Feb. 28, 2010
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team rallied from a six goal deficit late in the third period to close within three before dropping a hard-fought 12-8 game at No. 3 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish withstood a flurry of Penn State goals in the game's final 16 minutes to claim the win.
Notre Dame broke out to a 3-0 lead, getting goals from Sean Rogers, Grant Krebs and Nicholas Beattie before ten minutes had gone by in the opening quarter. Penn State got on the board when Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) scored at the 3:26 mark to cut the lead to 3-1. But the Irish added a Neal Hicks goal with just one second on the clock to lead 4-1 after one period.
Notre Dame continued to pour on the offense in the second quarter, outscoring Penn State 6-2 to lead 9-3 at the intermission. The Irish got two goals from Krebs in their second quarter burst while Penn State picked up a solo goal from Hogan and a score from Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) off a Hogan assist.
Penn State came out with strong defense in the second half, shutting down the Irish in the third quarter. Nittany Lion Anthony Basciano (Holtsville, N.Y.) scored off a Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) assist at the 7:30 mark but Notre Dame's Beattie scored with 3:47 left to put the Irish back up by six, 10-4, with just 3:47 left in the third period. From there, Penn State outscored Notre Dame 4-2. Mackrides scored unassisted with :24 left in the third period to pull Penn State to within five, 10-5, with a quarter left to play.
Notre Dame got the first goal of the final stanza form Hicks, putting the Irish up 11-5 at the 14:02 mark. Head coach Glenn Thiel's squad would then reel off three straight goals to close the gap to 11-8. Freshman Billy Gribbin (Rockville, Md.) scored at the 13:09 mark, followed by classmate Nick Dolik's (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) unassisted goal with 10:04 left to play. Will Donley (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored off a Charley Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) assist with 9:58 to play and the Nittany Lions were back in the game, trailing just 11-8. But the Irish defense would stiffen, shutting Penn State out for the remainder of the game and, with a Colin Igoe goal with :19 left to play, grab the 12-8 win.
Hogan led Penn State with three points off two goals and an assist while Mackrides had two assists. Penn State goalies John Nichols (Myersville, Md.) and Dave Baker (Havertown, Pa.) split time in the net for Penn State, with Baker playing the final 40:00 minutes and giving up only four goals and collecting seven saves. Notre Dame outshot Penn State 34-31 while the teams essentially split the face offs, with Penn State winning 11 and Notre Dame winning 12.
Penn State is now 0-2 on the year while Notre Dame moves to 2-0. The Nittany Lions continue non-conference action next Saturday at Ohio State. Game time in Columbus is set for 1 p.m.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 8, #3 Notre Dame 12 SCORING (Goal-Assist): 1st: ND 12:48 (Rogers), ND 7:34 (Krebs, Brenneman), ND 5:21 (Beattie), PSU 3:26 (Hogan), ND 0:01 (Hicks, Brenneman) 2nd: ND 13:46 (Hicks), PSU 12:17 (Hogan), ND 10:43 (Krebs), ND 10:18 (Pfeifer), ND 9:26 (Krebs), PSU 3:36 (Mackrides, Hogan), ND 0:03 (Brenneman) 3rd: PSU 7:30 (Basciano, Vosburgh), ND 3:47 (Beattie, Krebs), PSU 0:24 (Mackrides) 4th: ND 14:02 (Hicks, Pfeiffer), PSU 13:09 (Gribbin), PSU 10:04 (Dolik), PSU 9:58 (Donley), ND 0:19 (Igoe)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 29, ND 30 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-4, ND 0-3 SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 31-19, ND 34-22 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 11-23, ND 12-23 GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU John Nichols (20:34, 8 GA, 3 SV), Dave Baker (39:26 (4 GA, 7 SV); ND Scott Rodgers (60:00, 8 GA, 11 SV)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F PENN STATE 1 2 2 3 8 NOTRE DAME 4 5 1 2 12
RECORDS: Penn State 0-2, Notre Dame 2-0 ATTENDANCE: 870