April 18, 2009
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team hammered Rutgers 9-4 for its fourth straight win today. Senior Rob Forester (Jenkintown, Pa.) and sophomore Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) each totaled four points to lead the Nittany Lions to the ECAC road victory.
Penn State bolted out to a 3-0 lead to start the game and never trailed in the contest. A 7-1 halftime lead and superb goalkeeping from senior Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) allowed the Nittany Lions to roll to the victory and move to 7-5 on the year, 3-3 in the ECAC Lacrosse League.
Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) got Penn State started, scoring the first of three straight goals to open the first period. Vosburgh's unassisted goal came just two minutes into the contest and was followed quickly by a Mike Toner (Geneva, N.Y.) score off a Hogan assist at the 10:17 mark. Forster gave PSU a 3-0 lead at the 4:23 mark with an unassisted goal before Rutgers answered with a Justin Pennington goal with 4:13 left in the opening period. Hogan would give Penn State a 4-1 lead after one period with an unassisted goal with 2:30 on the clock.
Forster scored his second goal to open up the second period's scoring, taking an assist from Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) three minutes into the stanza. Hogan scored off a Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) with just 1:31 left in the half and goalie Adams continued to shut down the Scarlet Knights with sizzling goalie play, allowing Penn State to carry a 6-1 lead into the halftime break.
Forster's third goal of the game opened up second half scoring as the senior scored an unassisted goal just 1:30 into the third period. He followed that up with another goal off a Mackrides assist with 7:45 left to give the Lions an 8-1 lead. Rutgers' Pennington notched the only other goal of the third period and Penn State maintained a six goal lead (8-2) after three quarters of play.
The Scarlet Knights mounted a mini-rally to start the fourth period, scoring the final stanza's first two goals. Kory Kelly scored at the 10:23 mark and Gerhard Buehning notched a goal with 9:35 left to play to cut Penn State's lead to 8-4. But Adams continued to shine in the net and Hogan iced the game with his second goal at the 5:34 mark to give Penn State the 9-4 victory.
Adams ended the game with 13 saves, including eight in the second half alone. The four goals given up is a season low for the All-America candidate. Penn State was out-shot 38-33 in the game, but the Lions made their 23 shots on goal count. Forster's four goals led Penn State's offense while Hogan had three goals and an assist.
Penn State is 7-5, 3-3 in the ECAC while Rutgers moves to 4-9, 2-3 ECAC. The Nittany Lions will close out their home slate next Saturday night with a 7:30 p.m. game against St. Joseph's. Action will take place at Jeffrey Field and the night will be Senior Night for Penn State.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 9, Rutgers 4 SCORING (Goal-Assist): 1st: PSU 12:46 (Vosburgh), PSU 10:17 (Toner, Hogan), PSU 4:23 (Forster), RU 4:13 (Pennington, Diehl) 2nd: PSU 12:10 (Forster), PSU 1:31 (Hogan, Shea) 3rd: PSU 13:28 (Forster, Mackrides), PSU 7:45 (Forster), RU 5:40 (Pennington) 4th: RU 10:23 (Kelly, Burnard), RU 9:35 (Buehning), PSU 5:34 (Hogan)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 20, RU 25 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 0-3, RU 0-3 SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 33-23, RU 41-17 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU PSU 9-17, RU 8-17 GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (60:00, 4 GA, 13 SV), RU Billy Olin (60:00, 9 GA, 14 SV)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F PENN STATE 4 2 2 1 9 RUTGERS 1 0 1 2 4
ATTENDANCE: 2,000