As we wait for the results of this disastrous season to play out, I am going to take a bitter trip down memory lane of the 2024 campaign. I am actually going to start with the good, because there’s a ton of bad to dissect, argue about, and grumble over. I will do my best to limit the points in this post to just 2024, even though many issues are systemic and have plagued the program for years. I will also, as per usual, emphasize that my beef with the current staff is limited to its results on the field over a collection of years, not with any of them as individual people.
I suppose being half right and half wrong is something. I overestimated Virginia's offense, and did the same to Ohio State's. This was a much lower scoring game than it had any right to be, thanks to 35 combined saves from the goalkeepers. Virginia showed exactly why it's a Final Four contender. I stand by my statement that they are not elite, but if Nunes is going to put up 17 saves, there's not many teams that will beat them. Ohio State just got outclassed at every level.
Games like the one on Sunday are where you separate the men from the boys, the contenders from the pretenders, and the haves from the have nots. I can sit here and spin a fantasy where the Buckeyes can compete against the Cavaliers, but barring a miracle improvement to the dodging and midfield, that's just not happening.