It wasn't pretty, but the Maryland men's lacrosse team clinched a share of the Big Ten season title Sunday night with a 10-8 win over Ohio State.
The No. 5 Terps (11-2) entered the game as heavy favorites against the Buckeyes (6-8). But for the first half, it appeared the Terrapins might fall. Ohio State juniors Austin Shanks and Carter Brown led the Buckeyes on offense, and helped give them a 5-3 lead in the second quarter.
But the Terrapins refused to enter the locker room facing a deficit, scoring three straight goals to take a 6-5 lead into half.
The third quarter was all Maryland, as the Terrapins scored three goals in the first three minutes to extend the lead to 9-5. They ended the quarter up 10-6 and appeared ready for a comfortable fourth quarter.
But Ohio State would not go quietly into the night, scoring two goals in a two-minute span in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 10-8. Maryland goalie Kyle Bernlohr had two big saves with under 8 minutes left to preserve the win for the Terrapins.
Bryan Cole, Matt Rambo and Colin Heacock led the way for Maryland, each contributing two goals.
Maryland plays arch-rival No. 10 Johns Hopkins next Saturday in Baltimore.
Three Things to Know:
1. Big Ten, lacrosse conference?: Between Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Penn State and Rutgers, the Big Ten has four top-25 programs. That's as many as any other conference in the nation. Even in a loss, Ohio State proved Sunday that Big Ten lacrosse is not just top heavy, as they gave Maryland all they could handle in the first half.
2. Maryland's offense knows when to turn it on: Down 5-3 in the second quarter, the Terrapins scored seven straight goals to put the Buckeyes out of reach. Rambo, Heacock and Cole were all major contributors on the day, but four other Terrapins scored, giving Maryland dangerous depth.
3. *Insert Rambo Pun*: Pick whatever pun you want, as long as it shows Matt Rambo destroys defenses. The junior attackman had two goals and three assists, and routinely caused trouble for the Ohio State defense. He leads the team in points now with 38.