Buckeyes have tough test in powerful Loyola

There was mostly silence Sunday night at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center when the name “Loyola” popped up on the twin jumbo television screens as Ohio State’s firstround opponent in the NCAA men's lacrosse tournament.

It wasn’t that the Buckeyes were worn down after a long weekend of playing in the Big Ten tournament, but simply that it was a show of respect for the Baltimore school.

Coach Nick Myers knows what he and his team are getting into going into a 5 p.m. game on Sunday in Ohio Stadium. Loyola is in the tournament for the 24th time — the 22nd time in Division I — and won an NCAA title in 2012.

The Greyhounds enter with the lacrosse version of a Heisman Trophy candidate in sophomore attack Pat Spencer.

He is one of five finalists for the national player of the year award.

“This is a team that was in the Final Four a year ago,” Myers said. “They have a player of the year candidate in Spencer, so he’s a guy we certainly have to identify and contain. They are a good transition team. They have a stingy defense and they have a good faceoff (specialist) and a good goalie. We’ll have to be strong early to establish our game plan, and we have to finish in the fourth quarter.”

Spencer, who is 6 feet 2 and 190 pounds, has 27 goals and a Patriot League season record 55 assists.

Buckeyes defenseman Ben Randall is expected to get first shot at trying to slow down Spencer.

Myers’ philosophy all season, though, has been for his players to concentrate on their game.

“We’ve put in a lot of work all year and this is one of our goals,” senior attack Austin Shanks said. “We’ve got to take a look inside ourselves. They are a good team, but we’ve got to come out and play our game strong.”

Myers got the 2013 and ’15 teams into the NCAA tournament, but he has taken a particular liking to this team.

“We have a great group of seniors and we’re fighting to extend our season,” he said. “At this point you just want to be together for another week.”