The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team has won its first Big Ten Tournament title in program history after a 14-10 victory over the No. 2 seed Maryland Terrapins in Ann Arbor on Saturday night.
It was the culmination of a double down for the Buckeyes, who also took home the Big Ten regular season championship, seemingly out of nowhere. Nobody expected Ohio State to be much of a threat in the conference this season, but once OSU lost its first game against Utah, it went on an absolute tear and became one of the best teams in the country.
Ohio State didn’t allow too much drama in this one and led from the outset. It got out to the races early, scoring the first five goals, and tallied six total goals in the first quarter, leading the Terrapins 6-1 after one. Maryland pushed back a little in the second quarter, outscoring the Buckeyes 4-3, with both teams headed to halftime with an 9-5 OSU lead.
After coming out of the half, all OSU had to do was play somewhere near even with the Terps, and that would be enough to hoist the trophy. That’s exactly what happened. Maryland never got any closer than four goals with Ohio State keeping it at arm’s length with the outcome never really in doubt, eventually winning 14-10 in a business-like effort from the Scarlet and Gray.
Garrett Haas was the star of the game for Ohio State, registering a hat-trick and giving the Buckeyes their final tally of the night with over 12 minutes left in the game. Liam White also had the first multi-goal game of his career en route to a team effort from OSU.
Ohio State will now undoubtedly receive a very high seed in the upcoming NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament. It won’t be the No. 1 seed, and unlikely the No. 2, but a No. 3 overall seed is not out of the question. We’ll have the complete 18-team field when it’s announced on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
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