What's going on in Buckeye land? Word is that 14 players have left the program on top of 4 graduating seniors. That's 18 players off a roster that was 28 strong in the fall. This seems to be more than a little "pruning" by any standard. Seems to me that this should have been the year for a young team to have found itself, but the wholesale changes indicate something considerably deeper. Life in Big 10 soccer appears to have gotten a little more difficult with the emergence of Michigan and Wisconsin over the past couple seasons.
Ref? News link? Seventeen dressed for their Connor Senn Memorial Match. BTW, "Wisconsin?" C'mon.... BRF
They sure had a full complement against Akron a couple months ago. Where did you hear 14 guys were leaving?
OSU's own press release on 5/14 claims 14 returning players for 2004, and 3-4 have apparently left since. There were 28 rostered in 2003, with only 4 seniors. BTW. Don't underestimate Jeff Rorhman's abilities at Wisconsin (coaching and recruiting).
"With 14 returning players and eight new ones, the extra preseason matches will help us figure out which combination of players will give us the best chance for success." http://ohiostatebuckeyes.collegesports.com/sports/m-soccer/spec-rel/051404aaa.html Their roster does show 28 players.
True, you can't underestimate Wisconsin. I mean looking up and down that roster and looking at the quality recruiting they are definitely the darkhorse of the Big 10. They handled Ohio State in the Big 10 tourney last year 2-0 and gave IU a run for their money as well. With losing only 2 seniors, they look to be very SOLID next year.
And that was sort of my reason for the post. Ohio State only lost 4 seniors, but somehow managed to lose another 10-14 players. That's not my impression of a solid looking squad for next year, especially after their poor performance this past year.
Any time half of a squad leaves from one season to the next is not a good thing. Were any of the players that left starters? Any idea where they went to?
Comparing the roster and official stats, there were only 7 full season starters (19 games or more), and of those 3 were seniors. Overall, there were 14 players with 10 games or more of playing time, and 12 players with at least 16 games of playing time (including the 7 "starters"). That suggests that the 4 remaining starting players must have generally come from a pool of the remaining 5 players with 16 or more games. If the team does have between 10 and 14 players returning, it's a safe bet that some of those who left had time in as a starter.