Feb. 26, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -
TODAY'S GAME: The Penn State Nittany Lions (1-1, 0-0 ECAC) will trek to Baltimore, Md., where they will open up ECAC Lacrosse League play with a game at No. 15 Loyola (1-1, 0-0 ECAC) on Saturday, March 1. Game time is set for 2 p.m. in a contest that will be televised live on MASN.
Penn State is coming off a hard fought 15-9 loss at No. 8 Notre Dame last Sunday. The Irish bolted out to a 6-0 lead to start the game and then held off a Penn State rally to grab the win. Freshman Will Donley led Penn State with two goals while Brian Shea had a goal and an assist.
Rob Forster is leading Penn State through two games, notching six points off three goals and three assists. Max VanArsdale checks in with five points off four goals and an assist while Matt Loy has four goals. Goalie Drew Adams has a 9.31 goals against average with 17 saves. As a team, Penn STate sports a .342 shot percentage and has 80 ground balls. The Nittany Lions have won 33 of 51 face-offs behind Jordan Kolb's nine for 12.
Loyola, which lost its season opener to Notre Dame by a 7-6 score, took down No. 13 Towson over the weekend. Cooper MacDonnell led the Greyhounds with four goals in the win while Shane Koppens had two goals and three assists. Koppens leads LC with nine points off three goals and six assists while MacDonnell checks in with five points off five goals. Keeper Jake Hagelin has a 7.50 goals against average with 23 saves. The Greyhounds have a .284 shot percentage and have 93 ground balls in just two games.
Penn State continues its three-game road swing when it visits Ohio State on Saturday, March 8. Game time in Columbus is set for 12 p.m.
PENN STATE VS. LOYOLA: THE SERIES Penn State holds a solid 27-20-1 edge over the Greyhounds in the all-time series between the two teams. The Nittany Lions will be looking to snap a two-game skid against LC as Loyola won 10-9 last year in Holuba Hall and 9-6 two years ago in Baltimore. Penn State's last win was a 16-14 victory on March 5, 2005. The last PSU win at Loyola was an 18-17 victory on April 28, 1982 (the two teams had not played in a number of years in the interim).
ADAMS ON TEWAARATON TROPHY LIST Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse player Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) has been named to the 2008 Tewaaraton Trophy Watch List, as announced by the Tewaaraton Award Foundation. Adams, a junior goalie for Penn State, is in his third season as a starter for the Nittany Lions. Already a two-time first team All-ECAC Lacrosse League pick, Adams has won the last two ECAC Lacrosse League Goalie of the Year awards. He was also the ECAC Lacrosse League Rookie of the Year in 2006. The native of Springfield, Pa., started all 26 games during his first two seasons at Penn State and collected 317 saves. He allowed only 209 goals in over 1500 minutes played for a superb 8.01 goals against average. This year, Adams is already 1-0, having allowed only two goals in Penn State's season-opening win over Robert Morris last Saturday.
DONLEY NETS TWO AT NOTRE DAME Freshman Will Donley scored two goals in Penn State's 15-9 loss at No. 8 Notre Dame on Feb. 24, leading Penn State with two points along with Brian Shea, who had a goal and an assist.
VanARSDALE AND LOY NOTCH HAT TRICKS Junior Max VanArsdale and sophomore Matt Loy scored three goals each to lead Penn State in goals during PSU's 18-2 season opening win over Robert Morris on 2/16. VanArsdale added an assist for four total points in the contest. Loy took only four shots in the game, finding the net on three of them.
FORSTER'S FIVE POINTS LEAD NITTANY LIONS OVER ROBERT MORRIS Junior Rob Forster had two goals and a game-high three assists to lead Penn State to an 18-2 win over visiting Robert Morris on 2/16. Forster was one of four Nittany Lions with more than one goal and one of three with more than one assist.
16-POINT MARGIN OF VICTORY MOST SINCE `95 Penn State's 16-point margin of victory over Robert Morris on 2/16 (an 18-2 win) was the largest Penn State margin of victory since the Nittany Lions downed Stony Brook by 16, 20-4, on April 8, 1995.
FIRST SEASON OPENING WIN SINCE `05 Penn State snapped a short two year losing skid in season opening games by downing Robert Morris 18-2 on 2/16. The Nittany Lions had last won a season opener in 2005, when Penn State beat No. 14 Ohio State 9-7 on Feb. 19, 2005. 2005 was also Penn State's last trip to the NCAA tournament.
ZICHELLI AND ADAMS NAMED TO 2008 PRE-SEASON ALL-ECAC LACROSSE TEAM Two members of Penn State's men's lacrosse team have been selected to the 2008 Preseason All-ECAC Team as chosen by the conference's eight head coaches. Senior Tommy Zichelli ( Severna Park, Md.) and junior Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) represent Penn State on the squad. Zichelli, a defender, has played in 38 games during his Penn State career. He heads into his senior season as one of Penn State's captains and is coming off a solid 2007 that saw him collect 25 ground balls. He has six points off four goals and two assists with 64 ground balls during his Nittany Lion career. Adams, the lone goalie on the preseason squad, is a two-time All-ECAC Lacrosse League first team pick and league Goalie of the Year. In 2006, he was also voted ECAC Lacrosse League Rookie of the Year and was an honorable mention All-American. Adams has started all 26 games of his prior two seasons and has an 8.01 goals against average with 317 saves and a .603 save percentage.
ADAMS EARNS PRE-SEASON HONORS FROM INSIDE LACROSSE MAGAZINE Penn State Nittany Lion men's lacrosse goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) has been named to the Inside Lacrosse Magazine Pre-Season All-ECAC Team, helping Penn State to earn the No. 2 spot in the magazine's pre-season team poll. Adams, the two-time ECAC Goalie of the Year, has started all 26 games of his collegiate career. He has a superb 8.01 goals against average in over 1500 minutes played. Adams has 317 saves and only 209 goals against and sports a .603 save percentage. As a freshman, he was ECAC Rookie of the Year as well and is a two-time first team All-ECAC pick. In addition, the Nittany Lions were picked to finish second by Inside Lacrosse in the pre-season team poll. National power Georgetown was predicted to win the team crown, followed by Penn State, UMass, Loyola, Rutgers, Fairfield, St. John's and Hobart.
MACKRIDES AND ZICHELLI NAMED CAPTAINS Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel has announced that seniors Andrew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) and Tommy Zichelli (Severna Park, Md.) have been named team captains for the 2008 season. The seniors are two of only four seniors on a very young Penn State roster. Mackrides is a 5-8 middie who is coming off a solid 2007 that saw him play in all 13 games for Penn State, scoring two goals. He has played in 40 games during his first three seasons at Penn State and has nine goals and one assist for ten points. Zichelli is a 6-3 defender who also played in all 13 games for the Nittany Lions in 2007. He had 25 ground balls, which was fourth on the team. Zichelli has played in 38 games over three years, has four goals and two assists for six points as well as 64 ground balls.
NITTANY LIONS HAVE TWO TV DATES The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team, under the guidance of veteran head coach Glenn Thiel, will have two of its games televised during the 2008 season. Penn State's contest at Loyola on March 1 has been moved to a 2 p.m. start and will air on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. MASN is the first Regional Sports Network in the mid-Atlantic area owned by two Major League Baseball franchises -- the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles. It can be seen regionally all throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. The Nittany Lions' contest at St. John's on April 12 will begin at 1 p.m. and air on CN8. CN8 provides more than 9 million Comcast cable viewers with a unique brand of live, interactive television delivered over its own fiber-optic network to 12 states and 20 television markets stretching from Maine to Virginia and Washington, D.C.
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