Buckeyes Down Albany to Improve to 4-0 at Home

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Ohio State men's lacrosse team, led by 12 saves from senior goalie Brandon Freeman, improved to 4-0 at home, downing Albany (0-5), 11-6, Saturday in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. Freshman Jeff Tundo led the Buckeye attack with a hat trick, with classmate Logan Schuss scoring twice. Sophomore Keenan Ochwat had a goal and an assist (the first tally of his career), with junior Mike Pires also contributing a goal and an assist.

Ohio State (4-2) never trailed in the game and the score was tied (1-1) just once early in the first quarter. The Buckeyes held a 2-1 lead after the first and doubled the advantage to 4-2 at halftime. A five-goal third quarter extended Ohio State's lead to 9-4 entering the final stanza.

"I'm proud of the way the men responded today," Nick Myers, Ohio State head coach, said. "It was a great team effort. Brandon's play in goal really sparked our whole team."

In the second quarter Ohio State again outscored Albany, 2-1, to lead 4-2 at halftime. After the faceoff to open the second quarter, sophomore Keenan Ochwat passed out from behind the cage to Tundo on top of the crease for a score and a 3-1 Buckeye lead. There was no scoring until freshman Dan Wertz tallied for Ohio State at the 2:56 mark, picking up a rebound and scoring. Albany scored the final goal of the quarter with just two seconds remaining when Kyle Brunk scored off an assist from Dean Steinmann.

Ohio State took a commanding 9-4 lead after putting up five goals in the third quarter. Schuss drove to the net himself for a goal at 13:57, followed by a tally from junior Mike Pires at 9:42. Albany's Joe Resetarits cut the lead to three (6-3) at 6:44 but Ohio State scored twice in the next two minutes for an 8-3 edge. Pires set up Tundo for a score at 5:41 and Ochwat went in alone after a Buckeye faceoff win and tallied his first career goal at 5:13. Buckeye sophomore Mike Smail scored Ohio State's ninth goal with 49 seconds left in the quarter and Albany's Derek Kreuzer ended the Buckeye run with a goal with three seconds left before the buzzer.

Each team scored twice in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Eddie Bambino scored unassisted for the Buckeyes at 11:03 and junior Zach Rodgers set up senior James Green at 5:04. The Great Danes' Resetarits scored two man-up goals in the final 1:10 for the 11-6 final, tallying at 1:10 and with 40 seconds remaining. Freeman made six saves in the quarter.

The Buckeyes outshot the Great Danes, 32-27, in the game. Freeman played all 60 minutes and gave up a season-low five goals, making 12 stops for his fourth game with double-digit saves this season. Albany's John Carroll had 10 saves in all 60 minutes.