Ohio State
Towson
No. 17 Buckeyes Rally for 7-6 Win at No. 16 Towson – Ohio State Buckeyes
3/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 17, 2015
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 17-ranked Ohio State men’s lacrosse team overcame a 6-3 deficit to post a 7-6 road win at No. 16 Towson Tuesday night at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson, Md. The Buckeyes, now 7-2 on the year, scored the game’s last four games, while shutting out the Tigers (5-3) for the final 27:54, for their seventh win in the last eight games.
“Our men showed a great deal of grit tonight on the road vs. a Top 20 team,” Nick Myers, Ohio State head coach, said. “We grinded when things did not go our way and dug in late to win it in the fourth quarter.”
Ohio State is in a stretch of three games in a week, all vs. ranked teams. The squad, which beat then-No. 3-ranked Denver Saturday, will take on No. 3 Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind., at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on ESPNU.
Buckeye junior Carter Brown had a team-high four goals and five points in the win, with his first-quarter assist the 100th point of his Buckeye career. Redshirt sophomore goalie Tom Carey had 11 saves in the game, including four in the fourth quarter, and graduate student Christopher May won 10-of-16 faceoffs and picked up six groundballs. Junior Ryan Hunter had the gamewinning goal in the fourth quarter, assisted by senior Reegan Comeault.
Towson scored the game’s first two goals and led 3-1 after the first quarter. The Tigers’ Joe Seider opened the scoring at 11:14 and added a second goal at 9:16. Brown passed out to sophomore JT Blubaugh outside the crease and he scored at 8:12 to cut the Tiger lead in half. Jack Adams then tallied for Towson with 3:21 left in the quarter. Shots were 9-7 in favor of the home team in the quarter.
Each team scored twice in the second quarter. Towson took a three-goal lead (4-1) on a Spencer Parks goal at 12:13 before King set up Brown at 10:02. At 5:49 Seider completed his hat trick for a 5-2 Tiger advantage, but just 39 seconds later King found Brown and he turned and scored from the high slot with Ohio State on the man advantage, making it a two-goal game (5-3). Ohio State outshot Towson, 9-8, in the quarter and each team’s goalie made four saves.
Towson’s Ryan Drenner scored at 12:54 of the third quarter to put Towson up by three for the third time (6-3). At 9:26, Buckeye senior Turner Evans found Brown for a second man-up goal at 9:26 and Brown scored an unassisted goal at 4:12 to make it a one-goal game for the first time since the first quarter. The Buckeyes had eight shots, with the Tigers attempting six and Carey making two saves.
Ohio State scored the only goals of the fourth quarter for the win. Freshman Colin Chell came around the cage and scored at 8:15 and just eight seconds later Comeault set up Hunter to put Ohio State in the lead for the first time. Each team had seven shots and Carey stopped all four shots on cage, including two attempts in the final 50 seconds. Ohio State held the Tigers scoreless on a 30-second man-up chance with 1:42 remaining.
The Buckeyes had the edge in shots, 31-30, vs. Towson. Carey played all 60 minutes for Ohio State and had his sixth game with double-digit saves. He has a 7.29 goals-against average and .570 save percentage this season. Towson’s Tyler White made 12 saves in 58 minutes and Matt Hoy did not face a shot in two minutes.
May took all 16 faceoffs for the Buckeyes and won 10, including 9-of-11 in the final three quarters. The Buckeyes picked up 29 groundballs, led by May with six and Brown, Chell, junior Chris Mahoney and freshman Brendan Barger with three each. May has won 103-of-152 (.678) faceoffs this season and has a team-high 73 groundballs.
Ohio State converted 2-of-3 man-up chances and Denver was 0-for-2. Ohio State has not allowed a man-up goal in 10 opponent attempts this season.
Ohio State and Towson entered the game both ranked in the Top 5 nationally in scoring defense – Towson was fourth holding opponents to 7.29 goals a game, while Ohio State was fifth giving up an average of 7.38 goals an outing. Five of the Buckeyes’ games this season (including four of the last five) have been decided by one goal, with the squad 3-2 in those outings.
Brown’s four goals matched his career high, first set Feb. 23, 2013 vs. Marquette. He is second on the team with 16 goals, 11 assists and 27 points this year. King, the Buckeyes’ leading scorer with 21 goals, 14 assists and 35 points, extended his point streak to 45 games (90g, 65a, 155p in the stretch) but had his goal-scoring streak ended at 15 games (36 goals). Chell has a point in all but one game he has played this season and is fourth on the team with nine goals, behind Hunter with 10.
