April 18, 2013
Game Notes | FREE Live Video & Live Stats | 2013 Yearbook
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - - The ninth-ranked Penn State men's lacrosse team will try to cement its claim to the Colonial Athletic Association's No. 1 seed on Saturday night at Delaware. The Nittany Lions and Blue Hens will square off at 7 p.m. and a win clinches a share of Penn State's first CAA title.
Penn State enters the game on a seven-game winning streak, while Delaware has rattled off three straight victories. A victorious ending for the Nittany Lions would match the program's longest winning streak in a single season and guarantee the No. 1 seed in the CAA Championship. UD will play the role of spoiler as the Blue Hens continue their quest for the team's first CAA Championship bid since 2011. Delaware won the title that season as the tournament's four seed.
#9 PENN STATE NITTANY LIONS (9-3, 4-0 CAA) vs. DELAWARE (5-8, 1-3 CAA)
Game 13: April 20, 2013 // 7:00 p.m. // Delaware Stadium // Newark, Del.
GAME DAY
VENUE: Delaware Stadium (turf; 22,000)
STREAMING COVERAGE: BlueHens.com Fan Zone
SERIES RECORD: 16-7
LAST MEETING: April 21, 2012 PSU 13-9 (University Park, Pa.)
NEXT GAME: April 27 at Hofstra, 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES
• Penn State looks to clinch share of first CAA title at Delaware
• PSU is on a 10-game road winning streak, currently 5-0 this season
• The Nittany Lions defeated Delaware last year, 13-9, in Happy Valley
• Penn State has taken the past two matchups from the Blue Hens
• PSU and UD have seven common opponents; Penn State is 7-0, Delaware is 2-5
• Delaware has won three straight games; 5-of-8 losses by one goal
• Nittany Lions held off Towson, 10-8, in battle of unbeaten CAA squads
• TJ Sanders scored five times vs. Towson for CAA Player & Rookie of the Week honors
• Sanders tallied 7th hat trick on Saturday, Jack Forster leads team with 11 in career
• Austin Kaut made 9 saves vs. TU and has .721 save percentage in last 7 games
• Forster is riding a 24-game point streak dating back to Mar. 3, 2012
• Penn State re-enters Top 10 rankings in both polls, fourth in NCAA RPI
• The Lions wrap up the regular season at Hofstra next week
SCOUTING THE BLUE HENS
Delaware (5-8, 1-3 CAA) enter Saturday night's game on a three-game winning streak, defeating Marist (8-7), Michigan (12-5) and Saint Joseph's (11-6). Of the Blue Hens' eight losses, five have been by a single goal to Bucknell (9-8), Loyola (9-8), Binghamton (9-8), Towson (7-6, OT) and Drexel (11-10). Four of UD's five wins have come on the road this season.
Delaware scores 9.23 goals per game, while giving up 9.31 goals a game. The Blue Hens rank seventh of seven teams in the CAA for man-up scoring percentage (23.3) and clear at a rate of 85.9 percent. Delaware excels at the faceoff X, led by Tyler Barbarich who has won 58 percent of his attempts. Offensively, Nick Diachenko leads the team with 29 goals and 33 points, while Eric Smith (29 points) and Connor McRoy (23) follow close behind.
The Blue Hens have split time between two goalies as Conor Peaks has received the past five starts, going 3-2 with a 7.30 GAA and .596 save percentage. Chris Herbert started in the first eight games of the year with a .541 save percentage and 10.49 GAA, going 2-6.
COMMON ENEMIES
While the Blue Hens and Nittany Lions play in the same conference, four more teams (Bucknell, Binghamton, Michigan and Saint Joseph's) have featured on each teams' schedule. In all, PSU and UD have played the same seven opponents thus far. Penn State is 7-0 in those games, outscoring its opponents 72-38, while Delaware is 2-5 and outscoring those teams 64-61.
