May 3, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, Pa; May 3, 2008 - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team closed out the 2008 season with a stunning 12-11 overtime victory over No. 4 Georgetown in an ECAC Lacrosse League battle today at Jeffrey Field. Junior Max VanArsdale (Rochester, N.Y.), junior Mike Toner (Geneva, N.Y.) and sophomore Charley Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) led a late Penn State rally that helped head coach Glenn Thiel's squad secure the upset win.
With the Nittany Lions down by two with under a minute to play, VanArsdale scored an unassisted goal and Henneghan won two late-face offs, the first leading to his assisting on junior Mike Toner's (Geneva, N.Y.) game tying goal. VanArsdale then put the game in the win column with an unassisted goal in overtime.
Senior Bubba Scott (Rockville, Md.) started senior day in fine fashion with an unassisted goal less than a minute into the game to give Penn State an early 1-0 lead. Junior Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) took a VanArsdale assist in front of the goal and put Penn State up 2-0 at the 13:26 mark. Georgetown quickly answered the early Lion burst, getting an unassisted goal from Craig Dowd with 11:41 left in the opening period. Jake Samperton tied the game, picking up a loose ball in front of the net and scoring with 5:58 left in the opening period. But Scott would help Penn State take a lead into the second quarter, scoring unassisted with 2:11 left in the opening stanza after a nice move to the left of the Hoya net and then finding the net as the clock buzzed (off another VanArsdale assist) to give Penn State a 4-2 lead after one period.
Hoya Todd Cochran scored the second period's first goal, getting an unassisted score with 14:17 left in the half. Ryan McAleenan (Grand Rapids, Mich.) took a Forster assist with 11:09 left in the second and put Penn State back on top by two, 5-3. VanArsdale then gave the Lions their biggest lead of the half, putting PSU up 6-3 after moving from behind the goal, losing his man briefly and pushing the ball past Hoya goalie Miles Kass with 9:59 left in the half. The Hoyas cut into Penn State's lead when Dowd scored a man-up goal off a Samperton assist with 3:51 left in the half. But Penn State would continue to score as Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) picked up a loose ball in front of the goal and scored unassisted at the 2:08 mark. Kass kept Penn State from leading by even more with a point-blank save as the half ended on a shot by Penn State's VanArsdale.
The Hoyas got two early third period goals. The first came just two minutes into the period as Stevie Bauer took an Andrew Baird assist and scored. The second came just over a minute later, at the 11:55 mark, when Dan D'Agnes scored off a Dowd assist to cut Penn State's lead to 7-6 just over three minutes into the third period. The Hoyas completed their comeback when Ben Hostetler took a Dowd assist and tied the game at 7-7 with 5:11 to play in the third. GU then took its fist lead of the game when D'Agnes scored an unassisted goal at the 4:19 mark, putting the Hoyas up 8-7. Georgetown scored its fifth straight goal of the period when Andrew Brancaccio scored off a Max Seligmann assist to give GU a 9-7 lead with 2:52 left in the third. VanArsdale helped stem the tide and broke the Hoya run with an unassisted goal at the 2:30 mark, cutting the GU lead to 9-8.
The officials called a stick violation on Georgetown between the third and fourth period, giving Penn State a three minute non-releasable man-up opportunity. A GU penalty shortly thereafter gave the Lions a two-man edge and Scott took advantage, taking a VanArsdale assist and tying the game at 9-9 with 14:16 to play. Georgetown's Baird broke the tie at the 6:09 mark, scoring off a rebounded save from Lion goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) and giving GU a 10-9 lead. Dowd knocked in a goal off a Hostetler assist with 5:23 left to give GU an 11-9 lead. VanArsdale gave Penn State a chance in the game's final minute with an unassisted goal at the 0:44 mark, cutting the lead to 11-10. Sophomore Henneghan then ignited the Penn State faithful by winning the ensuing face-off, picking up the ground ball and finding Toner with a fine pass. Toner then tied the game with a goal at the :37 mark. Henneghan won the next face-off and picked up the ground ball again, but his shot was high. The Lions retained possession and got off two shots but could not score. Still, the late Lion flurry sent the game into overtime tied 11-11.
In the sudden death period, VanArsdale completed Penn State's late-game comeback, scoring an unassisted goal from the right side of the Hoya net and helping the Nittany Lions stun the fourth-ranked Hoyas. The goal, at the 2:23 mark of overtime, gave Penn State the 12-11 win.
VanArsdale led Penn State with seven points off four goals and three assists while Scott added four goals. Adams was superb in the net, holding firm on 54 Georgetown shots (28 of which were on goal), giving up only 11 goals and coming away with 17 saves. As a team, Penn State won 15 of 25 face-offs, led by Henneghan's five of seven.
Penn State ends the 2008 campaign with a 7-7 mark overall, 2-5 in the ECAC. No. 4 Georgetown is now 9-4, 5-2 in the league. The Hoyas will await word of a slot in the 2008 NCAA Championships as the tournament field will be announced this weekend.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 12, Georgetown 11
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: : PSU 14:13 (Scott); PSU 13:26 (Forster, VanArsdale); GU 11:41 (Dowd); GU 5:58 (Samperton); PSU 2:11 (Scott); PSU 0:01 (Scott, VanArsdale)
2nd: GU 14:17 (Cochran); PSU 11:09 (McAleenan, Forster); PSU 9:59 (VanArsdale); GU 3:51 (Dowd, Samperton); PSU 2:08 (Shea)
3rd: GU 13:11 (Bauer, Baird); GU 11:55 (D'Agnes, Dowd); GU 5:11 (Hostetler, Dowd); GU 4:19 (D'Agnes); GU 2:52 (Brancaccio, Seligmann); PSU 2:30 (VanArsdale)
4th: PSU 14:16 (Scott, VanArsdale); GU 6:09 (Baird); GU 5:27 (Dowd, Hostetler); PSU 0:44 (VanArsdale); PSU 0:37 (Toner, Henneghan)
5th: PSU 2:23 (VanArsdale)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 38, GU 41 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-3, GU 1-4
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 35-18, GU 54-28 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 15-25, GU 10-25
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (63:22; 11 GA, 17 SV); GU Miles Kass (63:22, 12 GA, 6 SV)
SCORE BY QUARTERS:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | F | |
| PENN STATE | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| GEORGETOWN | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 11 |
RECORDS: Penn State 7-7, 2-5 ECAC; Georgetown 9-4, 5-2 ECAC -- ATTENDANCE: 1,062