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LGHL Ohio State men’s lacrosse hosts Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament

Ohio State men’s lacrosse hosts Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament
Brett Ludwiczak
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


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Ohio State Athletics

Ohio State returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2022 when they host Notre Dame this afternoon.

Fresh off their first-ever Big Ten Tournament Championship, Ohio State’s men’s lacrosse team hosts Notre Dame in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

In their third appearance in the conference tournament title game, Ohio State defeated Maryland 14-10 in Ann Arbor last Sunday. The Buckeyes were able to extract some revenge on the Terrapins after Maryland handed Ohio State just their second loss of the season in April, beating the Buckeyes 13-8 in Columbus.

Ohio State came out of the gates hot in Sunday’s Big Ten Final, jumping out to a 6-1 lead after the first period. Gannon Matthew’s opened up the scoring, while Garrett Haas added two goals in less than a minute to extend the lead to 4-0.

Haas would register a hat trick with a goal in the fourth period. Alex Marinier, Liam White, Jack McKenna, and Turner Griffin each had two goals in the victory. Marinier now has 46 goals on the season.

Ohio State Athletics

Goalie Caleb Fyock was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player after tying a career-high with 19 saves. The performance against Maryland came after Fyock saved 14 shots in Thursday’s semifinal victory over Rutgers.

Fyock’s .620 save percentage is the best in the country, while his 7.72 goals against average ranks second. Sunday’s win for Fyock was especially sweet since the sophomore is from the state of Maryland.

With the Big Ten Tournament triumph, Ohio State now is ranked second in the country, which ties a program high. After starting the season unranked, the Buckeyes have now been ranked 11 straight weeks, sitting inside the top-10 over the last nine. By beating the Terrapins, Ohio State has now defeated all of last year’s Final Four teams this season. Earlier this year the Buckeyes beat Denver, Notre Dame, and Virginia.

In their first matchup with the Fighting Irish this season, Ohio State earned a thrilling 10-9 win in South Bend when Shane O’Leary scored with seven seconds left in the game. With the win, the Buckeyes closed the gap in the all-time series to 37-25.

Despite Notre Dams holding the edge in the series, Ohio State is 4-2 against the Fighting Irish since 2019. This marks the first time the programs have met in the NCAA Tournament. If the Buckeyes win they can guarantee they’ll know off the two-time defending champions.

Notre Dame enters the NCAA Tournament with an 8-4 record. In their last game, the Fighting Irish fell 14-12 to Syracuse in the ACC Tournament semifinal, their second loss of the season to the Orange. Prior to the second setback against Syracuse, Notre Dame had won three straight games.

After falling behind the Orange 3-0, the Fighting Irish was trying to play catch up the rest of the game. Playing from behind took its toll on Notre Dame, as Syracuse created a bit of distance in the second half, stretching their lead to four goals at one point. Devon McLane, Rick Angrick, and Chris Kavanaugh each scored two goals in the loss.

Leading the Fighting Irish in scoring this year is Kavanaugh, who has 33 goals and 56 points. Jake Taylor is second on the team in finding the back of the net with 26 goals. Rounding out the double-digit goal scorers this season for Notre Dame are McLane, Angrick, Jalen Seymour, and Jeffrey Ricciardelli.

The key for Notre Dame this year has been keeping their opponents off the scoreboard, as the Fighting Irish have won all eight games where they have allowed nine goals or less in games. Notre Dame has lost all four games where they have allowed at least 10 goals, including the Ohio State game where the Buckeyes scored 10 goals.

Thomas Ricciardelli has played all but 45 minutes at goalie this year for the Fighting Irish, posting a 8.99 goals against average and a .567 save percentage.

The winner of today’s game will move on to the quarterfinals to take on Penn State, who beat Colgate 13-11 in the first round, next Sunday in Annapolis, Maryland.



Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2

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LGHL In a world of constant movement, Bruce Thornton should be celebrated

In a world of constant movement, Bruce Thornton should be celebrated
justingolba
via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here


NCAA Basketball: Nebraska at Ohio State

Joseph Maiorana-Imagn Images

Even though the team's success has not been there, Thornton has continued to stick it out and will return for his final season

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about hype. What are you most hyped about heading into the 2025-26 season? You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”Hype Week” articles here.



As the 2025-26 Ohio State men’s basketball team was being constructed, the primary focus was on retaining the top three players: John Mobley Jr., Devin Royal and, of course, Bruce Thornton.

Now that Thornton has announced he is entering the NBA Draft with the intention of returning to Columbus, Buckeyes fans can get excited about the current three-year starter finishing and ending his career in Columbus. In this day and age, that should be celebrated by fans.

Thornton did enter the NBA Draft, but he was not invited to the combine, and will very likely return to Ohio State after getting feedback from scouts on what he should focus on this year as a Buckeye.

Head coach Jake Diebler announced his return on 97.1’s morning show.

“Bruce Thornton is coming back,” Diebler said on a radio appearance on 97.1 The Fan’s Morning Juice. “He’s going to go through the NBA Draft process — which I’m really excited for him to go through — (to) get feedback. And if he can stay in and be an NBA player, great. Because I think he is an NBA player. Maybe he’s not yet, and if he’s not, he’s going to come back to Ohio State.”

The Georgia native is coming off the best season of his career. He started in 32 games and led Ohio State in scoring at 17.7 points per game, assists at 4.6 per game, and minutes played at an impressive 36.2 minutes per game.

He has quickly been moving up the record books throughout his career, currently ranking 21st in Ohio State basketball history in career points with 1,487, 10th in assists at 408, and seventh in made threes with 159.

With him likely returning to Ohio State, Thornton has a chance to climb up those lists further. He needs 609 points to break Dennis Hopson’s record of 2,096 career points and 36 more starts to break William Buford’s record of 137 career starts.

This is an age where it is easy for players to move schools and change their situation, and that is especially true for Bruce Thornton. Thornton has never played in an NCAA Tournament game in three years as a Buckeye, and has had two head coaches. However, Thornton has been the top performer and consistent with Ohio State for all three years despite others letting him down.

It would have been easy for Thornton to transfer to a top program (he could have transferred almost anywhere he wanted to) and into a better situation. Still, he is committed to helping Ohio State get back to the NCAA Tournament and become a consistent contender in the conference.

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