March 15, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -
The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team rode the scoring prowess of brothers Jack and Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) and a solid defensive effort to claim a 7-5 win at Vermont on Sunday. Playing their second road game in five days, the Nittany Lions evened their record at 3-3 with their third straight win.
Vermont got on the board first with a goal from Andrew Kelleher before Penn State answered with two straight goals, both unassisted, from Chris Mulqueen (Downingtown, Pa.) and Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) gave the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead. But Vermont would tie the game with a Derek Lichtfuss goal with 4:20 left in the opening period to send the game to the second period knotted at 2-2.
The second period belonged to Penn State, however, as the Nittany Lions outscored the Catamounts 3-1. Lichtfuss scored the second period's first goal midway through the period to put Vermont up 3-2, but Penn State answered with a three goal blitz heading into the locker room. Rob Forster and Shea scored unassisted goals at the 6:51 and 5:32 marks respectively and then Rob took an assist from younger brother Jack to score a man-up goal with 2:55 left to send the Nittany Lions into the halftime break with a 5-3 lead.
After a scoreless third period, Penn State added to its lead early in the fourth as Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) scored unassisted at the 11:49 mark, putting Penn State up 6-3. But Vermont would answer with two straight goals. Lichtfuss scored with 8:05 left in the game and Geoff Worley scored with 2:13 remaining to bring UV within one, 6-5. But Jack Forster iced the game with an unassisted goal at the 1:24 mark, giving Penn State the 7-5 final.
Senior goalie Drew Adams continued his stellar play in the net for Penn State, holding Vermont to just five goals, his third straight game of limiting the opponent to seven goals or less. Adams had nine saves. Penn State out-shot Vermont 33-30 and dominated the ground ball battle 36-22. The Nittany Lion face-off game was also solid, winning 11 of 15 face-offs, led by Jordan Kolb's (Lancaster, Pa.) 7-8 performance. While Rob Forster had two goals and brother Jack had a goal and an assist, junior middie Shea was superb with two goals and six ground balls, a team-best.
Penn State is 3-3 overall while Vermont 3-2. The Nittany Lions will continue ECAC play on Saturday, March 21, when Fairfield comes to town for a 1 p.m. contest.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 7, Vermont 5 SCORING (Goal-Assist): 1st: UV 10:55 (Kelleher, Worley), PSU 9:04 (Mulqueen), PSU 6:48 (Shea), UV 4:20 (Lichtfuss) 2nd: UV 7:45 (Lichtfuss), PSU 6:51 (R. Forster), PSU 5:32 (Shea), PSU 2:55 (R. Forster, J. Forster) 3rd: None 4th: PSU 11:49 (Hogan), UV 8:05 (Lichtfuss, Gillette), UV 2:13 (Worley), PSU 1:24 (J. Forster)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 33, UV 30 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-2, UV 1-6 SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 33-14, UV 30-14 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 11-15, UV 4-15 GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (60:00, 9 SV, 5 GA), UV Justin Lubas (60:00, 7 SV, 7 GA)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F PENN STATE 2 3 0 2 7 VERMONT 2 1 0 2 5
RECORDS: Penn State 3-3, Vermont 3-2 ATTENDANCE: 615