April 15, 2008
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa; April 15, 2008 - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team used a late-game flurry to stun No. 9 Bucknell 8-7 tonight, under the lights at Jeffrey Field in State College. Junior goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) sparked Penn State with his first career goal and notched 14 saves to lead the Nittany Lions. Chris Mulqueen (Downingtown, Pa.) scored the game winning goal with 1:34 to play to lift Penn State to the victory.
While Adams thrilled the crowd with his third period goal thrilled the crowd, it was his defense in front of the net that kept Penn State close. Adams consistently kept Bucknell from breaking open the game with saves and outstanding clearing passes. The Penn State midfield and defense came up big as well, forcing Bucknell into two failed clears late in the game that led to Penn State's winning goals.
Penn State came out as the aggressor early on, reeling off seven shots to Bucknell's one in the first five minutes. But the Nittany Lions were off target on their early shots and it was Bucknell that scored first. Bucknell's Tim Brandau scored off a Joe Mele assist at the 5:03 mark to give the ninth-ranked Bison an early 1-0 lead. But Penn State answered back quickly, taking advantage of a Bison penalty to get a man-up goal from Andrew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) at the 3:52 mark to tie the game. Penn State took a 2-1 lead at the 1:25 mark when Charley Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) scored in front of the BU net with 1:25 left. The Nittany Lions carried that lead into the second period.
Bucknell tied the game early in the second period, getting a man-up goal from Mike Danylyshyn with 13:24 left in the period. The Bison then took a lead two minutes later when Brandau scored again with 11:19 left. Penn State was hit with a major penalty for slashing as that goal was scored, giving the Bison a quick man-up opportunity right off the face off. But Penn State goalie Adams intercepted a tight pass in front of the net to help Penn State kill the penalty and mount an attack of its own. But Penn State's offense was stifled but the Bison defense and Bucknell maintained its 3-2 lead until the half nearly ended. The final :75 seconds of the first half featured a furious scoring flurry. Bucknell moved out to a 4-2 lead with an Austin Winter goal at the 1:15 mark. Penn State answered right back when Henneghan, after winning the ensuing face-off, raced down the field and scored with 1:09 left, cutting the Bison lead to 4-3. But Bucknell got the next score just seconds later with Winter scoring again, this time off a Rick Carolan assist with 0:53 left in the half.
Penn State got the first goal of the second half when Matt Loy (Somerset, N.J.) took a Max VanArsdale (Rochester, N.Y.) pass and found the back of the net just three minutes into the third period, cutting Bucknell's lead to 5-4. But BU answered right back, with Ryan Klipstein scoring off a Brandau assist at the 8:51 mark to push BU back up by two, 6-4. Both defenses stiffened over the bulk of the third period until Nittany Lion goalie Adams took advantage of a lapse in the Bison defense. The All-ECAC keeper saw an opening and tossed the ball from in front of his own net over the Bison defense and straight into the goal, getting his first career goal. The score, at the 0:49 mark, cut Bucknell's lead to 6-5 heading into the final period.
The fourth period began with Penn State maintaining possession for nearly five minutes, getting off numerous shots but not able to get the ball past Bucknell goalie Nick Sciubba. But the persistent Nittany Lions finally broke through when Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) scored an unassisted goal from up close with 6:47 left in the game, tying the score at 6-6. The tie was broken by Bucknell, however, when Danylyshyn scored an unassisted goal with 4:53 left, giving BU a 7-6 lead with under 5:00 to play in the game. But Penn State's defense came up big, stopping consecutive Bucknell clears to storm back and take an 8-7 lead. First, Mackrides picked up a ground ball at midfield on a failed BU clear and quickly saw an opening as the Bison goalie had come forward. Mackrides fired a bullet dead-center into the goal to tie the game with 2:05 left to play. Penn State then took advantage of another failed Bison clear. This time, Mulqueen scored off a VanArsdale assist to give Penn State an 8-7 lead with just 1:34 left to play. Bucknell had one last big chance to score, getting a minor man-up chance at the :42 mark. But the Nittany Lion defense, sparked by a Matt Bernier (Drexel Hill, Pa.) ground ball, killed the penalty. The Bison had one last chance to score when Landau was a mere two feet in front of Adams and fired a point-blank shot to try and tie the game. But the stand-out Lion goalie made the stellar save to secure the 8-7 win.
The win was the 300th career head coaching victory for Nittany Lion mentor Glenn Thiel. Thiel is now 300-203 in his 41st year as a head coach. He is 223-167 in his 31st year at Penn State. Mackrides and Henneghan each had two goals for Penn State while VanArsdale had two assists. Landau led Bucknell with two goals and an assist. Bucknell goalie Nick Sciubba had 13 saves. Penn State out-shot BU 34-30, with each team having 21 shots on goal. The Nittany Lions had a 35-24 edge in ground balls and won 12 of 19 face-offs.
Penn State is now 5-6 overall, 1-4 in the ECAC. Bucknell is now 9-3. The Nittany Lions will host Rutgers in an ECAC tilt on Sunday at 1p.m. at Jeffrey Field.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 8, Bucknell 7
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: BU 5:03 (Brandau, Mele); PSU 3:52 (Mackrides); PSU 1:25 (Henneghan)
2nd: BU 13:24 (Danylyshyn, Winter); BU 11:19 (Brandau, Buckley); BU 1:15 (Winter); PSU 1:09 (Henneghan); BU 0:53 (Winter, Carolan)
3rd: PSU 11:58 (Loy, VanArsdale); BU 8:51 (Klipstein, Brandau); PSU 0:49 (Adams)
4th: PSU 6:47 (Forster); BU 4:53 (Danylyshyn); PSU 2:05 (Mackrides); PSU 1:34 (Mulqueen, VanArsdale)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 35, BU 24 -- EMO: PSU 1-1, BU 1-4
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 34-21; BU 30-21 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 12-19, BU 7-19
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (60:00, 7 GA, 14 SV); BU Nick Sciubba (60:00, 8 GA, 13 SV)
| SCORE BY QUARTERS: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| PENN STATE | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| BUCKNELL | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
RECORDS: Penn State 5-6, 1-4 ECAC; Bucknell 9-3 -- ATTENDANCE: 622