April 30, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's lacrosse team, ranked No. 20 nationally, lost 9-4 at No. 8 Hofstra in the Colonial Athletic Association regular season finale for both teams. Despite the setback, Penn State will make its first appearance in the CAA play-offs as the No. 2 seed and will host UMass on Wednesday night.
Penn State got the game's first goal when Shane Sturgis (Downingtown, Pa.) took a Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) pass and scored at the 13:35 mark. Hofstra's Ian Braddish tied the game at the 4:15 mark with an unassisted goal but Penn State quickly retook the lead. Tom LaCrosse (Canandaigua, N.Y.) scored unassisted at the 1:25 mark and Penn State carried the one goal lead into the second period.
Hofstra, however, would score the only goals of the second period. Braddish tied the game with another unassisted goal at the 10:36 mark and then Mike DeNapoli scored a man-up goal at the 9:25 mark to give the Pride a 3-2 lead which would hold to the halftime break.
The Pride then stormed out in the third period to extend their lead. Kevin Ford scored a man-up goal at the 11:21 mark and then Ian Braddish gave Hofstra a 5-2 lead less than a minute later with an unassisted goal at the 10:36 mark. Adrian Sorichetti scored another unassisted goal with 8:01 left in the period and Hofstra had moved out to a 6-2 advantage. The Nittany Lions stopped the Pride run with a Gavin Ahern (Rockville Centre, N.Y.) goal with 4:18 remaining in the third period, putting Penn State down by three (6-3) heading into the final stanza.
Hofstra moved out by four again, however, when Stephen Bentz scored just over a minute into the final period to score with 13:44 on the clock, putting the Pride up 7-3. Sorichetti scored again for Hofstra at the 7:54 mark and the Nittany Lions trailed by five, 8-3. Bentz extended the Pride lead with a goal less than two minutes later (6:06), giving HU a 9-3 edge. Ahern scored again for Penn State down the stretch, scoring a man-up goal off a Kyle VanThof (Penfield, N.Y.) assist with 2:16 to play to make the final score 9-4 in Hofstra's favor.
Ahern's two goals led Penn State in scoring while freshman goalie Austin Kaut (Morton, Pa.) had eight saves and nine goals against in the game. Penn State outshot the Pride 41-32, but Hofstra keeper Andrew Gvozden had 17 saves to stall any Penn State comeback attempts and Braddish led the Pride offense with three goals and an assist. Each team had 22 ground balls but the Hofstra defense only gave up one man-up goal in six attempts while converting on two of four of their own.
Penn State, under the guidance of head coach Jeff Tambroni, finishes the regular season with a 7-6 record (4-2 CAA) while Hofstra moves to 13-1 (5-1 CAA) and clinches the top seed in the CAA play-offs.. Penn State will now be the No. 2 seed in the CAA playoffs and will host Massachusetts on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The CAA semifinal game will be played at Jeffrey Field.
GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 4, Hofstra 9
SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: PSU 13:35 (Sturgis, Vosburgh), HOF 4:15 (Braddish), PSU 1:25 (LaCrosse)
2nd: HOF 10:36 (Braddish), HOF 9:25 (DeNapoli, Card)
3rd: HOF 11:21 (Ford, Lincoln), HOF 10:36 (Braddish), PSU 4:18 (Ahern)
4th: HOF 13:44 (Bentz, Ford), HOF 7:54 (Sorichetti), HOF 6:06 (Bentz, Braddish), PSU 2:16 (Ahern, VanThof)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU 22, HOF 22 MAN-UP OPPS: PSU 1-6, HOF 2-4
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 41-21, HOF 32-17 FACE-OFFS: PSU 9-16, HOF 7-16
TURNOVERS: PSU 14, HOF 13
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU Austin Kaut (60:00, 8 SV, 9 GA) HOF Andrew Gvozden (60:00, 17 SV, 4 GA)
SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F
PENN STATE 2 0 1 1 4
HOFSTRA 1 2 3 3 9
RECORDS: Penn State 7-6 (4-2 CAA), Hofstra (13-1, 5-1 CAA)
ATTENDANCE: 5484