3.57) and 20th in goals per game (2.21). He is second in the ECAC in points per game, third in goals per game and fourth in assists per outing.
Schuss’ first-quarter assist against Fairfield April 23 was the 100th point of his Buckeye career. After a three-point game vs. Bellarmine with two goals and an assist, Schuss now has 106 career points, with 62 goals and 44 assists, ranking 24th in program history for points. He is believed to be the first Buckeye to reach the 100-point mark as a sophomore. All-time 25 Buckeyes have hit the century mark, with the most recent James Green from 2007-10.
Schuss is on a 29-game point streak, ranking 13th in the country among current players, and has three or more points in nine of 14 games this year, including six points, with three goals and three assists, vs. Lehigh March 8, a five-goal game at UVA March 19 and seven points, with four goals and three assists, vs. Hobart April 9. Schuss leads the ECAC with three game-winning goals, including the gamewinner in triple overtime at Penn State March 5.
STREAKERS Sophomore Logan Schuss extended his point streak to 29 games (each game of his collegiate career) with three points at Bellarmine and has 106 points in the stretch. He has multiple points in 13 games this season, with two or more goals in 10 games. It is tied for the 13th-longest current point streak in the nation, with 62 goals, 44 assists and 106 points in the stretch.
Freshman Tyler Frederick has at least one point in each of his last 13 games and has 10 points in his last three games combined, including a four-point outing Saturday at Bellarmine. Sophomore Dominique Alexander is on a three-game scoring streak (6g, 1a, 7p) and has points in nine of his last 10 games, with a hat trick at Bellarmine. Sophomore Jeff Tundo has at least one goal and point in all 12 games this year. He has six multiple-goal games and three games with two helpers. Tundo had a team season-high six goals and eight points vs. Mercer Feb. 12, tying for ECAC single-game highs. Freshman Michael Italiano has points in back-to-back games and at least one point in five of his last six outings.
NOTING THE WIN AT BELLARMINE • Freshman Tyler Frederick had a career high three goals vs. the Knights Saturday, his third-consecutive multiple-goal game. He added an assist for a four-point game. • Redshirt junior Matt Kawamoto opened the scoring with his first career goal, tallying in his 46th game at Ohio State. • Senior Zach Boyt had the first two-goal and two-point game of his career. He has a career-high four goals and six points this year. • Junior Eddie Bambino had a goal and an assist for two points, his first points since Feb. 12 vs. Mercer. • Sophomore Dominique Alexander had his second hat trick of the year and fifth multiple-point outing in the last 10 games. He scored a man-down goal, the first for the Buckeyes since Ohio State had three in 2008 (Jeff Ryan, Kevin Buchanan, Chris Friel). • The 49 shots the Buckeyes attempted vs. the Knights were a season high for Ohio State, led by Logan Schuss with 10 and Tyler Frederick with nine.
BUCKEYE THIS AND THAT • Ohio State has held opponents to five or less goals five times this year. The squad, led by defensive starters Joe Bonanni, Keenan Ochwat and Matt Kawamoto, is limiting opponents to 7.87 goals a game. • Freshman Shawn Kaplan has won 37-of-54 (.685) faceoffs in the last three games combined and has 21 groundballs in the stretch. For the year, he is 93-of-179 (.520) and is first on the squad with 49 ground balls. • Junior Keenan Ochwat leads the team with 25 caused turnovers this year (more than half of the 42 he has in his career) and leads the ECAC in caused turnovers per game. • Junior Brock Sorensen has a team-high five man-up goals this year (on six shots), giving him a career high in goals. • Freshman goalie Greg Dutton has started the last 14 games and has double-digit saves in five of his last 10 games, including a career-best 14 vs. Hobart and 12 at both Albany March 12 and at Notre Dame March 23. He is third in the ECAC with an 8.15 goals-against average. • Tyler Frederick leads the Buckeye freshmen in goals (16), assists (14) and points (30). Classmate Michael Italiano is second with seven goals and 11 points. Joe Meurer is first for the rookies with 28 groundballs, while Greg Dutton has started 14 games in the cage. In all, 12 Buckeye rookies have seen game action this year. • The Buckeyes hosted the fourth-annual Showdown in the Show April 23 vs. Fairfield in Ohio Stadium. The attendance of 12,317 was the third-largest for an on-campus game this year, behind only Virginia at Syracuse in March and Notre Dame at Syracuse last week. • Ohio State has played three games against teams ranked in the Top 3 at the time of the game this season. The squad defeated then-No. 3 North Carolina Feb. 19, lost at No. 2 Virginia March 19 and fell at then-No. 3 Notre Dame March 23. Notre Dame is currently ranked first by Inside Lacrosse, with Virginia No. 9 and North Carolina No. 10.
BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR The Buckeye Lacrosse Family lost one of its own in March when Colleen Dobbins, the daughter of assistant coach Dave Dobbins and his wife Erin, passed away. That day, Colleen became an organ donor and saved the lives of two other infants.
Last year approximately 28,000 Americans received a life-saving organ transplant and more than one million Americans received a life-changing tissue transplant. When just one individual makes the decision to donate, they can save eight lives and heal more than 50 others. Right now only 52 percent of Ohioans and 55 percent of Americans are registered donors. The Buckeye Lacrosse Family encourages everyone to change that statistic – register to be an eye, organ or tissue donor today by visiting donatelife.net and give hope to those who wait.
The Buckeyes are wearing decals with Colleen’s initials (CJD) on their helmets in her memory. During the Showdown in the Shoe game vs. Fairfield the lacrosse players wore green strips on their socks to help raise awareness of the need for registered organ donors.
SMART (AND HELPFUL) ONES At the annual Ohio State Scholar-Athlete Dinner in May, a program-record tying 28 Buckeye men’s lacrosse players will be honored. As a team the Buckeyes posted a 3.22 grade-point average in winter quarter and the squad’s cumulative grade-point average as a team is 3.08.
The team has combined for nearly 600 hours of community service during the school year.
A SPECIAL BUCKEYE The Buckeyes have had a special member on the sideline throughout this season. JJ Snider, a fourth grader, was adopted by the team through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, a non-profit, charitable organization formed in 2005 that improves the quality of life for children with pediatric brain tumors and their families. JJ and his family – his parents Jodi and Mike, sisters Mary and Joanna and brothers Rudy and Michael – have spent time with the team throughout the year.
THE BUCKEYE CAPTAINS Five Buckeyes have been selected captains for Buckeyes this season, including seniors Jarred Bowman, Conor David, Scott Lathrop and Bryce Woodson and junior Brock Sorensen. The captains were selected by a vote of their teammates and the five selected were part of a group of players who indicated an interest in leading the team before practice began and auditioned throughout fall camp.
ON THE SIDELINES Nick Myers is now in his third year as the head coach of the Buckeyes. He is joined by Andrew Baxter, also in his third year with the squad, and Dave Dobbins, who is in his second campaign. The newest addition to the staff is Patrick DeBolt, who joins the team as the volunteer assistant coach after spending last year with NCAA champion Duke as its volunteer. DeBolt is a 2009 graduate of Hofstra and spent time as an undergraduate assistant with the team. Mark Bergey is in his second year as the team’s director of operations.
FOLLOW THE BUCKEYES Keep up with the Buckeyes online at OhioStateBuckeyes.com, the official website of Ohio State athletics. Weekly and special releases, updated season and career statistics, links to live stats and audio and video streams and more can all be found on the site. In addition, the men’s lacrosse team has a Twitter feed which is updated during the week and in-game. Visit Twitter.com/OhioState_MLAX to follow the squad.
