You don’t have to know much about lacrosse to know that being down 7-3 at the half is not a good thing.
Actually, it’s a bad thing, a very bad thing, but a tough bunch of Buckeyes that is the OSU men’s lacrosse team didn’t let that deter them. OSU staged a ferocious second-half rally to claim a hard-fought 11-10 win over Towson and in the process advance to the championship game of the NCAA playoffs on Sunday.
Towson is a defensive-minded team and in the first half their defense was able to impose its will on the Buckeyes. OSU turned the ball over eight times in the face of Towson’s pressure. Towson meanwhile had just two turnovers and used the extra possessions to methodically build a 7-3 half time lead. The game was tied at 2-2, but Towson scored five of the last six first-half points to go to the halftime break with a comfortable lead.
The second half did not exactly start auspiciously for OSU when Towson scored the first goal after the break to go up 8-3. From there on, though, the Buckeyes took over behind the stellar play of Tre Leclaire, Austin Shanks and Eric Ferrell. The Buckeyes scored eight of the next nine points to take an 11-9 lead. Leclaire, Shanks and Ferrell each had two goals in the rally to account for six of those eight points.
OSU clung to an 11-9 lead when Towson’s Ryan Drenner scored a goal with 3:17 remaining and cut OSU’s lead to just 11-10, but the Buckeyes were able to run out the clock without further damage and claim the win.
Ohio State advances to the NCAA title game on Monday where they will face the winner of the Denver vs. Maryland game to played today. It will be Ohio State’s first appearance in the national title game in program history.
