Feb. 19, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's lacrosse team, playing its first game under new head coach Jeff Tambroni, scored four fourth period goals and held off visiting Binghamton 9-7 in the 2011 season opener for both teams. Junior Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) scored four points to lead Penn State.
Penn State scored the game's first two goals in the first minute, getting unassisted efforts from Nick Dolik (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) at the 14:51 mark and Mackrides less than a minute later at 14:09. Binghamton answered however, getting two goals from Matt Springer to send the game into the second period tied 2-2.
The Bearcats took their first lead of the game on a Brandon Planck score with 10:08 left in the second stanza, but Penn State reeled off three straight goals to retake the lead. Mackrides tied the game at 3-3 with a score off a Shane Sturgis (Downingtown, Pa.) assist with 6:11 on the clock and Tom LaCrosse (Canandaigua, N.Y.) put Penn State ahead with an assist from Kyle VanThof (Penfield, N.Y.) just over a minute later. Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) gave the Nittany Lions a 5-3 lead with 4:13 left in the half with an unassisted goal. Binghamton cut into Penn State's lead with just 0:01 left in the half when Springer scored his third goal of the game off a Tyler Perrelle assist.
With Penn State leading 5-4 at the break, Binghamton scored the only goal of the third period, with Springer tallying his fourth score at the 11:04 mark to tie the game at 5-5. The contest remained deadlocked for the remainder of the third period.
Binghamton took its second lead of the game just 0:30 into the fourth quarter when David Raleigh scored unassisted. But Penn State quickly answered, getting an unassisted goal from Sturgis at the 13:47 mark to tie the contest at 6-6. VanThof then broke the tie with the game's only man-up goal. VanThof took a Billy Gribbin (Rockville, Md.) pass and found the back of the net with 10:48 left in the game to give Penn State a 7-6 lead. The Lions would never trail again. Mackrides tacked on a goal off a Vosburgh assist with 8:55 left to put the Lions up 8-6. Perrelle scored for Binghamton at the 5:23 mark and then Billy Lloyd (West Chester, Pa.) took a Mackrides pass and scored with 1:53 left in the game to ice the contest and give the Nittany Lions a victory in Tambroni's first game as head coach at Penn State.
Mackrides' four points was backed up by two each from Sturgis, VanThof and Vosburgh. Freshman goalie Austin Kaut (Morton, Pa.) was outstanding in goal for Penn State. Kaut, in his first career start, collected 10 saves and gave up only seven goals. Playing all 60:00 for the Nittany Lions, Kaut also had two ground balls. Dolik led Penn State with eight ground balls while sophomore Danny Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) was nearly perfect on face-offs. Henneghan took all 19 for the Nittany Lions and won 16 times. He also had four ground balls. As a team, Penn State won the ground ball war, notching 34 to Binghamton's 25. The Nittany Lions committed 21 turnovers to 18 for BU.
Penn State, coming off a 2-11 year, is now 1-0 on the year, 0-0 in Colonial Athletic Association action. The season opening win marks the first time since 2008 that Penn State has won its first game of the season. Binghamton, which went 4-10 last season, is 0-1. The Nittany Lions will entertain No. 7 Notre Dame next Sunday, Feb. 27, at 1 p.m. The game will be played at Bigler Field unless otherwise announced.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 9, Binghamton 7
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: PSU 14:51 (Dolik), PSU 14:09 (Mackrides), BU 10:33 (Springer), BU 6:23 (Springer, Perrelle)
2nd: BU 10:08 (Planck), PSU 6:11 (Mackrides, Sturgis), PSU 4:54 (LaCrosse, VanThof), PSU 4:13 (Vosburgh), BU 0:01 (Springer, Perrelle)
3rd: BU 11:04 (Springer, Antinozzi)
4th: BU 14:29 (Raleigh), PSU 13:47 (Sturgis), PSU 10:48 (VanThof, Gribbin), PSU 8:55 (Mackrides, Vosburgh), BU 5:23 (Perrelle), PSU 1:53 (Lloyd, Mackrides)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 34, BU 25 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-4, BU 0-2
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 33-16, BU 20-17 FACE-OFFS: PSU 16-19, BU 3-19
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Austin Kaut (60:00, 10 SV, 7 GA); BU Jordan Marra (60:00, 7 SV, 9 GA)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F
PENN STATE 2 3 0 4 9
BINGHAMTON 2 2 1 2 7
RECORDS: Penn State 1-0, 0-0 CAA; Binghamton 0-1
ATTENDANCE: 323