March 9, 2010
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -
The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team dropped a hard-fought 11-7 game to visiting Villanova in an early season night game at Penn State's Jeffrey Field. The Wildcats relied on a 5-0 second quarter to pull away from the Nittany Lions.
Nittany Lion sophomore Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) helped Penn State break out to a 3-1 lead after the first period. Mackrides scored just a minute into the game and that goal was quickly followed by a Billy Gribbin (Rockville, Md.) from Nick Dolik (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) score just :17 later to give the Lions an early 2-0 lead. Villanova answered at the 9:17 mark but Penn State closed out the first period with a 3-1 lead thanks to an unassisted Dolik score at the 3:46 mark.
Villanova responded in the second period, however, scoring five unanswered goals to take a 6-3 lead into the halftime break. Five different Wildcats scored: Matt Bell, Mike Brennan, Mark Scioscia, Mike Vigilante and Jack Rice all found the back of the net for VU.
Mackrides got the first goal of the third period, scoring unassisted at the 13:40 mark, but Villanova answered with two goals late in the period to lead 8-4 with 15:00 left to play. The teams traded goals in a furious fourth quarter, with each team scoring three times. Penn State got the period's first two scores, one from Mackrides and another from Gribbin off a Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) assist. Villanova's Vigilante and Paul Webber answered back before Vosburgh scored off a Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) assist. Villanova's Scioscia closed out the scored with 2:22 left.
Mackrides led Penn State with three goals while Gribbin had two. Dolik had a goal and an assist as well. Villanova was led by Scioscia, Vigilante, Rice and Brennan who all had two goals apiece. Nittany Lion freshman Dave Baker played the entire game for Penn State and collected 17 saves while giving up 11 goals. `Nova keeper Dan Gutierrez had seven saves and gave up 7 goals. The Nittany Lion were outshot by VU 37-32 but won the face-off game by claiming 14 of 19 face-offs.
Penn State is now 0-4 on the year while Villanova moves to 3-1. The Nittany Lions visit Rutgers on Saturday for a 1 p.m. match-up.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 7, Villanova 11
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: PSU 13:59 (Mackrides), PSU 13:42 (Gribbin, Dolik), VU 9:17 (Rice, Scioscia), PSU 3:46 (Dolik)
2nd: VU 12:43 (Bell, Scioscia), VU 12:12 (Brennan), VU 11:30 (Scioscia, Cunningham), VU 9:11 (Vigilante), VU 6:33 (Rice, Cunningham)
3rd: PSU 13:40 (Mackrides), VU 4:33 (Brennan), VU 0:03 (Casterano, Vigilante)
4th: PSU 14:38 (Mackrides), PSU 12:39 (Gribbin, Vosburgh), VU 11:19 (Vigilante), VU 7:54 (Webber), PSU 4:27 (Vosburgh, Shea), VU 2:22 (Scioscia, Doherty)
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GROUNDBALLS: PSU 38, VU 28 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 0-2, VU 0-6
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 32-14, VU 37-28 -- FACE-OFFS: PSU 14-19, VU 5-19
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Dave Baker (60:00, 17 SV, 11 GA) , VU Dan Gutierrez (60:00, 7 SV, 7 GA)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F
PENN STATE 3 0 1 3 7
VILLANOVA 1 5 1 3 11
RECORDS: Penn State 0-4, Villanova 3-1
ATTENDANCE: 115