The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team waits to hear who they will face in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Credit: Ohio State Athletics
Ohio State has made its way to the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament.
After missing the tournament in five of the past six seasons, the Buckeyes secured an automatic bid by defeating Maryland 14-10 in the Big Ten Tournament Championship on Saturday.
The Big Ten regular-season and tournament champions, Ohio State earned the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, as announced during Sunday night’s selection show.
Standing in the Buckeyes’ path to their first quarterfinal appearance since 2017 is a formidable obstacle: Notre Dame, a program aiming for its third consecutive national title.
Ohio State is led by Big Ten Coach of the Year Nick Myers and All-Big Ten First Team selections: attackman Alex Marinier, defenseman Bobby Van Buren, and goaltender Caleb Fyock.
Marinier has powered the Buckeyes’ offense this season, leading the Big Ten with 46 goals. On defense, Van Buren collected 22 ground balls and forced 14 turnovers, while Fyock, named both Big Ten Specialist of the Year and the Big Ten Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, led the conference in saves and goals allowed.
Notre Dame has won 16 of the 22 all-time meetings between the two programs. However, Ohio State claimed the most recent matchup.
On March 8 in South Bend, Indiana, the Buckeyes edged the Irish 10-9, with midfielder Shane O’Leary scoring the game-winning goal with just seven seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to stun the Irish.
Notre Dame averages more than 13 goals per game, ranking 10th nationally, five spots ahead of Ohio State. However, the Irish struggle in man-down defense, ranking 59th out of 74 schools with a penalty kill percentage of .576.
Notre Dame is led by star attackman Chris Kavanagh, the 2025 ACC Offensive Player of the Year and 2024 NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, who tallied 56 points this season.
Kavanagh wasn’t the only Irish player to earn accolades.
Defenseman Shawn Lyght was named ACC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and Matty Jeffery earned ACC Freshman of the Year honors.
In their most recent game, the Irish fell 14-12 to No. 6 Syracuse in the ACC Semifinals, their second loss to the Orange this season. Despite the setback, Notre Dame is aiming to become the first program since Princeton (1996–1998) to win three consecutive NCAA men’s lacrosse titles.
However, Notre Dame has already recorded four losses this season which is more than its previous two title-winning campaigns combined. Meanwhile, Ohio State, coming off of one of its best seasons in program history, will look to end Notre Dame’s recent postseason dominance.
The Buckeyes (14-2, 4-1 Big Ten) and the Irish (8-4, 3-1 ACC) will face off in Columbus on Sunday at noon. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
The winner will advance to face the winner of No. 5 Penn State vs. Colgate.
