Feb. 14, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -
The Penn State Nittany Lion men's lacrosse team, receiving votes in the USILA Coaches Poll, opened up its 2009 season with a heart-breaking 12-11 road loss at Robert Morris on Saturday. The Colonials notched the game winning goal in the second overtime to post the upset victory.
The Nittany Lions found themselves down 6-1 early on as Robert Morris was the aggressor in the early going. Down 6-1 with just over 8:00 left in the second quarter, Penn State rallied for the first half's two final goals. Billy Lloyd (West Chester, Pa.) notched an unassisted goal with 8:19 left and Chris Hogan (Wycoff, N.J.) scored a man-up goal with 5:15 left to get Penn State to within three, 6-3, at the half. Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) had Penn State's lone first quarter goal after RMU had bolted out to a 3-0 lead.
Penn State continued its rally early in the third quarter as the Nittany Lions scored the first four goals of the period to take a 7-6 lead. Rob Forster, freshman Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.), Hogan and freshman Jack Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) all scored in the first ten minutes of the third to give the Nittany Lions the lead. From that point on, however, each team put together streaks of three, four and three goals, with Robert Morris getting the final push for victory.
Penn State's final goals came in a four-goal splurge late in the third and early in the fourth period. Down 9-7, Mackrides scored, followed by Hogan, Rob Forster and Hogan again to give Penn State an 11-9 lead with 8:18 left. But the Colonials scored the last two goals of regulation, including the tying goal with 5:48 remaining.
The first overtime period went scoreless and then Robert Morris won the game when Corbyn TaoBrambleby scored early in the second extra session to give RMU the 12-11 win.
Hogan led Penn State with four goals while Rob Forster had three. Younger brother Jack Forster had one goal and three assists while Mackrides had two goals. Senior goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) had 11 saves in the game. Penn State out-shot Robert Morris 52-35 and won 14 of 22 face-offs. But the Colonials had a 20-16 ground ball edge and held Penn State to a two-for-seven man-up mark.
Penn State is 0-1 on the year while Robert Morris is 1-1. The Nittany Lions will host No. 9 Notre Dam in their home opener on Sunday, Feb. 22. Action begins at 1 p.m. in Penn State's Holuba Hall.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 11, Robert Morris 12 (2 OT)
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: 13:01 RMU (Moore); 6:10 RMU (Morton, Smith); 2:54 RMU (Kerch, TaoBrambleby); PSU 0:28 (R. Forster, J. Forster)
2nd: 12:31 RMU (Johnson, TaoBrambleby), 11:07 RMU (Buchanan, TaoBrambleby); 9:50 RMU (Smith); 8:19 PSU (Lloyd); 5:15 PSU (Hogan)
3rd: 14:00 PSU (Forster); 13:00 PSU (Mackrides); 10:06 PSU (Hogan); 5:51 PSU (J. Forster); 5:19 RMU (Lee, Marasti); 3:22 RMU (Smith); 2:15 RMU (TaoBrambleby, Moore); 0:54 PSU (Mackrides)
4th: 10:06 PSU (Hogan, J. Forster); 9:24 (R. Forster, Shea); 8:18 PSU (Hogan); 7:49 RMU (TaoBrambleby, Moore); 5:48 RMU (Smith, Lee)
1st OT: No Scoring
2nd OT: 4:00 RMU (TaoBrambleby, Kerch)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 16, RMU 20 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 2-7, RMU 1-3
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 52, RMU 35 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 14-22, RMU 8-22
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (65:00, 12 GA, 11 SV); RMU Sal Barcia (63:42, 11 GA, 13 SV), Dillion Pope (1:18, 0 GA, 1 SV)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 1OT 2OT F
PENN STATE 1 2 5 3 0 0 11
ROBERT MORRIS 3 3 3 2 0 1 12
RECORDS: Penn State 0-1; Robert Morris 1-1
ATTENDANCE: 205