Feb. 24, 2008
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 15-9 decision at No. 8 Notre Dame in its first road game of the season. The home standing Irish bolted out to 6-0 lead in the first period and Penn State's comeback attempt fell short. Freshman Will Donley (Pittsburgh, Pa.) led the young Nittany Lions with two goals in the game.
Notre Dame scored the first seven goals of the contest, including a 6-0 mark in the opening period. Ryan Hoff netted two of the scores for the Fighting Irish while Collin Igoe had a goal and an assist.
Penn State got on the board at the 14:39 mark of the second period when freshman Colby Rhodes (La Jolla, Calif.) scored an unassisted goal to spark a string of three straight Nittany Lion goals. Penn State and the Notre Dame played even lacrosse for the next six minutes before sophomore Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) took a Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) assist and cut the Notre Dame lead to 7-2 at the 8:45 mark. Four minutes later, Shea scored an unassisted goal and Penn State trailed only 7-3.
But Penn State would not get any closer as Notre Dame bounced back with three unanswered goals before the half to lead 10-3 at intermission. Hoff netted two more scores for ND while Davey Malera notched another. The teams traded goals in the third period with each team scoring three times. Penn State got unassisted goals from junior Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.), sophomore Charley Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) and junior Max VanArsdale (Rochester, N.J.). Notre Dame used two more Hoff goals to lead 13-6 after the third period.
Notre Dame's last goal of the game came off the stick of Zach Brenneman, who scored an unassisted goal at the 7:27 mark to put the Irish up 15-6. But the Nittany Lions scored the game's last three goals, getting two fourth quarter scores from Donley, one off an assist from Andrew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.), and an unassisted score from Matt Loy (Somerset, N.J.).
Penn State was out shot in the contest 47-31 but battled the Irish near-even in ground balls, with Notre Dame holding a slim 26-24 edge. The two teams nearly split face-offs as well, with Penn State winning 12 and Notre Dame claiming 15.
Junior goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) was again solid in the net, collecting a game-high 15 saves, including six in the fourth quarter alone. Notre Dame goalie Joey Kemp had 10 saves. Donley was joined by Shea as the only Nittany Lions to score more than one point in the contest, with each getting two. Donley's came off two goals while Shea had a goal and an assist. Notre Dame was led by Hoff's six goals and Alex Wharton had one goal and four assists for five points.
Penn State moves to 1-1 on the year while Notre Dame improves to 2-0. The Nittany Lions continue a three-game road swing next Saturday when they open up ECAC Lacrosse League play at Loyola. Game time in Baltimore is set for 2 p.m. in a contest that will be televised live nationally on MASN.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 9, Notre Dame 15
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: ND 14:23 (Podgajny); ND 12:37 (Igoe); ND 10:53 (Hicks); ND 10:04 (Swezey); ND 5:52 (Hoff, Wharton); ND3:30 (Hoff, Gibson)
2nd: ND 14:48 (Krebs, Igoe); PSU 14:39 (Rhodes), PSU 8:45 (Hogan, Shea); PSU 4:52 (Shea); ND 3:25 (Hoff, Wharton); ND 3:08 (Malera); ND 2:27 (Hoff, Wharton)
3rd: PSU 9:38 (Forster); ND 7:13 (Wharton); PSU 7:05 (Henneghan); PSU 6:28 (VanArsdale); ND 2:59 (Hoff, Wharton); ND 1:33 (Hoff, Malera)
4th: ND 10:30 (Swezey, Creighton); ND 7:27 (Brenneman); PSU 5:22 (Donley, Mackrides); PSU 3:09 (Loy); PSU 0:38 (Donley)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 24, ND 26
EMO: PSU 1-1; ND 2-5
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 31-19; ND 47-30
FACE-OFFS: PSU 12-27; ND 15-27
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU (Drew Adams 60:00, 15 SV, 15 GA); ND (Joe Kemp 60:00, 10 SV, 9 GA)
| SCORE BY QUARTERS: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| PENN STATE | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
| NOTRE DAME | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
RECORDS: Penn State 1-1, 0-0 ECAC; Notre Dame 2-0
ATTENDANCE: 1,017
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