In its first nine games of the season, the Ohio State men’s lacrosse team had not tallied a road victory.
That changed Sunday.
The Buckeyes headed east to take on the Delaware Blue Hens, and after starting fast never looked back, notching a 15-9 victory.
Sophomore attackman Ryan Hunter, who saw more playing time in place of injured junior midfielder Turner Evans, got the Buckeyes on the board first with his third goal of the season.
Outshooting the Blue Hens 14-3 in the first quarter, the Buckeyes tacked on five more goals to take a 6-0 lead into the second.
Matching the intensity displayed in the first 15 minutes, OSU continued to build on its lead when junior midfielder David Planning tallied his second goal of the game.
Junior attackman Reegan Comeault, who finished the game with two goals and one assist, scored just over a minute later to extend the Buckeyes lead to 8-0 before Delaware finally got on the board.
The Blue Hens (6-6, 0-3 CAA) registered their first goal from junior midfielder Jeff Heath with 11:07 to play in the first half, but the Buckeyes scored two of the final three goals of the half, highlighted by junior midfielder Jesse King — who notched his team-leading 22nd goal of the season with two seconds to play in half.
The 10 goals scored are the most in a half this season for OSU.
Continuing to pile on the goals, freshman attackman J.T. Blubaugh and sophomore attackman Carter Brown scored two quick goals for the Buckeyes to extend the lead to double digits at 12-2 less than five minutes into the second half.
Taking a 14-5 lead into the fourth quarter, Delaware tried to mount a comeback as they scored four straight goals to cut the lead to five, but it proved to be too little, too late.
Comeault would tally his second goal of the game with 38 seconds to play to ice it for OSU (4-6, 1-0).
Offensively, the Buckeyes were led by King, who had one goal and seven assists. The eight points were a career high for King, who also extended his point streak to 32 games.
The Blue Hens got a strong performance out of senior attackman Danny Keane, who scored five of the nine goals on the day for Delaware.
Defensively, senior goaltender Scott Spencer, who started his third straight game in place of injured senior goaltender Greg Dutton, made nine saves in the contest and improved his record to 2-1 on the season.
Up next for the Buckeyes is the Showdown in the Shoe this Saturday when they welcome to town the Michigan Wolverines. Game time is set for 11 a.m.
