COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Rutgers coach Brian Brecht could count on one finger the number of his players who had played in a Big Ten championship game coming into the week.
He didn’t need that many digits to add up the number of victories the Scarlet Knights had on Maryland’s home field since the Big Ten started sponsoring lacrosse.
Both issues were solved in Thursday night’s Big Ten semifinals, as second-seeded Rutgers dominated the second half to claim a 12-10 victory over third-seeded Ohio State before 2,503.
Mitch Bartolo scored four goals, Ross Scott added three goals and an assist and Ronan Jacoby had a hat trick for the Scarlet Knights (13-2), who earned their second trip to the league title game and their first since 2016.
“It’s huge,” senior defensive midfielder Brennan Kamish said. “To my understanding, only Zack Franckowiak has been to the Big Ten final off our team. He’s an old head, but that’s pretty significant and good for us. Obviously to be playing for a championship and having that opportunity, you can’t sell that short.”
The Scarlet Knights will face top-seeded Maryland (13-0) in Saturday’s title game. The Terps dismissed fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins 16-11 to win for the 30th time in their last 31 outings dating back to 2020.
Skylar Wahlund made a career-high 21 saves, Jackson Reid scored five goals and Jack Myers delivered two goals and three assists for the Buckeyes (10-5), who could have solidified their postseason credentials with a victory and instead could be facing three nerve-filled days before the NCAA lacrosse committee releases its 18-team tournament bracket Sunday night.
Ohio State played a schedule ranked in the top 10 entering Thursday, a figure that can only improve after facing Rutgers. It is 3-5 against the top 20 in the RPI, including defeats of Harvard and Notre Dame — two teams joining it in the mix for the last at-large spot or two in the field.
“I think it’s as competitive as it ever has been to get in the tournament, but I think we scheduled accordingly,” coach Nick Myers said. “We added another ACC to our schedule. We played [North Carolina], which was new. We played Notre Dame. We played three Ivies, and we played Denver. Our strength of schedule, in addition to the Big Ten, is as strong as any out there. Teams that schedule that way and get wins I believe should be rewarded.”
Rutgers’ reward for its second victory over Ohio State could be solidifying a first-round NCAA tournament home game. The Scarlet Knights have not played a postseason game in Piscataway since 2003.
But this victory was nothing like their 18-7 pounding of the Buckeyes on March 27. This time, Ohio State bolted to a 5-2 lead in the first quarter as Jack Myers played a role in all but one of the goals. The Buckeyes maintained a 7-4 edge at the break, and Reid’s fourth goal made it 8-5 early in the third quarter.
“I thought we did a good job the first time of limiting them and was able to get [by] easy,” Brecht said. “With those two having a day, it wasn’t easy. That’s what games in May are supposed to be. They’re not supposed to be easy, right?”
Kamish said the Scarlet Knights entered with a plan similar to what they used in their first encounter with Ohio State, a sensible if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it approach, but acknowledged they made some miscues. Some of the credit for the tightened defense in the second half goes to Kamish and Franckowiak, key short sticks on Rutgers’ rope unit.
The Scarlet Knights’ offense eventually got going, too, with Bartolo igniting the comeback with his first goal, a dart from Wahlund’s right side off a Jack Aimone feed. Rutgers rattled off six consecutive goals to go up 11-8, and Scott’s insurance goal with 2:02 to go made it 12-9 to effectively seal it.
“We weren’t shooting the ball well, and we weren’t putting the ball where we wanted to at all,” Bartolo said. “We just knew if we came out and moved the ball, we have six dangerous guys on the field at all times. It just comes back to moving the ball and trusting our guys and trying to paint the pipes.”
While Rutgers played better in the second half after shaking off the rust of a 12-day layoff, Ohio State sputtered while playing its third game in 12 days. The Buckeyes managed only seven shots on goal in the second half, while the Scarlet Knights had eight goals after the break.
“I think it’s a group that just left it all out there,” Myers said. “I’m proud of the effort. We ran out of gas. … We didn’t have enough possessions, and we didn’t get enough leverage. Bottom line: We wore down. That goalie is a good goalie, but we didn’t get enough scoring opportunities and didn’t really get anything in transition. It probably forced us to operate solely in the half-field.”
In the first semifinal, Maryland used a five-goal burst spanning halftime to pull away from Johns Hopkins just 12 days after drubbing the Blue Jays 22-7, the Blue Jays’ most lopsided loss in program history.
Logan Wisnauskas had four goals and three assists and Logan McNaney made 14 saves for the Terrapins, who found themselves tied at 4 early in the second quarter before punching the advantage to 15-6 by the early stages of the fourth quarter.
Garrett Degnon scored four goals for the Blue Jays (7-9), who have lost five in a row to Maryland for the first time in the 124-game history of the series.
“We knew they were going to come out aggressive,” defenseman Brett Makar said. “For a lot of those guys that have been around, we knew this could potentially be their last game and we knew some of their players would be a little more aggressive and try and get theirs and win some more matchups this week.”
Unlike the decision to maintain the same tactics against Ohio State, Rutgers figures to take a different approach against Maryland. The Terps needed less than five minutes to score five goals on April 10 against the Scarlet Knights, eventually cruising to a 17-9 defeat.
Now comes a second chance — this one with the opportunity for Rutgers to collect its first Big Ten tournament title.
“They’re the best team in the country, there’s no doubt about it right now,” Bartolo said. “You have to beat the best to be the best. They came out really hot against us. We fell behind and we never really caught up. We know we’re a better team than we showed and we’ve been looking forward to an opportunity to play the best again.”