March 23, 2013
Box Score | VIDEO: Burnside, Kaut & Forster Reaction
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 17th-ranked Nittany Lion men's lacrosse team scored the game's first nine goals en route to a dominating 9-2 win over CAA rival Saint Joseph's on Saturday afternoon at Penn State Lacrosse Field. Junior goalkeeper Austin Kaut (Morton, Pa.) saved nine shots, his third straight game with nine or more saves, as PSU held an opponent to a season-low two goals.
The Nittany Lions (5-3, 2-0 CAA) received two-goal games from Jack Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.), Tom LaCrosse (Canandaigua, N.Y.) and Shane Sturgis (Downingtown, Pa.). Forster led the Penn State offense with four points, pitching in with two assists. In all, Penn State had six different scorers on the afternoon.
Penn State jumped all over Saint Joseph's (4-5, 0-1 CAA) early, opening five-goal lead in the opening 13 minutes. Penn State received two goals from Forster and LaCrosse in the initial onslaught, while TJ Sanders (Orillia, Ont.) scored his 20th of the season as he connected with Forster with 2:13 left in the opening period.
PSU continued the pressure in the second as Sturgis tallied both his markers with 5:25 and 4:23 left in the quarter for a 7-0 lead. The second goal was helped by Forster's second assist. The sixth-year senior upped his point total to 28 for the season behind 19 goals and nine assists. Forster is on a 20-game point streak during which he has scored 41 goals, tallied 18 assists for a total of 59 points.
The Nittany Lions came out of the halftime break with a 7-0 lead and extended the margin to eight on an unassisted Erik Myers (Del Mar, Calif.) snipe past SJU keeper Dustin Keen (14 saves) with 9:18 left in the third quarter.
Defender Jack Donnelly (Toronto, Ont.) forced a turnover 45 seconds later, collected the ground ball and scored his first career goal for the 9-0 Penn State lead.
The Hawks fought back with 7:00 left in the third when Kyle Williams got Saint Joseph's on the board with his fourth tally of the season. SJU would add another through Bryan Garrahan with 7:03 left in the game for the final 9-2 score line.
The defensive effort by Penn State was the best of the season as the Lions allowed two goals in a game for the first time since March 3, 2012 at Ohio State in a 5-2 victory. Penn State improves to 6-0 all-time against Saint Joseph's. The two goals allowed was the lowest output by the Hawks in the series.
Penn State out-shot the Hawks 34-33 including a 19-14 edge in the first half. Penn State dominated the ground ball battler with a 32-18 edge led by Danny Henneghan's (Beverly Hills, Mich.) game-high seven collections. Henneghan also won 10-of-15 faceoffs.
Both teams went 0-for-3 in man-up opportunities, while Penn State's ride forced 10 Hawk turnovers, clearing at 16-for-26. Penn State cleared at 24-for-29. The Nittany Lions forced 14 turnovers led by JP Burnside (Garden City, N.Y.) who had two caused turnovers. SJU had eight caused turnovers with three by Will Farrell.
Penn State's defense has been rock hard over the past three games, allowing just 14 goals. Kaut has 41 saves and 13 goals against in the past three outings for a save percentage of .759 and a goals-against average of 4.40.
The Nittany Lions have another quick turnaround this Tuesday when they travel to No. 15 Bucknell for a 7:30 p.m. matchup. Bucknell moved to 8-1 on Saturday after defeating No. 20 Albany 18-12. The Bison downed No. 2 Cornell this past Tuesday, 9-8.
--NITTANY LIONS--