No. 8 Ohio State Wins Defensive Battle vs. No. 12 Denver, 6-4

Thursday, March 12

Columbus, Ohio

7 p.m.

Ohio State

7-1

Denver

4-2

Denver

Ohio St.

No. 8 Ohio State Wins Defensive Battle vs. No. 12 Denver, 6-4

3/12/2026 10:37:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

COLUMBUS, Ohio – In a matchup between two of the top defenses in the country, the No. 8 Ohio State men’s lacrosse team battled to a 6-4 victory over No. 12 Denver Thursday night at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium.

With the win, the Buckeyes improve to 7-1 on the season and pick up their second win over a ranked opponent this year.

Short Story

Ohio State took the lead three minutes into the game and never allowed Denver to tie the game. Six goals were all the Buckeyes needed to win as the team held the Pioneers to their lowest scoring performance in the series since 2002 with just four goals on the day.

Denver committed 21 turnovers in the game, with the Buckeyes causing eight and forcing another three on shot clock violations. Seven different players caused a turnover, with Dominic Shaw leading the team with two. He also tied with Jackson Walsh and Liam White for the most ground balls by a non-faceoff player on the team.

Junior goalie Caleb Fyock had one of his best games of the season with 10 saves on 14 shots faced.

At the faceoff, Matt Mayfield went 9-for-12 and added a season-best eight ground balls on the day. He also tallied his first career point with an assist in the game.

Offensively, Garrett Haas scored a team-high three points and two goals. Alex Marinier and Walsh also added multi-point games with a goal and assist each.

How it Happened

Ohio State took a 2-0 lead after the first quarter Thursday with goals from Jake Struck and Alex Marinier. The Buckeye defense only allowed Denver five shots in the opening 15 minutes of the game, with Caleb Fyock stopping both shots he faced.
The Buckeyes started the second quarter with a goal seven seconds into the frame from Jackson Walsh off the faceoff win by Matt Mayfield. Denver went on to score the next two goals of the quarter to bring the Ohio State advantage down to one at the half.
Ohio State outscored Denver, 2-1, in the second quarter to extend its lead. The Buckeyes responded to Denver’s two-goal scoring run with a two-goal run of their own with Garrett Haas and Khalif Hocker scoring unassisted in the first eight minutes of the second half.
Mayfield won all four faceoffs in the third quarter with three ground balls in the frame.
Denver scored with 4:10 on the third quarter clock as the Buckeyes took the 5-3 lead with 15 minutes to play.
Both teams were held to just one goal in the fourth quarter Thursday with Haas scoring at 13:47 for the Buckeyes and Denver scoring the final goal of the game at 3:39 for the final 6-4 score in favor of Ohio State.

Up Next

Ohio State opens its 2026 conference schedule next weekend at Rutgers. The Buckeyes and Scarlet Knights meet Saturday, March 21 at 1 p.m. from SHI Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. on B1G+.

#GoBucks