The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team will host Michigan in the 2014 Showdown in the Shoe April 12 in Ohio Stadium. The matchup is slated for 11 a.m. and will precede the Ohio State football team’s spring game.
“We are excited to again have our men’s lacrosse team play in front of what we hope is another record-breaking crowd,” Gene Smith, Ohio State vice president/director of athletics, said. “Our fans embrace the rivalry with Michigan so this is a special chance to introduce even more of Buckeye Nation to the sport of lacrosse.”
The game will be the sixth edition of the Showdown in the Shoe, which began in 2008. The tradition was suspended in 2013 because of construction in Ohio Stadium that moved the Ohio State football spring game to Cincinnati. A record 31,078 fans were in attendance when the men’s lacrosse Buckeyes defeated Air Force in 2010. The first game drew a then-NCAA regular-season and on-campus attendance record of 29,601 fans, with 30,192 at the 2009 contest to top that mark. Attendance is recorded at halftime of the men’s lacrosse game, with tens of thousands more in the stadium by the end of the contest as the football spring game begins immediately after. The 2009 football spring game set a national attendance record of 95,722.
“We would like to thank Mr. Gene Smith and Coach Meyer for the opportunity to play in Ohio Stadium in conjunction with the spring football game,” Nick Myers, in his sixth year as the head coach of the Buckeyes, said. “The event provides our men with a venue and crowd that is like no other in the sport of lacrosse. We understand the responsibility and we have embraced the opportunity as Buckeyes to prepare for this great rivalry game on April 12, 2014.”
The game between the Buckeyes and Wolverines, who elevated their program to Division I status for the 2012 season, will be an ECAC Lacrosse League contest. The teams will face off as Big Ten foes beginning in 2015, when lacrosse will be added as an official conference sport and Ohio State and Michigan will be joined by Penn State, Maryland, Rutgers and Johns Hopkins.
Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State are again competing for the Creator’s Trophy, an annual award that goes to the team with wins against the other Big Ten schools that sponsor men’s lacrosse. Ohio State is the defending champion after topping the Wolverines (17-8) and Nittany Lions (10-9 OT) on the road last year. The Buckeyes host Penn State March 1 and the Wolverines play at Penn State Feb. 8 in the other 2014 Creator’s Trophy contests.
