It Only Sounds Bad: #17/19 Ohio State 18, Marquette 8

Carter Brown scored four goals in a stretch that lasted just over ten minutes and bridged halftime to help push Ohio State's lead over Marquette from 6-3 after his first to 11-5 after his fourth on their way to an 18-8 win yesterday afternoon in Columbus. After the Buckeyes established some separation with that run by Brown, OSU ended up scoring six unanswered goals in the second half that left no doubt as to who was going to win Marquette's first ever Division 1 lacrosse game.

I don't know if it was a result of Ohio State not knowing what to expect from a debuting Marquette squad, but things stayed even early. OSU did jump out to a 3-0 lead, but Bryan Badolato got on the board for MU's first ever goal and Kyle Whitlow found the back of the net in the last minute of the first quarter to make the score 3-2 at the end of the first session. After Tyler Melnyk popped one in to make it 7-4 with 4:34 left in the half, it looked like MU had cut it to 7-5, but the goal was waived off because of a Brendan Smith cross checking penalty. It was an unreleaseable penalty, so the Buckeyes did their best Montreal Canadiens impression and rattled off three straight, including two from Brown.

The good news for Marquette is that they held Logan Schuss, the ECAC Preseason Offensive Player Of The Year, to just one goal on six shots. The bad news is that Ohio State converted each of their four extra man opportunities into goals. A young and developing team like Marquette is going to end up in a world of hurt when they take penalties, so that's something to keep an eye on. Ultimately, MU came out strong and was eventually overwhelmed by a high quality opponent, so you can't feel bad about the final score in their first ever official contest.

Three Golden Eagles had multi-goal games, as Badolato, Melnyk, and Connor Bernal all scored twice. They also ended up tied for the team lead in points, as only Conor Gately and Brendan Smith tallied assists on the day.

If you're looking for photos of MU's official lacrosse unis, head over this way.

Up Next: Marquette heads back out on the road to face Air Force (3-1) in Colorado Springs on Saturday.