No. 6 Maryland enjoys an unblemished record against No. 14 Ohio State, winning all five meetings including a 10-9 overtime decision on April 18. Three of the Buckeyes' four losses this season have occurred on the road, while the Terps are 6-1 at home after suffering a 15-12 setback to Johns Hopkins on Saturday.
Ohio State (10-5 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten), the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, has dropped its last two games. But a defense that ranks 14th in Division I in fewest goals allowed per game at 8.6. has been anchored by a pair of Big Ten honorable-mention selections in junior defenseman Robby Haus (Gilman) and redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Tom Carey. Haus has recorded 25 ground balls and 11 caused turnovers, while Carey has posted an 8.50 goals-against average and a .535 save percentage.
Maryland (12-2, 4-1), the No. 2 seed, watched an 11-game win streak end in Saturday's loss to the Blue Jays. As stout as the Buckeyes defense has been, the Terps have been even more impressive in leading the country in fewest goals allowed (90), and they boast the league's Defensive Player of the Year in Casey Ikeda. The senior defenseman, who has made 45 consecutive starts, has registered 19 ground balls and 12 caused turnovers while also assisting on three goals this spring.
Here are a few factors that could play a role in the outcome of the Big Ten tournament semifinal at Byrd Stadium in College Park on Thursday at 8 p.m.
1) Remaining diverse on offense. Matt Rambo scored Maryland's first two goals against Johns Hopkins, but didn't make much of a dent in the final three quarters. The sophomore attackman also scored just twice in the regular-season meeting with Ohio State. The sudden lack of productivity might normally be cause for alarm, but Rambo's quiet outing against the Blue Jays was offset by senior midfielder Joe LoCascio (three goals and two assists) and junior midfielder Bryan Cole (one goal and four assists). Coach John Tillman said the Terps are more dangerous when others -– and Rambo -– are involved.
"Last year, we were a little more predictable," Tillman said. "The ball was going to go through [former attackman] Michael Chanenchuk and if you could pin him down, it impacted us. Matt's been great in terms of, 'If I get my opportunities, I'll take them, and if not, I'm not going to force it.' We're going to always try to put him in a position to be a threat and he can garner some attention, and if people really are looking at him, that should open up things for other people."
2) Blanketing Jesse King. The Buckeyes nearly defeated Maryland 12 days ago thanks to the play of King, the senior who has shifted from midfield to attack. King, one of two unanimous Big Ten first-team choices who leads the offense in goals (35) and assists (23), torched the Terps for four goals on six shots and two assists. So the defense would be wise to heavily mark King, but Tillman pointed out that teammates like junior attackman Carter Brown (Calvert Hall, 28 goals and 16 assists) and senior midfielder David Planning (15, 15) also warrant attention.
"We just need to look at some things and go, 'OK, how do we want to play this? Are we going to focus more on Jesse and see what the other guys can do? Or do we want to be more focused on knowing that he's going to get his and we've got to keep everybody else down?'" Tillman asked rhetorically. "It's a tough predicament because they do a great job of putting him in position where he's going to be dangerous. If you help too much, he's going to make the right pass, and if you don't help enough, he'll make you pay."
3) Closing decisively. In that earlier meeting with Ohio State, Maryland labored through the first three quarters before rallying from a 9-5 deficit with less than five minutes left in the final period. Against Johns Hopkins, the Terps failed to protect a 10-9 lead in the fourth quarter and could only watch as the Blue Jays embarked on a 6-0 run to cement the victory. Tillman knows the team can't afford to get lackadaisical in the final stanza against the Buckeyes.
"We led that game for three quarters, but the fourth quarter didn't go the way we wanted," he said, referring to the loss to Johns Hopkins. "Give credit where credit's due. The week before, we kind of had the same situation end positively for us. So we've got to look back on the things we can clean up and how we can get better and look and go, 'Hey, we played three good quarters. Let's try to play four. Let's try to clean up some of the mistakes that we made and see how we can get better.' That's what we've been doing all year."