Share of conference title leaves OSU wanting more

Sean Spitzer/The Lantern Ohio State midfielder Bryce Woodson delivers a pass against Bellarmine earlier this season.

The last time the Ohio State men's lacrosse team played the University of Denver, they won in front of a national attendance record.

The next time they play it will mean a berth in the league championship game, a shot at the NCAA tournament and a second chance at Notre Dame.

"We know that if we lose, our season could be over," sophomore attacker Mario Ventiquattro said. "Everything we worked hard for could be flushed down the toilet. We're going to come out with a lot of high energy."

A 17-12 loss to No. 7 Notre Dame dropped No. 9 OSU to the second seed of the inaugural Great Western Lacrosse League tournament in Birmingham, Mich.

"I'm going to bust my tail on things I need to work on in practice and hopefully they'll pay off in the game," Ventiquattro said.

The first game for the Buckeyes is a rematch against third-seeded No. 18 Denver on Friday evening. OSU won their previous match-up, 20-13, in front of 29,601 fans at Ohio Stadium. But junior attacker Jeff Ryan believes the team can find success without record-breaking attendance behind them.

"I think the key is to focus on ourselves like our coaches stress throughout the year," Ryan said. "(We need to) know our role and play to our strengths."

In the other semifinal game, Notre Dame will play Quinnipiac and the winners will play for an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. The team would have only one day to prepare, but coach Joe Breschi and his staff feels his players will be ready if they win.

"I think the biggest thing is we've played them," Breschi said. "We've all seen each other once this year, so it comes down to who can make the adjustments and who can come out and execute the best."

The Buckeyes would have taken the top seed in the tournament had they defeated Notre Dame on Sunday. Instead, the team suffered its biggest loss of the year.

Senior midfielder Chris Friel scored two goals early to put OSU ahead 5-4 at the end of the first quarter. The lead would not hold as Notre Dame won 24 of the 32 face-offs and shut down Ohio State's high-powered offense.

"They didn't make a lot of mistakes, and they took advantage of ours," Breschi said. "We've got to come in with more urgency."

Sophomore midfielder James Green led the Bucks in scoring with a hat trick, his second in two games. Senior goalie Stefan Schroder finished with a season-high 18 saves.

OSU captain Kevin Buchanan finished the game with five points. With 162 career points, the senior midfielder ranks fourth all-time at OSU. He is one point shy of Craig Cooper's career mark and three points behind Jon Ewert. The record for career points is held by Terry Gilmore, who scored 250 points in his time as a Buckeye.

The Buckeyes finished the regular season at 9-4, matching the same number of wins as last season. OSU, Notre Dame and Denver all share the Great Western Lacrosse League championship. All three teams finished 4-1 in conference.

"But it's not over yet," Ryan said. "There's still a lot ahead of us and things we want to accomplish."

Nick Bechtel can be reached at bechtel.42@osu.edu.