March 2, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - A game of runs went the way of No. 16 Ohio State (4-0) as No. 8 Penn State men's lacrosse (2-2) fell, 10-9, in overtime. OSU's Jesse King scored with no time on the clock in overtime to win it. Penn State's TJ Sanders (Orillia, Ont.) scored five first-half goals to help the Lions stake an 8-2 halftime lead.
After a 2-2 opening period, Penn State ran off the next six goals in the second quarter, keyed by four markers by Sanders. The freshman standout scored in a timer-on situation from Shane Sturgis (Downingtown, Pa.) with 12:52 to go in the period for a 3-2 lead. He scored his third goal of the day and second of the period on a Jack Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) feed with 9:09 left for a 4-2 advantage. Sanders was fed again by Forster just 18 seconds later to lead 5-2.
Kyle VanThof (Penfield, N.Y.) notched his second of the season with 2:55 remaining and Tom LaCrosse (Canandaigua, N.Y.) made the lead five, 7-2, with 1:19 to go. Sanders capped the run on an assist from Erik Myers (Del Mar, Calif.) with just nine seconds remaining in the half.
Coming out of the locker room, Ohio State took control early and scored on its first two possessions by way of King and Turner Evans. Their goals cut the Penn State advantage to four, 8-4, with 12:57 to go in the third quarter. Evans tallied again with 9:06 to go, while Carter Brown (7:36), David Planning (6:38) and Evans (5:00) all combined to tie the game at eight apiece.
Logan Schuss gave Ohio State its first lead of the game with 7:01 left in regulation on Evans's first assist of the season. Penn State fought back three minutes later as Sturgis took a pass from Sanders on the left wing near the crease and deked Dutton out of position and scored to tie the game with 4:04 to go.
Penn State won the faceoff and held possession in the final minute, but turned the ball over. Ohio State called timeout and Adam Trombley hit the crossbar in the final second as the two teams headed to overtime.
Ohio State won the opening faceoff in overtime and Schuss was stopped by Kaut and King's rebounding attempt was also met by Kaut, who had nine saves in the game. Kaut cleared, but Penn State committed a 30-second shot clock violation with 42 seconds remaining in overtime. King fired a shot high with five seconds left that went out of bounds. Brown sent the ball into play and King one-timed it past Kaut for the 10-9 win.
During the third-period run, OSU goaltender Greg Dutton stopped four Penn State chances, including a denial of Sanders's sixth goal of the game. Sanders tried to be the first Nittany Lion to score six goals in a game since Forster turned the feat on Apr. 11, 2009 vs. St. John's. Instead, he matched Forster's five-goal effort vs. Michigan on Feb. 18, 2012. Dutton finished with eight saves in the game.
Ohio State out-shot Penn State 36-28 and faceoffs were even 11-11. PSU's Danny Henneghan (Beverly Hills, Mich.) was 11-of-22, while OSU's Darius Bowling went 8-of-15. Henneghan picked up nine ground balls to lead all players. Ohio State was 0-for-2 on the man-up, while Penn State was 1-for-2, with Sanders scoring on a Jack Forster helper with 32 seconds left in the first period.
Penn State won the ground ball battle, 32-29 and the two teams combined for 33 turnovers as OSU had 17 and Penn State committed 16.
Ohio State is now 1-0 in the battle for the Creator's Trophy between the Big Ten schools that sponsor men's lacrosse. Penn State fell to 1-1. If Michigan beats Ohio State on Apr. 13 in Ann Arbor, the Nittany Lions will retain the trophy.
Penn State and Lehigh faceoff in the Whitman's Sampler Independence Classic at Chester's PPL Park, home of Major League Soccer's Philadelphia Union. The game will be played at 5:00 p.m. in the tripleheader, which will be aired live on ESPN3.com with a tape delay on Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia (8:30 p.m.). Tickets starting at $25 for the tripleheader are available on PhiladelphiaUnion.com or by calling 1-800-298-4200.
--NITTANY LIONS--