UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 7 Penn State men’s lacrosse earned a gritty 13-11 win over no. 15 Colgate in the NCAA First Round and advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals. A back-and-forth contest was rounded out by a 3-0 Nittany Lions run over the last few minutes of the game to seal their win. Penn State improves to 11-4 overall while Colgate ends its season with a 10-8 record. The Nittany Lions advance to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the third time in program history. The team will take on the winner of the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame which will be played on Sunday, May 11 at noon.
Another outstanding performance for the freshman faceoff athlete Reid Gills, going 21-28 at the faceoff x, was a key component in the victory. Sophomore Liam Matthews guided the Penn State offense with four goals including two in the PSU 3-0 run down the stretch. Senior Ethan Long led the team in points, tallying one goal and three assists. Senior Matt Traynor produced his fifth hat trick of the season with three goals to go with a career best eight ground balls. Senior Jack Aimone was the final multi-goal scorer for PSU with two. Kyle Lehman, Will Costin and Will Peden rounded out the goal scorers with one apiece.
Defensively, senior Kevin Parnham was the key disruptor, causing four turnovers and scooping six ground balls. As a team, Penn State caused a program NCAA Tournament record 18 turnovers on the Raiders. Sophomore Brendan Leary (3), junior Ryan O’Connor (2), senior Jack Fracyon (2) and junior Jon King (2) all had multiple caused turnovers.
FIRST QUARTER – 2-0 Colgate
- Colgate held Penn State scoreless for the entirety of the quarter.
- The Raiders added two goals of their own after both teams were plagued by turnovers.
SECOND QUARTER – 5-5
- Penn State notched the first goal of stanza but then the teams traded goals for the next few possessions. Traynor and Aimone had the two first goals.
- The Nittany Lions notched back-to-back goals with five minutes remaining to knot the score at 4-4, both goals were unassisted off the sticks of Long and Aimone.
- Colgate added one more goal in the quarter to recapture the lead but Penn State had the final word of the half, a bounce pass from Leary to find Matthews who shot it behind his back.
THIRD QUARTER – 10-8 Penn State
- The Nittany Lions took their first lead of the game just over 30 seconds into the quarter, Matthews scored his second goal off a feed from Long.
- Costin took a long shot from well beyond midfield on the Colgate 10-man ride in the clear to score his first career goal and put PSU up by two.
- The Raiders went on a 3-0 scoring surge to retake the lead back at 8-7.
- Penn State responded with a three-goal run of its own to grab the edge heading into the final stanza. Traynor collected a ground ball off a turnover to outwork the Colgate defense and find the back of the net to begin the stretch. Peden notched his goal off a helper from Hunter Aquino and Lehman also beat his defender to add his first goal of the day.
FOURTH QUARTER – 13-11 Penn State
- Colgate began the final 15 minutes with another 3-0 scoring stretch, taking the lead once again at 11-10.
- Penn State’s defensive efforts and grit at the faceoff x kept Colgate from scoring and gaining possessions over the remaining five minutes, allowing the offense to go on their final 3-0 run of the contest.
- Matthews led the surge down the stretch with two goals in four minutes. Traynor put away the final goal on an empty net to seal the victory.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Penn State advances to its third quarterfinal in program history. All three trips coming under the leadership of head coach Jeff Tambroni.
- Gills has compiled 39 faceoffs over the last two games with 18 in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals and 21 in the NCAA First Round game.
- The Nittany Lions set a new program record for caused turnovers in an NCAA Tournament game previously set at 12 against Yale in 2019. PSU totaled 18 on the day.
- Matthews set a career high four goals with his third three-plus-goal performance of the season.
- Traynor added his fifth hat trick of the season while collecting a new personal best eight ground balls.
- Penn State dominated the ground ball game, outworking Colgate 52-24. PSU’s 52 comes up two shy of another program NCAA Tournament record of 54 ground balls in a single-game.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions will face the winner of the Ohio State vs. Notre Dame game that will be played on Sunday, May 11 at noon. The team will take on the winner in Annapolis, Md. on Sunday, May 18.