Ohio State men's lacrosse falls to UMass 16-9

In the team’s first loss of the season, the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes men’s lacrosse team fell to the University of Massachusetts Minutemen in Amherst by a score of 16-9.

The day did not start off well for Ohio State, with UMass scoring just 17 seconds into the game. It would take the Buckeyes more than seven minutes of game time to answer, with senior defenseman Chris Mahoney’s second goal of the season. Junior midfielder John Kelly put Ohio State up 2-1 late in the first quarter, and despite a tying goal by UMass, the Buckeyes scored two unanswered goals to end the first quarter up 4-2. The second quarter did not go so well, with UMass scoring four-straight goals to lead 6-4. Despite two second quarter goals by Ohio State, UMass led 7-6 at halftime.

Ohio State managed to tie the game at 7-7 early in the third quarter, but the game began to slowly slip away from there with another four-goal streak from UMass. From there, Ohio State could get no closer than three goals from tying before UMass put the game away in the final quarter.

Only five players for Ohio State found the back of the net this week, after 11 managed at least one goal last week. Kelly led Ohio State in scoring on the day with four goals and one assist for five total points. Junior attackman Eric Fannell had two goals, and three Buckeyes each scored one goal apiece. Ohio State had just two assists as a team to UMass’s eight, and just 16 shots on goal on the day. Redshirt junior goalie Tom Carey had six saves and allowed 16 goals after giving up just 12 on the season in the first two games this year.

With the loss, the Buckeyes fall to 2-1 on the season. Ohio State faces UMBC next week in Columbus.