Feb. 17, 2013
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The No. 15 Penn State men's lacrosse team took down No. 9 Denver, 15-12, at EverBank Field in the Moe's Southwest Grill Classic on Sunday afternoon. Shane Sturgis (Downingtown, Pa.) and Jack Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) each tallied four goals in the Penn State (2-0) victory. Denver falls to 1-1 on the season.
"(The win) is huge. It is the second game of the year and beating a top 10 opponent in Denver who has been deep in the tournament before," Forster said. "We're taking the next step here at Penn State. We have Notre Dame next and we go back to work tomorrow. Notre Dame is No. 3 in the country and we need to keep rolling from here."
Fueled by a 7-3 surge in the third period, Penn State extended a two-goal halftime margin into a six-goal lead after three periods. TJ Sanders (Orillia, Ont.) added three goals and Kyle Zittel (Eden, N.Y.) posted his first multi-goal game of his career to help pace the Nittany Lion offense. Austin Kaut (Morton, Pa.) had a sluggish start, but made some key saves down the stretch and finished with 10 stops to improve to 2-0this season.
"(The seniors) taught me a lot and they didn't make it easy for me as a freshman," Sanders said. "I don't feel like a freshman anymore, it's been a great transition and it was fun to play here in Jacksonville."
A fast and furious first period as Forster scored just 47 seconds into the game. DU's Eric Law tied it up a minute later, but Sturgis put PSU ahead 2-1 with 11:40 left in the first period. Sturgis curled around the goal on the left wing and fired a shot above the DU keeper's shoulder on a tight-angled shot.
Denver's Cameron Flint made it 2-2 with 10:39 to go, but Michael Richards (Skaneateles, N.Y.) made a great play off the ensuing faceoff, darting through the Denver defense, recording his second career goal for a 3-2 lead with 10:20 left.
Senior Danny Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) won the next faceoff, leading to a Sanders goal on a beautiful feed from Tom LaCrosse (Canandaigua, N.Y.) for a 4-2 advantage. Henneghan finished the day winning 15 of 26 faceoffs and picked up six ground balls from midfield.
After a DU goal, Penn State rattled off the next two goals spanning the first and second period from Sturgis and Forster for a 6-3 lead. Denver got one back with 6:01 remaining in the second period, but Zittel made it 7-4 with 4:08 remaining. Law tallied his second of the game with 3:33 to go and the teams went into the locker rooms at 7-5 in favor of PSU.
PSU came out on fire in the second half, scoring three of the first four and six of the first eight goals in the period. Sturgis and Forster each tallied a pair of goals before Sanders added two and LaCrosse added one of his own. The second Sanders goal extended Penn State's lead to 14-8 entering the fourth quarter.
Denver pursued the comeback, outscoring PSU 4-1 in the period. Zittel tallied a goal from Kyle VanThof (Penfield, N.Y.) with 10:08 left in the period, but the Nittany Lions would go scoreless the rest of the way. Kaut was important in a final Denver rush as the Pioneers nearly scored on a man-up chance with 1:37 to go, but he stood tall.
Two Nittany Lions, Nick Dolik (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) and Sammy Davis (Pittsfield, Mass.) each tallied assists on Sunday.
Penn State played a clean game with the ball, committing just seven turnovers and cleared a perfect 13 attempts. Penn State controlled the pace of play, out-shooting Denver, 42-28, forcing Denver goalie Ryan LaPlante to make 12 saves. PSU won the ground ball war 27-23.
The Nittany Lions were 0-for-2 in man-up opportunities, while Denver went 1-for-4. PSU improved to 2-3 all-time against the Pioneers.
Next week, the Nittany Lions hosts No. 3 Notre Dame at Penn State Lacrosse Field on Sunday, Feb. 24 at Noon. On Saturday, Notre Dame defeated No. 4 Duke, 13-5, in North Carolina to improve to 1-0.
--NITTANY LIONS--