The Bison men’s lacrosse team (1-3) lost to the No. 11 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) by a final score of 16-13 on Feb. 23 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The Bison scored seven goals in the fourth quarter to cut a nine-goal deficit down to two, but the rally proved to be too little too late. Two of the team’s three losses have come against top ranked-teams: Maryland and Ohio State.

Will Yorke ’20 paced the Bison attack with his second five-goal game in his last three contests. However, the Orange and Blue were unable to get their offense going early, recording only one goal in the first quarter and a total of four in the entire first half. The offense exploded in the second half, though, scoring nine goals. Tommy Sopko ’22 recorded a hat trick on the day. His three goals came during an 8-1 run that cut a 14-5 deficit to 15-13 with under two minutes remaining.

Jarett Witzal ’19 won 10 faceoffs for the Bison, including the 500th of his collegiate career. Witzal also finished with a team-high seven ground balls, while defensive midfielder Hunter Newman ’20 paced the Bison defense with four ground balls. Drew Wellington ’22 got his first career start and notched three ground balls and caused two turnovers.

In the first three games of the season, the team had several first-years make an immediate impact, and the Ohio State contest proved to be no different. In addition to Wellington’s performance, Alston Tarry ’22 and Matthew Barkauskas ’22 scored two goals apiece.

“It was definitely a tough game, but I think our team showed resilience and toughness throughout the majority of the day,” Barkauskas said. “Coming out of any game, there are many moments or plays we wish we could have back, but there were times where our entire team demonstrated that when we play confident and loose, we can compete with any team in the country.”

The Bison open up conference play at Navy on March 2 in Annapolis, Md.

“Navy is an incredibly talented, physically tough program that will challenge us, but I believe our team is more than ready for the challenge,” Barkauskas said. “I believe those [non-conference] games, specifically against top 20 teams, have shown that although we’ve lost to them, the score did not define our effort, or our ability to compete with teams like Maryland and Ohio State. Because of games like those, we will be more than ready to begin our run for the Patriot League title.”