Ohio State lacrosse falls to Johns Hopkins, 13-10

In yet another narrow loss, the Ohio State Buckeyes men’s lacrosse team continued its skid, falling 13-10 to No. 5 Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. With the loss, the Buckeyes fall to 5-6, including 0-2 in Big Ten play.

Things remained close throughout the first half, with the Blue Jays biggest lead coming in the opening minutes as they pulled ahead 2-0. A goal by freshman midfielder Jackson Reid, on a feed from fellow freshman Justin Inacio, narrowed the gap to just one with 10 minutes remaining in the opening quarter. Another unassisted goal put the Blue Jays back up two, but the Buckeyes closed the first with two straight scores from sophomore midfielder Tre Leclaire, assisted by sophomore defenseman Jeff Henrick, and freshman attackman Colby Smith, assisted by Reid on a man-up opportunity.

With the score tied at three-all entering the second, Johns Hopkins pulled ahead with two goals early in the quarter--including one on a man-up opportunity. Not to be outdone, freshman midfielder Omari DeBerry scored his first collegiate goal on an assist from senior midfielder Austin Seiple. DeBerry then returned the favor, feeding to Reid for Reid’s second goal of the day to send the teams to the break tied five-all.

The Buckeyes stayed close through most of the third. After a Blue Jays goal to open the quarter, Seiple found the back of the net himself for his second goal of the season, assisted by freshman attackman J.T. Bugliosi. Johns Hopkins bounced back with a goal on a man-up opportunity before tacking on one more score with 6:58 left in the quarter. Less than a minute later, Leclaire scored unassisted to close Hopkins’ lead to one.

Unfortunately, that was when things fell apart for the Buckeyes, as the Blue Jays scored three unanswered goals on a streak that went into the fourth quarter. The four-goal deficit was the greatest that Ohio State faced all day. Finally, junior attackman Jack Jasinski slowed things down with an unassisted goal to put the Buckeyes back in it with 8:30 remaining in regulation. Another goal by Hopkins extended the lead, but a score from sophomore midfielder Ryan Terefenko and one more from Leclaire pulled the game seemingly within reach with 2:23 remaining. However, the Buckeyes couldn’t find the back of the net again, and one last Blue Jays goal proved to be the nail in the coffin for Ohio State.

Leclaire’s three goals led the Buckeyes, with seven players scoring in all. Johns Hopkins held a 35-30 advantage in overall shots on the day, but the Buckeyes outlasted on faceoffs, winning 19-of-27, and collecting 31 ground balls to the Blue Jays’ 26. Sophomore goalie Josh Kirson had six saves for Ohio State, while Hopkins stopped 11.

Next up, the Buckeyes head back to Columbus for a Saturday match against Michigan.