April 4, 2009
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; April 4, 2009 - Senior attacker Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) had two goals and two assists in a critical first period surge senior goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) had a career-high 24 saves, leading the Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team to a 10-8 win over visiting Hobart in an ECAC Lacrosse League battle.
Forster's four point explosion helped Penn State bolt out to a 5-2 lead after the first period and Adams' stellar play in goal helped Penn State pull away to its first conference win of the year. The elder Forster ended the game with five points off three goals and two assists while Adams added a season-high nine ground balls to his career-best game in goal.
Chris Mulqueen (Downingtown, Pa.) put Penn State on the board early, taking a nice pass from Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) in front of the goalie crease and scoring from 10 yards out to put Penn State up 1-0 at the 11:31 mark. Senior Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) kept Penn State out in front with a number of point blank saves, but Hobart broke into the scoring column with a Tyler Cassell unassisted score with 10:21 remaining in the opening period. The Statesmen then took the lead at the 7:43 mark when Kevin Curtin worked his way near the goal and scored to put Hobart up 2-1.
Adams continued to hold off a frenetic Hobart offense and used his defense to take a penalty at the 3:53 mark and set up a Penn State man-up opportunity. Mike Toner (Geneva, N.Y.) took advantage of the chance, scoring at the 3:05 mark off another Rob Forster assist. The Nittany Lions were not done as Charley Henneghan (Royal Oak, Mich.) won the next face-off, worked his way down field and set up a Rob Forster goal just :12 later. Forster then put the gave the Nittany Lions a 4-2 lead with 2:17 left, taking a Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) pass and putting the ball past Hobart goalie Max Silberlicht. The three goal spree led to a Hobart time-out. But Penn State quickly added a fifth goal as Alex Garrity (Rutledge, Pa.) finished off a fast-break by taking a Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) pass and finding the back of the net with 1:36 left to lead 5-2. Hobart had a man-up chance as the first period ended, but the Penn State defense held and the Lions held the three goal lead after the opening period.
Hobart scored the second period's first goal, as Cassell took a Mike Suits pass with 11:26 left in the period to cut the Penn State lead to 5-3. Three minutes later, Nick Blumer took a long pass from Jeff Colburn and scored to cut the Lion lead to 5-4 with 8:15 left, leading to a Penn State timeout. Hobart supplied most of the offensive pressure for the bulk of the second period, but Adams was up to the task of keeping Penn State in the lead. Adams ended the first half with 14 saves and the Nittany Lions held a 5-4 lead at intermission.
Hobart tied the game early in the third period, first killing off a Penn State man-up chance and then scoring quickly as Chris Pedersen took a Colburn pass with 11:47 to tie the score at 5-5. But Mackrides quickly answered for the Nittany Lions, scoring unassisted with a nice move and shot with 11:00 left to give Penn State a 6-5 lead. The Nittany Lions then moved out to a 7-5 lead, stopping a Hobart clear attempt and getting a goal from Vosburgh off a Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) assist just a minute later. Penn State was not done as Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) took advantage of a Silberlicht failed clearing pass and scored unassisted with 9:30 left to give the Nittany Lions an 8-5 lead. Pederson scored his second goal of the period with 7:17 left in a furious third period, taking a Tim Bigelow pass and scoring to make the score 8-6 in Penn State's favor. Penn State had a one minute man-up chance go by the wayside with three minutes left and then Hobart had a minute man-up opportunity killed by the Nittany Lion defense with 1:30 left as well, allowing Penn State to carry the 8-6 lead into the final period.
Penn State missed out on another minute man-up chance as the fourth period began as the Statesman defense held firm. Adams then continued to thwart HC's efforts to cut into the Nittany Lion lead, making numerous saves as the clock worked down to under 4:00 to play. But Hobart's offensive pressure finally broke through as Mike Suits took a Chris Pedersen pass and cut the Lion lead to 8-7 with a goal at the 3:37 mark. But Rob Forster took a pass from younger brother Jack Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) and put Penn State back up by two, 9-7, with a score just a minute later. Hogan notched an unassisted goal against an Empty net with 1:26 left to give the Nittany Lions a three goal lead to ice the game. Hobart took advantage of a two man-up chance to add one final goal as Cassell scored off a Pedersen pass to make the final score 10-8 in the Nittany Lions' favor.
Hogan was Penn State's only other multiple goal scorer in the game (with two), showcasing a balanced Penn State offense that saw seven different players score goals and six different players have assists. Matt Shankoff (Flemington, N.J.) was also solid on defense for Penn State with four ground balls.
Hobart had 45 shots to Penn State's 37 and had 47 ground balls to Penn State's 38. But Adams' goal keeping helped the Nittany Lions maintain their lead. Hobart scored on two of five man-up chances while Penn State connected on one of four. Hobart goalie Silberlicht ended the game with 15 saves.
Penn State is 4-5, 1-3 in the ECAC while Hobart moves to 5-4, 1-3 ECAC. The Nittany Lions will visit Bucknell on Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. game with the Bison.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 10, Hobart 8
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: PSU 11:31 (Mulqueen, R. Forster); HOB 10:21 (Cassell); HOB 7:43 (Curtin); PSU 3:05 (Toner, R. Forster); PSU 2:53 (R. Forster, Henneghan); PSU 2:17 (R. Forster, Mackrides); PSU 1:36 (Garrity, Vosburgh)
2nd: HOB 11:26 (Cassell, Suits); HOB 8:15 (Blumer, Colburn)
3rd: HOB 11:47 (Pedersen, Colburn); PSU 11:00 (Mackrides); PSU 10:02 (Vosburgh, Shea); PSU 9:30 (Hogan); HOB 7:17 (Pederson, Bigelow)
4th: HOB 3:37 (Suits, Pedersen); PSU 2:31 (R. Forster, J. Forster); PSU 1:26 (Hogan); HOB 0:32 (Cassell, Pedersen)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 38, HOB 47 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-4, HOB 2-5
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 37-25, HOB 47-32 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 8-22, HOB 14-22
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Drew Adams (60:00, 24 SV, 8 GA), HOB Max Silberlicht (60:00, 15 SV, 10 GA)
| SCORE BY QUARTERS: | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| PENN STATE | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 10 |
| HOBART | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
RECORDS: Penn State 4-5, 1-3 ECAC; Hobart 5-4, 1-3 ECAC
ATTENDANCE: 483