BTN.com staff, May 10, 2015

The Ohio State men?s lacrosse team is moving on to the quarterfinals of the 2015 NCAA Championship after defeating No. 5 seed Duke, 16-11, Saturday in the first round.

The Buckeyes, now 12-6 on the year, will take on the winner of the game between No. 4 seed Denver and Brown at 3 or 5:30 p.m. ET Saturday at Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium. The Blue Devils, the two-time defending NCAA champions, end their season 12-6.

?I?m proud of the men and our effort,? Nick Myers, Ohio State head coach, said. ?We showed resiliency to come from behind early and earn a win in the first round of the NCAA tournament.?

Ohio State will be making the third NCAA quarterfinal appearance in program history and the second in three years.

The Buckeyes trailed 2-1 at the end of the first quarter and 3-1 early in the second before going on a six-goal run to take a 7-3 lead into halftime. The Buckeyes scored four of the first six goals to open the third quarter to push the lead to 11-5, with two goals in the final 2:28 putting Ohio State ahead 13-6 at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Buckeyes scored three times and Duke scored five goals, with three in the final 4:03, for the 16-11 final.

Buckeye redshirt sophomore goalie Tom Carey had 15 saves in the game, including five in the first quarter and six in the fourth quarter. Senior David Planning had a career-high six goals and seven points, while junior Carter Brown scored four times. Senior Jesse King (2g, 2a) and sophomore John Kelly (1g, 3a) each had four-point days and freshman Colin Chell had a hat trick.

Duke scored the game?s first two goals, with Justin Guterding and Jack Bruckner scoring 43 seconds apart at 6:56 and 6:13. At 2:46, Chell came around the cage and scored his 18th goal of the season to cut the Blue Devil lead to one. Duke outshot the Buckeyes, 11-6, in the quarter, with Buckeye goalie Carey making five saves.

The Blue Devils scored 35 seconds into the second quarter for a 3-1 lead before the Buckeyes went on a six-goal run to take a 7-3 lead into halftime. King scored at 13:05, followed by a goal from Kelly at 11:07 to tie the game at three. At 4:22 Planning put the Buckeyes ahead 4-3 and he ripped a shot top corner at 2:32 for a 5-3 advantage. With 24 seconds left and the shot clock on, Brown scored and with nine seconds left King found Chell just outside the crease for the Buckeyes? seventh goal. Shots were 11-4 in favor of the Buckeyes in the quarter.

Ohio State outscored Duke 6-3 in the third quarter to extend the lead to 13-6. Planning scored the first goal of the quarter, set up by Kelly, at 14:12 before the Blue Devils scored back-to-back goals at 12:33 (ending a 16:12 scoreless streak for Duke) and 11:49 to pull within three (8-5). The Buckeyes answered with the next three goals, from Planning at 10:13, Chell from King at 8:49 and King unassisted at 4:31. Duke tallied eight seconds later after a faceoff win, but Ohio State had the next two, with Planning scoring, assisted by Kelly, at 2:28 and Brown scoring unassisted at 1:41. Shots were 11-5 in favor of Ohio State in the quarter.

Duke scored two of the first three goals of the fourth quarter, at 13:04 and 10:03, surrounding a goal from Ohio State?s Planning, set up by Kelly, at 11:11. Brown then scored at 8:32 (off an assist from Planning) and 4:25 for a 16-8 Ohio State advantage. The Blue Devils scored the game?s final three goals, including two EMO goals at 4:03 and 3:41. Duke outshot the Buckeyes, 15-6, in the quarter and Carey had six saves.

Shots were 35-34 in favor of Duke in the game. Carey played all 60 minutes for the Buckeyes and had an Ohio State career-high 15 saves. Duke starter Danny Fowler had 11 saves, allowing 14 goals, in 51:51 and Luke Aaron allowed two goals in 8:09.

Duke had the advantage in faceoffs (17-12) and groundballs (37-29). Graduate student Christopher May won 11-of-23 faceoffs and led the Buckeyes with six groundballs. Senior Reegan Comeault and junior Chris Mahoney, who had two of the Buckeyes? eight caused turnovers, each had four groundballs in the win.

The victory was the Buckeyes? third over a team ranked in the Top 6 this season, after victories over No. 3 Denver March 14 and No. 6 Maryland April 30.

— Ohiostatebuckeyes.com