March 7, 2015
3-1-0 | 2-3-0 |
| 12 | 9 |
| Saturday, March 7 (Noon) | |
Soldiers Field Stadium | Cambridge, Mass.
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.; March 7, 2015 - Connor Darcey (Wellesley, Mass.) recorded the most saves for a Nittany Lion since 2012, but the Penn State men's lacrosse team fell to No. 13/16 Harvard, 12-9, on Saturday.
Dan Craig (Shelburne, Ontario), Mike Sutton (Sewell, N.J.) and Drake Kreinz (Delafield, Wis.) each scored a pair for the Nittany Lions (2-3). Pat Manley (Arnold, Md.), Matt Florence (Greenwood Village, Colo.) and Ryan Guittare (Garnet Valley, Pa.) added tallies, while TJ Sanders (Orillia, Ontario) dished out two helpers and Nick Aponte (West Islip, N.Y.) recorded one assist.
In the cage for Penn State, Darcey made 18 saves, the most for a Nittany Lion since 2012. Bryan Moore turned away 12 shots for the Crimson (3-1). Harvard out-shot Penn State, 46-31. Sutton's nine shots was a career high, and Craig's seven shots was a season best. The Crimson narrowly edged the Nittany Lions in the ground ball battle, 27-26. Kreinz scooped up a team-best six ground balls. Harvard also beat Penn State by one at the face-off `X', 12-11. On the man-up, the Crimson went 1-for-4, while the Nittany Lions were 0-for-4.
After being assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the opening face-off, putting the Nittany Lions on the man-up, Harvard took over control. The Crimson scored on its first four possessions of the game to take an early 4-0 lead.
The Nittany Lions were able to get on the board by reacting quickly. Sanders took the ball deep into Harvard's third, but was knocked down and lost the ball, drawing a flag. Sutton was able to corral the ball and tossed it to Sanders, who jumped to his feet and ripped it low nearside for the 4-1 score.
Penn State kept the momentum in its favor in the second quarter, scoring a pair of goals in 13 seconds to put the game within one. With 8:22 left in the quarter, Aponte sent a quick pass to Sutton, who cut in front and put it past Moore. Thirteen seconds later, Kreinz ran down the right wing, dodged a defender and scored in front for the third unanswered tally.
A late rally by the Nittany Lions put the game again within a goal. With 1:15 left in the half, Sanders fed the ball to Craig from behind the net who put it in. Exactly one minute later, Penn State's fifth of the contest came from a strong individual effort by Florence. The redshirt sophomore deked a defender from an angle and sent it over Moore's shoulder for the 6-5 score.
But with just .03 left in the half, the Crimson got a break when the ball trickled over the goal line for the 7-5 lead at halftime. The goal kicked off a three-goal run for Harvard, who led 10-5 with a minute left in the third quarter.
Penn State broke up the string of Crimson goals with 43 seconds remaining in the quarter. Guittare received a long pass, broke through center and whipped it in from a distance for the 10-6 tally, the first of his career.
Harvard was able to answer the breakaway with a tally for an 11-6 lead two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth quarter.
The Nittany Lions got a break of their own three minutes later. With Dan Craig and Mike Sutton in front of the Crimson crease, the ball was knocked loose and took a high bounce, falling in to the back of the cage for the 11-7 marker.
Six seconds later, Kreinz got his second of the game to give Penn State its seventh of the game. The redshirt sophomore won the face-off cleanly and took it downfield before whipping it into the back of the cage for his second of the game.
The Crimson rebounded from the back-to-back goals scored against them. With just under nine minutes to go in regulation, Joe Lang struck the ball into the cage, and it went through the net to cause a hole and put the Crimson up, 12-8.
However, the Nittany Lions refused to go down without a fight. With five minutes left in the quarter, Manley cut in front from behind the net, scoring his fourth of the year for the final 12-9 score.
The Nittany Lions play their first mid-week game of the season at Babson College on Tues., March 10, when they play Marist at 7 p.m.