Ohio State Offense Keeps Clicking in 14-10 Win Over Johns Hopkins

BALTIMORE — Ohio State’s latest victory — its 11th in a row, for those keeping count — was just sinking in, and a Buckeyes fan couldn’t help but to sum up the afternoon in a sentence: Marny put in a shooting display.

Yes, Alex Marinier did. And so did the rest of Ohio State’s increasingly slick offense.

Marinier scored six goals in the Buckeyes’ 14-10 defeat of Johns Hopkins before 5,408 at Homewood Field, as Ohio State matched its best Big Ten start since 2015, the first season the league sponsored the sport.

“Anytime I throw him the ball and he’s within 16, I’m like, ‘That’s probably a goal,’” attackman Garrett Haas said. “We’re just so lucky to have a guy like Marny on our line. He takes the pressure off a lot, which I’m so grateful for. He’s going to be a big reason why this team has success.”

Haas had three goals and Caleb Fyock made 15 saves for the Buckeyes (11-1, 3-0), who will welcome Maryland to Columbus next weekend. Maryland fell to Rutgers 8-6 on Saturday.

The Terrapins — and anyone else who must contend with Ohio State in the next two months — must find an answer for an offense that has found its footing in recent weeks. In the Buckeyes’ first eight games, they shot 29.8 percent. That’s not bad, but it didn’t command attention.

In the last four games, including Saturday’s 14 of 30 showing? Ohio State is shooting a sizzling 41.0 percent (55 of 134).

“I think it’s a lot of guys incrementally getting better,” Buckeyes coach Nick Myers said. “When you have nine, 10, 11 guys in your lineup, and you feel like each guy is getting just a little bit better each week and there’s really not a guy you’re running the offense through … we don’t know who’s getting poled every week because it’s different every week. I think that speaks to the idea that we have guys who can share the ball.”

They can also find Marinier, a Canadian who played sparingly in his first two college seasons before becoming a central figure in the Buckeyes’ offense the last two years.

Hopkins (6-5, 0-3) certainly didn’t have answers for him in the first half. Marinier scored in Ohio State’s opening three-goal burst, then tacked on another goal late in the first quarter. He scored three more times as part of a four-goal run to put the Buckeyes up 8-3 at halftime.

“He’s a smart player, he’s skilled, he knows where to find some space to get shots off,” Hopkins coach Peter Milliman said. “He doesn’t waste them.”

About the only time the Blue Jays kept Marinier — and Ohio State — contained was in the third quarter. Ohio State cashed in two of the first three times it had the ball in the second half but possessed it for barely a minute. Meanwhile, Hopkins edged closer and closer, getting within 10-8.

Then Haas cashed in a lengthy possession before scoring again late in the third quarter to effectively stifle the Hopkins threat.

“We were sitting on the one possession that was quick, and I’m looking at the clock and there’s about seven minutes left in the third quarter and our second line hasn’t even gotten on the field yet,” Myers said. “And it wasn’t just the [11th] goal, it was a long possession, and I think there were two resets. That was really what the doctor ordered.”

This season has been, too. As much as Myers and the Buckeyes are dialed into a week-at-a-time approach, it’s hard to ignore Ohio State as arguably Division I’s most eye-catching breakout team.

Since its NCAA tournament trip in 2022, the Buckeyes went 5-9 the following year and 6-9 last season. There was considerable improvement in 2024 even if the record didn’t show it, but it was also clear that for Ohio State to get back into postseason contention, it would need to improve on offense.

That’s happened. The Buckeyes head into their final two regular season games with eight players toting double-figure goals totals. Liam White became the 10th player on the roster with at least 10 points after posting a goal and two assists Saturday.

It also marked the 10th time in 12 games Ohio State has scored at least 13 goals in a game.

“We like pushing pace, but it’s also about responsible risk and making sure we’re hitting shots we know we know he can hit instead of being reckless,” Haas said.

It helps to have Marinier, whose goal early in the fourth quarter gave him 40 on the season. It’s only the 15th time a Buckeye has reached that total.

But he’s not the only possible headache Ohio State poses.

“We’re unscoutable,” Marinier said. “I think we have so many threats on our offense, and it’s really tough to scout when you have eight or nine guys who can put up one or two or three goals a game.”