Senior attacker Logan Schuss sits two goals behind the Ohio State men’s lacrosse all-time goals leader as the Buckeyes travel up north to take on Michigan (0-11, 0-5) Saturday.
Over the weekend, Schuss found the back of the net once and moved his season total to 22 goals, as OSU (7-3, 2-2) snapped out of its offensive slump and took down the Hobart Statesmen, 10-6.
Despite the possibility of pressure to break the 126-goal record set by former attackman Joel Dalgarno in 2009, OSU coach Nick Myers said Schuss, who has 124 career goals, is hardly even aware of how close he is to breaking it.
“Logan’s just out there trying to make this team better,” Myers said. “Logan’s going to go down as one of the all-time great offensive players we’ve ever had here, no doubt about it. But what he wants is to leave his legacy and get his team in a position to win a championship.”
Meanwhile, junior goalkeeper Greg Dutton watched Saturday’s game against Hobart from the bench after sustaining an injury during the week. His status remains in question against Michigan.
Myers said Dutton has been practicing, but the staff is keeping an eye on his health during the week.
“He was out there at practice today, we’re just kind of taking it one day at a time,” Myers said. “I was really pleased to see (junior goalie) Scott (Spencer) step up and have a career-high in saves.”
The Wolverines will look to prevent OSU from clinching the Creator’s Trophy, a prize fought for by the three Big Ten schools that play Division I men’s lacrosse.
Since the Buckeyes beat Penn State earlier in the year, a win against Michigan would seal the award for the Buckeyes.
The main goal of the team, though, continues to be winning the “fourth quarter of the season,” Myers said. Senior midfielder Trey Wilkes said he thinks OSU has a good chance to finish the year strong.
“We’re really excited,” Wilkes said. “We’ve got three great teams coming up, with that rivalry with Michigan playing at an awesome venue (Michigan Stadium). We’re really looking forward to it.”
A win would improve OSU’s conference record to 3-2 and give the team the inside track to earning a playoff spot in the tightly contested Eastern College Athletic Conference. The Buckeyes are tied with Fairfield for fourth place in the standings. Only the top-four teams continue on to the ECAC playoffs.
Despite the temptation to look ahead, senior midfielder Patrick Toohey emphasized that all the team is focusing on right now is Michigan.
“We’re all really excited to go out to Michigan. It’s going to be the second year in a row,” Toohey said. “It’s one of the biggest rivalries in college sports, so we’re really excited to get in front of their crowd and show them what we can do for our third ECAC win.”
Schuss will attempt to break OSU’s goal-scoring record when the Buckeyes take on ECAC rivals Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Saturday. The game is set for 3:30 p.m.