ALL-TIME SERIES VS. DELAWARE
All-Time Series: 16-7
PSU Streak: 2 wins
First Meeting: 5/13/64, PSU 8-5
Last Meeting: 4/21/12, PSU 13-9
Last PSU Win: 4/21/12, 13-9
Last DEL Win: 4/30/10, 14-10
Largest PSU Win: 18-3, 5/18/68
Largest DEL Win: 17-10, 4/20/77
PSU at DEL: 10-2
PSU Goals vs. DEL: 309-248
LAST FIVE MEETINGS VS. DELAWARE
4/21/12: W, 13-9
4/23/11: W, 13-3
4/30/10: L, 10-14
4/24/99: L, 11-12
4/25/98: L, 10-11 (OT)
LAST TIME VS. DELAWARE (April 14, 2012)
The Nittany Lions secured the No. 2 seed for the upcoming CAA tournament with a 13-9 victory against Delaware at the Penn State Lacrosse Field on Saturday evening. Shane Sturgis collected a career-high six points (4g, 2a), while classmate Tom LaCrosse set a career high with three goals. Matthew Mackrides registered his fourth straight three-goal contest and Gavin Ahern added a two-goal game. Penn State out-shot Delaware by a 37-24 margin and collected 29 ground balls to the Blue Hens' 22. The Nittany Lions finished 2-for-3 with the extra man and 15-for-17 on clears, while Delaware was 1-for-1 and 11-for-14, respectively.
PENN STATE CLAIMS SOLE POSSESSION OF FIRST IN WIN OVER TOWSON
Buoyed by 1,037 fans and a five-goal showing from freshman TJ Sanders, the 11th-ranked Nittany Lions defeated Towson, 10-8, at Penn State Lacrosse Field on Saturday afternoon. Sanders shined and Jack Forster pitched in with four points on a goal and three assists in a battle of first-place Colonial Athletic Association teams.
Penn State (9-3, 4-0 CAA) won its seventh-straight game thanks to a 6-1 run spanning the second and third quarters for an 8-4 lead. Despite a spirited Towson (7-6, 3-1 CAA) comeback effort, a highlight-reel goal from Forster and Sanders's fifth tally of the day staved off the Tiger attack.
Rounding out the Penn State attack was Shane Sturgis, who notched three points on two goals and an assist, while Nick Dolik had a two-point day with a goal and an assist. Austin Kaut won the battle of top goalkeepers, making nine saves. Towson's Andrew Wascavage had 11 stops. The two netminders came into the game third and fourth in national save percentage, respectively.
CHAMPIONSHIP HUNTING
The Nittany Lions can capture their first CAA title with by winning at Delaware on Saturday. A win assures at least a share of the conference crown and clinches the CAA Tournament's No. 1 seed. Penn State's only conference title in the NCAA Championship era (since 1971) came in 2005 when the Lions shared the ECAC title with Massachusetts. PSU has never been a No. 1 seed in any conference tournament.
SANDERS EARNS TWO MORE CAA AWARDS
Freshman attack TJ Sanders was named Colonial Athletic Association Co-Player and Rookie of the Week for his performance against Towson on Saturday. Sanders scored five goals to lead the Nittany Lions into sole possession of first place.
Sanders upped his conference-leading goal tally to 33 with five against the Tigers. Sanders tallied three goals in the first half against Towson before scoring once each in the third and fourth. The Ontario native has seven hat tricks this season along with six games of four goals or more and three games with five goals scored. Nationally, Sanders ranks tied for eighth in goals per game (2.75) and leads the nation's freshmen in goals.
The weekly rookie award is the fifth for Sanders, while he shares the player of the week honor with Ben McIntosh of Drexel. The player of the week laurel is the first of his young career.
ROAD WINNING STREAK
With March 30's win at Villanova, Penn State has ticked off a school-record 10 straight true road wins. This season Penn State is 5-0 on the road after going 5-0 in 2012. The Lions' last road loss was Apr. 30, 2011 at Hofstra. Penn State has won 12 of its last 13 true road games.
Of the 14 regular-season contests, Penn State will be home for just five of them, making the Nittany Lions one of the most road tested teams in the country. In total, seven games are true road contests along with two neutral site games. Penn State will look to improve to 7-1 away from Happy Valley on Apr. 20 at Delaware.
