Buckeyes reflect on NCAA Tournament run, seniors’ departure

The Ohio State men’s soccer team brought a winning culture back to the team. Although four seniors — all of whom had much-needed contributions — will be leaving the program, the team expressed its excitement for future seasons.

The No. 16 Buckeyes (11-3-6, 5-3-2 Big Ten) had their best record, first winning season and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015. The team had its best season under head coach Brian Maisonneuve, and Ohio State’s three losses are its fewest since 1973.

The team expressed feelings of achieving goals, yet still falling short. Redshirt senior forward Devyn Etling said the team had expectations of winning both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles, as well as making the NCAA Tournament.

“We were happy to make it to the [NCAA] Tournament and our standard now, I feel like, for Ohio State is set for the future years,” Etling said. “Hopefully, they are able to build upon it in the next few years.”

Freshman midfielder Luciano Pechota said the Buckeyes exceeded expectations but thought the team could have done better than coming short of the Big Ten champions.

“If you would have told anybody that we would have been in the NCAA playing in the second round, and beat Wake [Forest] in the first, I think anyone outside the program would’ve laughed at you, like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Pechota said.

Pechota said although the Buckeyes came short of their goals, he’s excited the graduating seniors — Etling, midfielder Xavier Green, midfielder Chris Dowling and goalkeeper Keagan McLaughlin — put the program “on the map.”

“Next year, we’re returning a good amount,” Pechota said. “Dev, X, Chris and Keagan, we’ll miss them as a program for sure. But I mean, I think everybody has kind of the same mindset that it’ll be exciting for next year.”

Apart from the main goals, Maisonneuve said the team wanted to address critical areas, including box defending, which he said he “couldn’t be more pleased” with Ohio State’s growth.

“I thought we really did a good job with our box defending,” Maisonneuve said. “We can still take it up a notch, you know, and two postseason Big Ten games and two postseason NCAA Tournament games, we let in a total of 20 goals, which is good.”

Pechota said he wants to take what he learned this season and bring it next year, wanting to win as badly as “everyone else in our locker room does.”

Pechota said Etling especially took the freshmen under his wing both on and off the field.

“He would tell me old story jokes, like, ‘Back when I was your age, I did this,'” Pechota said. “They’re legitimate things that you can pick up on. I think that, for me personally, there was something like with him that helped a lot.”

On the other hand, McLaughlin said the freshmen class is “hungry” for next season. He said he hopes to see some of his teammates, who didn’t get many minutes, more on this pitch next year.

McLaughlin said the goalie room in particular — Stoller, redshirt freshman Max Trejo and redshirt sophomore Peter Van Euwen — have brought energy day in and day out.

“Guys like Dyland [Onwona-Agyeman] and Donny [Williams]RJ [Stoller]and even Ashton [Bilow] to some extent who didn’t really get the minutes,” McLaughlin said. “You’d always see them at the optional lifts like the day after a game on an off day. And I think that’s a testament to their hunger and desire to leave a mark on the program.”

Redshirt junior defender Owen Sullivan said he is eager for the freshmen to step into leadership roles next season, especially Pechota and forward Tanner Creech.

“Those two are just going to be automatic leaders next year,” Sullivan said. “It’s going to be very cool to see those guys grow in leadership and take some people under their wings when the new people come in.”

Sullivan, Dowling’s roommate, said Dowling was the other senior who added a lot early on but was inhibited by injuries to play in matches late in the season.

“He wasn’t even on the team and now he’s getting minutes, and it’s just truly incredible,” Sullivan said. “Just truly incredible to see what he’s been able to accomplish.”

Etling said he was happy to have played with the other seniors, guys he became “closest to” the past few years.

“Guys like Keagan — he makes you want to play for him,” Etling said. “I think our senior class really helped push everybody, especially the freshmen.”

Although the communal sentiment was wishing to advance further than they had, the team also said it is nice to have a break. Sullivan said it has been nice to take a step back after the season ended against No. 12 seed UNC Greensboro Nov. 20.

“It’s been from August all the way up until almost mid-December, pretty much mid-November or late-November, of soccer 24/7,” Sullivan said. “It’s kind of nice. Still, I want to take a break and relax.”

McLaughlin said he commends the coaching staff, particularly assistant coach Travis Morris, for “fostering competitiveness” but also advocating for “support of each other.” He said the staff is “up there with the best in the country.”

“Coach Morris is, honestly, the best in the country in terms of coaching and getting us to where we need to be for game days,” McLaughlin said. “That alone, I think, sets the tone for each of us to really build good relationships with each other.”

Maisonneuve said he was happy to see years of development come together in a successful year.

“We’ve been seeing the steady growth year after year,” Maisonneuve said. “You know, last year again, I thought we played some good soccer, but we were letting ourselves down in the critical areas. And to see it all come together this year, I thought it was exciting for the group, for us as a staff and for the program.”

Maisonneuve will be coaching in his sixth year next season, and the team will return over 90 percent of the roster.

“That’s just a resemblance of how you can grow as a program as a team and just in the way that we want to play and how we coach the game,” Maisonneuve said.