April 24, 2010
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team nearly pulled off a second straight top 20 upset, but dropped a tough 10-9 game at No. 14 Towson on Saturday. Penn State rallied from a late three goal deficit in the fourth quarter to tie the game before Towson would pull away for the win. Freshman Billy Gribbin (Rockville, Md.) led Penn State with three goals and an assist.
Towson broke out to an early lead, getting two goals in the first half of the opening period, one from Scott Ruhl and the other from Carl Iocona before the 8:00 mark. Freshman Nick Dolik (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) answered for Penn State at the 3:21 mark but the Tigers quickly returned the favor, getting a Matt Lamon score with 1:30 left in the opening period to retake a two-goal lead (3-1) heading into the second period.
Brock Armour put Towson up by three with the first goal of the second stanza, netting a goal less than two minutes in to put the Tigers up 4-1. Junior Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) cut into the TU lead with an unassisted goal with 10:35 on the clock, but Towson quickly countered with a Stephen Norris man-up goal with 9:37 left. Penn State scored quickly, however, getting a Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) goal off an Earl Ross (Shoreham, Vt.) assist with just six seconds later. Dolik then got Penn State to within one with a solo score with 7:47 left in the first half, cutting TU's lead to 5-4. But Towson would open up a two-goal lead once again when Matt Hughes score at the 6:09 mark to move the Tigers out to a 6-4 lead. Less than two minutes later, Towson's Tim Stratton scored and the Tigers were quickly leading by three again, 7-4. Penn State would grab some momentum heading into the break, however, when Billy Gribbin (Rockville, Md.) scored off a Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) assist as the second period clock expired, cutting Towson's lead to 7-5 heading into the locker room.
Will Harrington scored the first goal of the second half, getting the score at the 5:02 mark to put Towson up 8-5. Gribbin scored again, this time taking a pass from Anthony Basciano (Holtsville, N.Y.) to score with 1:36 left. But Towson answered quickly again, with Tim Statton scoring at the 1:14 mark to give TU a 9-6 lead heading into the final period.
Penn State mounted a comeback in the fourth quarter, scoring three quick goals to tie the game. Mackrides scored with an assist from Gribbin with 10:44 on the clock and then Gribbin scored less than a minute later with an assist from Mackrides to cut the Towson lead to 9-8 with 9:53 left in the game. Dolik scored his third goal of the game with 8:57 on the clock, tying the game at 9-9 with an unassisted goal. Towson stopped the Penn State rally with a Christian Pastirik goal with 6:41 on the clock, giving TU a one goal lead again, 10-9. That goal would turn out to be the game's decisive score as Towson would maintain control of the ball as the game ended and escaped with a 10-9 win.
Penn State goalie Dave Baker (Havertown, Pa.) had nine saves for Penn State while Towson keeper Travis Love had 15. Gribbin led the Nittany Lions with three goals and an assist for four points while Mackrides had three off two and one and Dolik had three off three goals.
Penn State is now 2-10 on the year, 1-3 in the CAA, while Towson improves to 6-4, 4-0 in the conference.
Game Summary
Penn State 9
#14 Towson 10
Scoring (Goal-Assist)
1st: TU 9:55 (Ruhl), TU 8:47 (Iacona), PSU 3:12 (Dolik), TU 1:30 (Lamon, Stratton)
2nd: TU 13:32 (Armour, Iacona), PSU 10:35 (Hogan), TU 9:37 (Norris, Stratton), PSU 9:31 (Mackrides, Ross), PSU 7:47 (Dolik), TU 6:09 (Hughes, Mezzanotte), TU 4:11 (Stratton), PSU 0:01 (Gribbin, Vosburgh)
3rd: TU 5:02 (Harrington), PSU 1:36 (Gribbin, Basciano), TU 1:14 (Stratton, Pastirik)
4th: PSU 10:44 (Mackrides, Gribbin), PSU 9:53 (Gribbin, Mackrides), PSU 8:57 (Dolik), TU 6:41 (Pastirik, Harrington),
Groundballs: PSU 37, TU 34 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-3, TU 2-6
Shots (SH-SOG): PSU 41-24, TU 33-19 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 14-21, TU 7-21
Goalie Summary: PSU Dave Baker (60:00, 10 GA, 9 SV), TU Travis Love (60:00, 9 GA, 15 SV)
| Score by Quarters | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F |
| Penn State | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Towson | 3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
Records: Penn State (2-10, 1-3 CAA), Towson (6-5, 4-0 CAA)
Attendance: 1409