Ohio State, Penn State Meet in Top 10 B1G Tilt Saturday

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The No. 6 Ohio State men's lacrosse team begins its quest to keep the Creator's Trophy in Columbus with a top 10 matchup against No. 9 Penn State this weekend in Columbus. The Buckeyes (8-1, 1-0 B1G) and Nittany Lions (5-3, 1-0 B1G) meet Saturday, March 28 at 4 p.m. from Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium.

The game will be televised on Big Ten Network with Jack Kizer and former Buckeye Mitchell Pehlke ('23) on the call. Live statistics will be available on OhioStateBuckeyes.com.

Buckeyes In a Nutshell

The Buckeyes are back on home turf after a 6-5 overtime win against Rutgers last weekend in New Jersey to open the 2026 conference season. Khalif Hocker scored twice in the fourth quarter to send the game to overtime and the Buckeyes needed just nine seconds to win the game off a faceoff win by Jack Oldman and an Alex Marinier goal. Jack Allen made 10 saves in his first career win for the Buckeyes and Cullen Brown caused a season-high four turnovers.
Allen and Brown were named to the USILA Team of the Week and Big Ten players of the week for their performances in the victory over the Scarlet Knights.
Ohio State moved up to sixth in the USILA coaches poll this week. The Buckeyes are receiving 415 total points in the poll. The team has been ranked in the top 10 every week of the 2026 season.
The Buckeye defense leads the country with 6.33 goals against on the year and has not allowed an opponent to double-digit goals this year. In goal, Caleb Fyock is 7-1 on the year with a .582 save percentage and Allen is 1-0 with a .727 save percentage. Close defenseman Cullen Brown has caused a team-high 16 turnovers this season and short stick defensive midfielder Dominic Shaw has 10 on the year.
Ohio State is also top five in the country with a .915 clearing percentage, .612 faceoff win percentage and .522 man-up offense. Individually, Fyock's 6.61 goals-against average ranks second nationally and his save percentage is fifth best.
Ohio State's leading scorers Garrett Haas and Alex Marinier were second round additions to the 2026 Tewaaraton Award Watch List this week. Both attackmen have 19 goals on the year for the Buckeyes and are top 10 in the conference with 2.11 goals per game. Ohio State now has five players on the watch list for the Tewaaraton, with Haas and Marinier joining Brown, Fyock and Bobby Van Buren.
Ohio State's faceoff tandem of Jack Oldman and Matt Mayfield have helped the Buckeyes to the best faceoff percentage in the conference (.612) and fourth best mark in the country. Oldman 62.5 percent while Mayfield is 58.4 percent, both top 20 win percentages nationally. Oldman and Mayfield are second and third, respectively, in the Big Ten in ground balls per game.
Head coach Nick Myers is in his 18th season leading the Scarlet and Gray. In his Ohio State career, he has led the team to a 153-111 record. He is assisted by associate head coach Travis Crane and assistant coaches James Purpura and Justin Tuma.
The team is captained by Cullen Brown, Blake Eiland, Taji Flynn, Alex Marinier and Bobby Van Buren.

The Creator's Trophy

Saturday is the first game of the Creator's Trophy series. The trophy was established in 2012 by Ohio State men's lacrosse head coach Nick Myers and his counterparts at Michigan (John Paul) and Penn State (Jeff Tambroni) and is contested annually between the three schools who were the only programs in the Big Ten at the time.
The Buckeyes will host both of their Creator's Trophy games this season with the matchup against Penn State this weekend and the game against Michigan set for April 17 in Columbus.
The trophy currently resides in Columbus, with the Buckeyes winning the trophy back in 2025. Ohio State has won the trophy four times.
A team that earns a 2-0 record against the other programs will take ownership of the trophy each spring and have its name and the year inscribed. If two teams earn a 1-1 record, the trophy will go to the head-to-head winner. If all teams finish 1-1, then no team or year will be recorded on the trophy and it will reside with the most recent team to win it outright.

Buckeyes vs. Nittany Lions

Ohio State and Penn State meet for the 29th time in series history Saturday. The series began in 1979.
Last season, the Buckeyes defeated the Nittany Lions, 13-9, in University Park, Pa. Over the last four seasons, the teams have two wins each in the series.
The top defense and offense in the conference match up this weekend in Columbus. Ohio State's defense is only allowing a league-best 6.3 goals per game. Penn State has the top offense in the conference, averaging 13.6 goals per game.
The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions are one-two in the conference in faceoff win percentage and are the only teams in the league over 60 percent from the faceoff X.

Up Next
The Buckeyes make the trip to College Park, Md. to play No. 12 Maryland next weekend. The Buckeyes and Terrapins face off Saturday, April 4 at 6 p.m. from SECU Stadium. The game will be televised on Big Ten Network.

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