CLIMBING UP THE LEADERBOARD
Three Nittany LionsÂ--Jack Forster, Danny Henneghan and Austin Kaut--are heading into or already in the Penn State record books. For Henneghan, he currently ranks sixth all-time in faceoff winning percentage (.530) and sits on 200 career ground balls. If he picks up two grounders against Delaware he'll move into 10th all-time at PSU. In net, Kaut ranks seventh all-time in saves with 483. He is 27 saves behind Rich Caravella for sixth place. As for Forster, he's four goals from tying 10th place (94, John Hollerbach) and two points from 10th (Bill Hess, 134).
POWER KAUT IN NET
A preseason All-American and Tewaaraton Award Watch List candidate, junior Austin Kaut is considered one of the best goalkeepers in college lacrosse. Following an average start to year three in Happy Valley, Kaut has stepped up his game. In the past five outings, he has posted a 5.18 GAA and a .721 save percentage, allowing just 36 goals and saving 93 shots. Kaut has stopped at least nine shots in each game and has 13 or more saves in five of those contests. Penn State started the season 2-3, but is 7-0 since. Kaut opened the season with a 9.79 GAA and .490 save percentage behind 48 saves and 50 goals allowed.
DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES
Penn State's offense has improved mightily in 2013 with the attacking trio of Jack Forster (41 points) TJ Sanders (36), and Shane Sturgis (34). Penn State is averaging over 10 goals per game this season with a shooting percentage of .289. Last season, the Nittany Lions scored just 8.73 goals per game and post a percentage of .258. Also, assists, points, shots and ground balls per game are up from 2012.
HAT TRICK HEROS
TJ Sanders posted a five-goal game against Towson on Saturday, his seventh hat trick of the season. Jack Forster leads the Nittany Lions with 11 career hat tricks after a four-goal showing against Drexel. Tom LaCrosse has two hat tricks this season, bringing his career total to four, while Shane Sturgis has five. Nick Dolik tallied his third career hat trick on Tuesday, March 19 at Binghamton.
Jack Forster: 11
TJ Sanders: 7
Shane Sturgis: 5
Tom LaCrosse: 4
Nick Dolik: 3
Gavin Ahern: 2
Kyle VanThof: 1
GOING STREAKING
Penn State's attack has Jack Forster with a 24-game streak, which started on March 3, 2012 against Ohio State. Forster has 49 goals, 23 assists and 72 points during the streak.
RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
Penn State finished a stretch of five games from Feb. 9-March 16 against USILA ranked opponents as PSU went 2-3. After a March 26 win at Bucknell, Penn State's record improved to 3-3, including 2-1 against top 10 teams. This past week, Penn State downed 12th-ranked Drexel to improve to 4-3 in games against ranked foes. Last week's foe, Towson, received votes in the poll, while Hofstra (April 27) is ranked 20th this week.
NITTANY LIONS ON TV
On Thursday, March 21 it was announced that Penn State's regular season home finale vs. Towson would be aired live by Big Ten Network. The TV broadcast was Penn State's third this season. Previously, Penn State lacrosse was televised on Feb. 17 against Denver at Jacksonville, Fla. by NBC Sports Network and March 9 vs. Lehigh in Chester, Pa. on ESPN3.com and the WatchESPN app for mobile devices.
Penn State's appearance on NBC Sports Network is believed to be the first nationally televised men's lacrosse game in program history. The BTN broadcast was the second as the Nittany Lions went 2-0 in nationally televised games. The last time Penn State was on television before this season was in 2010 vs. Towson on WMAR in Baltimore.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State wraps up its regular season at Hofstra with a 7 p.m. opening faceoff next Saturday, April 27.
Penn State men's lacrosse offers three exciting camps this summer. The boys' freshman/sophomore elite camp runs June 30-July 1, while the goalie and instructional camps run from July 1-4. For more information, CLICK HERE.
--NITTANY LIONS--