Balanced Scoring Keys 15-7 Season-Opening Win over Air Force

Joseph PompoFebruary 5, 2023no commentNo tags

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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State opened its new lacrosse stadium for a regular season game in winning fashion on Saturday, as the 11th-ranked Buckeyes raced out to an early lead and defeated Air Force, 15-7, in front of 1,168 fans.

The Short Story
Fifth-year senior Jack Myers, a preseason All-American, was in midseason form. He finished the afternoon with nine points (four goals and five assists), including the 200th point of his career. Myers got plenty of help on the offensive end of the field, too, as Scott White scored four times and Kyle Borda found the back of the net for three goals. Overall, six different players scored goals and eight had at least one point.

Goalie Skylar Wahlund, also a fifth-year senior, made eight saves. The Buckeyes’ big afternoon on offense was aided by Drew Blanchard, who won 22-of-26 face-offs and had 12 ground balls.

Quotable
“I’m thankful for a lot of things today,” said head coach Nick Myers. “Starting with our fans – they were amazing. Our students, our families and the community was amazing today. Our administration did a lot of hard work to make today possible and we can’t thank them enough. I’m proud of the way the men competed. That’s a good Air Force team. We’re going to have to continue to get better but it’s good to get that first win of the year.”

How the Goals Were Scored

Myers scored the first of his four goals on the day less than two minutes into the first quarter (13:46) to put the Buckeyes up 1-0. Five minutes later, Air Force answered to tie the game at 1-all, but from there Ohio State went on a 5-0 run to take a 6-1 lead at the 11:25 mark of the second quarter.
In that 5-0 run, Borda and White scored twice while Myers had a goal and two assists.
Leading 7-3 at halftime, Ohio State scored the first two goals of the third quarter and White and Ed Shean found the back of the net to make the score 9-3. Shean finished with two goals on the day.
Myers scored twice in the third quarter and Air Force cut a six-goal deficit to four at 11-7 with 3:19 remaining, but Jason Knox closed out the third quarter scoring to push the advantage to five goals (12-7) and the Buckeyes scored three times in the four quarter to finish off their win.

This and That

Myers is just the sixth player in program history to reach 200 or more career points. In 46 career games, his 203 points have come on 105 goals and 98 assists.
Myers also extended his point streak to 37 consecutive games, dating back to March 31, 2019 vs. Rutgers.
Head coach Nick Myers improves to 13-2 in season openers. His Buckeye teams have won eight consecutive season openers.
Ohio State played it first regular season game of the season outside for the first time since 2008.
The Buckeyes’ defense held Air Force’s leading scorer last season, Brandon Dodd, to just goal. Dodd ranked seventh in the nation in goals per game last season (3.29) and 20th in points per game (4.93).

Statistically Speaking
Shots: Ohio State 36, Air Force 26
Ground Balls: Ohio State 35, Air Force 23
Faceoffs: Ohio State 22-of-26, Air Force 4-of-26
Clears: Ohio State 15-of-15, Air Force 16-of-19
Extra Man: Ohio State 1-of-3, Air Force 1-of-3
Saves: Ohio State (Wahlund) 8, Air Force (Rose/Richards) 7
Turnovers: Ohio State 17, Air Force 10
Scoring: Myers 4-5-9; White 4-0-4; Borda 3-0-3; Shean 2-0-2; LaCalandra 0-2-2; Knox 1-0-1; Mitchell 1-0-1; Lewis 0-1-1

What’s Next
The Buckeyes are back at home next Saturday, Feb. 11, when they host Cleveland State at noon.

Ohio State Men’s Lacrosse Tickets
To purchase tickets and/or for more information on Ohio State men’s lacrosse tickets, click HERE. For information on group tickets and experiences, contact the Ohio State Athletic Ticket Sales Team at 1-800-GOBUCKS or email Athletic.tix@osu.edu to speak with an account executive.

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