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Feb. 13, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Helped out by an offensive surge in the fourth quarter, Penn State men's lacrosse (2-0) rallied past Hobart (0-1) 17-12 Saturday afternoon in Holuba Hall.
Penn State's offense fired on all cylinders in the fourth quarter as the Nittany Lions came from behind to close out the game with nine goals in 11 minutes to secure the win.
Freshman Grant Ament, senior TJ Sanders and sophomore Ryan Keenan led the team with three goals apiece. Both Keenan and Ament's multi-goal scoring outings marked career high efforts for the pair. Ament also added two assists to lead the team with five points.
Redshirt junior Matt Florence and junior Dan Craig posted multi-goal outings, registering two goals each. Junior Brian Prestreau, freshman Kevin Fox and juniors Billy Lombardi and Mike Sutton all logged one goal apiece to round out the group.
Lombardi also led the team with five ground balls, finishing 11-for-22 from the faceoff "x." Senior Tommy O'Neill and sophomore Mike Aronow finished second on the team with four groundballs apiece. In his second straight start in goal for the Nittany Lions, Will Schreiner collected eight saves, marking his second consecutive game with six or more saves.
Sanders opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions with an early goal, but the Statesmen answered back with a pair of goals to pull ahead, 2-1 with 10:03 remaining in the first quarter.
From there, Penn State and Hobart kept it close, trading goals throughout the first quarter and into the second. With the Statesmen leading by one, 5-4, Lombardi won the faceoff and charged toward the net for a goal to spark a 3-0 scoring streak. Sutton and Florence chipped in back-to-back goals, to round out the stretch that pushed Penn State ahead 7-5 with 4:42 left in the second quarter.
Hobart answered back in the third quarter with two consecutive goals to even the score, 7-7 with 10:48 remaining in the third quarter. Craig looked to spark a run with a goal off an assist from Ament, to give the Nittany Lions a one-goal lead, 8-7. With PSU unable to sustain the momentum, the Statesmen rallied with a 4-0 run to take over a three-point lead, 11-8 with 14:48 in the fourth quarter.
Rallying back, Ament opened up a 5-0 run with an unassisted goal to send Penn State surging ahead, 13-11. Sanders and Keenan went back-and-forth, totaling four goals after Ament's. Hobart looked to halt the momentum with a goal to arrive within one, 13-12, with 8:35 remaining in the game. The Nittany Lions answered back with goals from Fox, Ament, Florence and Craig to wrap up a 17-12 win in favor of Penn State.
Next up, Penn State hits the road for its first roadtrip of the 2016 season. The Nittany Lions are set to travel to Cornell to square off against the Big Red Saturday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m.
NOTES: TJ Sanders recorded his second straight game with at least three goals and 18th of his career ... Sanders has recorded multi-goal outings in each of the last five games dating back to April 19, 2015 .... Penn State moves to 24-34-1 in the all-time series against Hobart with wins in five of the last six meetings ... The Nittany Lions have scored at least 17 goals in both games this season, having posted 20 in its 2016 season-opener against Robert Morris.