The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team celebrated their senior day in fashion, winning the season finale over Fairfield 14-8 to lock up the third seed in the ECAC.
It took a late run from the Buckeyes to pull away from Fairfield. After four straight third quarter goals the Stags took a 7-6 lead, but OSU answered with their own run of eight straight over the final two quarters to clinch the victory.
Nine seniors were honored on the day, including co-captains in attacker Logan Schuss and midfielder Dominique Alexander. Schuss scored two times in his home finale and tallied an assist, with Alexander matching with three points as well.
Coach Nick Myers said he knows that his two captains have been vital to building a growing program, and are going to be missed.
“Those two guys have been staples for us for four years, and it’s great to see them finish their home stand here with a win,” Myers said. “And for all nine of those seniors they’ve made a real impact on this program and really changed who we are.”
The team has had plenty of success this year, but Alexander says that the season is not over yet.
“We’re far from our goal, we’re far from our goal, we still have the ECAC tournament but it was nice to get the win here and get to 10 wins,” Alexander said.
Two other seniors, attacker Nick Liddil and midfielder Dan Wertz, also found the back of the net, and sophomore midfielder Turner Evans led the team with a hat trick.
Liddil’s goal was the turning point for the Buckeyes, tying the game at seven and sparking the winning eight goal run.
“We just stuck to basics,” Liddil said. “We knew that we could score and we knew that eventually the seal would break and we would start putting them in.”
It was the Buckeyes’ fourth straight victory, ending the season with a trip to the ECAC playoffs.
Leaving as the all-time leading scorer for OSU, Schuss sees a bright future for the Buckeyes.
“I think the program’s in the right direction,” Schuss said. “We got a lot of good young guys coming through the ranks and I know the recruits that are coming in are really good so I’m excited to be an alumni of the team.”
OSU is set to head to Geneva, N.Y. Thursday at 8 p.m to take on second seeded Loyola, who lost the top overall seed when Denver beat Michigan 12-4 last weekend.