April 25, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team throttled visiting St. Joe's in its final home game of the 2009 season, downing the Hawks 17-6 in non-conference action. Senior Mike Toner (Geneva, N.Y.) and sophomore Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) led the way for Penn State, combining for 12 points as Penn State won its fifth straight game.
Toner had two goals and four assists while Hogan had five goals and one assist to spark a sizzling Lion offense. Senior Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) was superb in the game, collecting 11 saves and giving up only six goals in 53 minutes of play. Adams was replaced when the Lions took a ten goal lead midway through the fourth period, marking the first time all year that the Penn State senior was not in goal for Penn State. The Nittany Lions' five-game win streak is its first five-game streak since reeling off
Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) got Penn State started with a goal three minutes into the contest, taking an assist from Toner to give Penn State an early 1-0 lead. Hogan put the Lions up by two, taking an assist from senior Matt Warner (Geneva, N.Y.) at the 5:53 mark. But the Hawks answered, cutting the lead to 2-1 when Charlie Gorman took a Sean Evans assist and scored with 3:59 left to play in the opening period. Hogan answered by notching a third PSU goal with 2:11 left, scoring unassisted. He then tallied this third goal of the period, taking a Toner assist with 1:46 on the clock to give Penn State a 4-1 lead after one period.
Penn State continued to pour on the offense to start the second period when Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) scored after picking up a ground ball in front of the goal less than a minute into the stanza. Freshman Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) scored off a Vosburgh assist with 12:22 left and the Lions found themselves up 6-1. Freshman Conrad Ridgway (Audubon, Pa.) took another Toner assists (his third of the first half) with 11:56 left to put the Lions up by six. St. Joe's finally broke the Lion scoring streak when Joe D'Avanzo scored with 7:35 left in the second period, cutting the lead to 7-2. But Toner would not let the Hawks go on a scoring run, putting Penn State back up by six with a goal at the 5:49 mark, taking an assist from Hogan. Less than a minute later, Hogan notched his fourth goal (off a Mackrides assist) and Penn State took a 9-2 lead with 4:59 left. St. Joe's got back on the board with 1:20 left in the half when Tom Dunn took a Gorman pass and found the back of the net. Penn State still carried a 9-3 lead into the halftime break.
St. Joe's got the first goal of the second half when Scott Cullinan took an R.J. Bopf assist just :33 into the third period to cut Penn State's lead to 9-4. Mackrides answered right away with his second goal just over a minute later and Penn State moved back out to a six goal lead. Penn State moved out to an 11-4 lead when Charley Henneghan (Royal Oak, Mich.) took a fourth assist from Toner at the 7:19 mark. Penn State continued its hot offensive night as Toner notched his second goal of the game, taking an assist from senior Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) with 4:24 on the clock and Alex Garrity (Rutledge, Pa.) scored on a fast break after Penn State won the ensuing face-off. The quick two goal burst put Penn State up 13-4. St. Joe's scored before the period ended, with Cullinan scoring off a Gorman assist with 1:38 left in the period and Drew Mandela scored with just :33 left on the clock to cut Penn State's lead to 13-6 heading into the final stanza.
Penn State scored the first two goals of the fourth period in a five second span. Hogan scored his fifth goal of the game unassisted with 11:13 on the clock and Joe Britt (Fairfax, Va.) scored on a fast break after the ensuing face-off just five seconds later. The burst put Penn State up 15-6. True freshman Ricky Robinson (Miami, Fla.) got his first career goal just over a minute later and the Lions took a ten goal lead with under 10:00 to play in the game. Anthony Basciano (Holtsville, N.Y.) added another Penn State goal, taking an assist from Matt Loy (Somerset, N.J.) with 4:36 left for the game's final score, giving Penn State the 17-6 victory.
Penn State is 8-5, 3-3 in the ECAC St. Joe's falls to 6-9. The Nittany Lions will close out the 2009 regular season at Georgetown next Saturday. Game time in D.C. is set for 12 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 17, St. Joseph's 6
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: PSU 11:59 (Vosburgh, Toner); PSU 5:53 (Hogan, Warner); SJ 3:59 (Gorman, Evans); PSU 2:11 (Hogan); PSU 1:46 (Hogan, Toner).
2nd: PSU 14:03 (Shea); PSU 12:27 (Mackrides, Vosburgh); PSU 11:56 (Ridgway, Toner); SJ 7:35 (D'Avanzo); PSU 5:49 (Toner, Hogan); PSU 4:59 (Hogan, Mackrides); SJ 1:20 (Dunn, Gorman).
3rd: SJ 14:27 (Cullinan, Bopf), PSU 13:18 (Mackrides); PSU 7:19 (Henneghan, Toner); PSU 4:24 (Toner, R. Forster); PSU 4:13 (Shea); SJ 1:38 (Cullinan, Gorman); SJ 0:33 (Mandela).
4th: PSU 11:13 (Hogan); PSU 11:08 (Britt); PSU 9:54 (Robinson); PSU 4:36 (Basciano, Loy)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 22, SJ 21 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 2-6, SJ 0-3
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 44-27, SJ 39-19 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 19-27, SJ 8-27
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (52:45, 11 SV, 6 GA), John Nichols (7:15, 0 GA, 2 SV); SJ Erik Hotaling (56:55, 17 GA, 10 SV), Griffin Ferrigan (3:05, 0 GA, 0 SV)
| SCORE BY QUARTERS: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| PENN STATE | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 17 |
| ST. JOSEPH'S | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
RECORDS: Penn State 8-5, 3-3 ECAC; St. Joseph's 6-9
ATTENDANCE: 1,242