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Feb. 27, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 15/12 Penn State men's lacrosse (3-1) came up short in a 19-9 decision against Villanova (1-1) Saturday afternoon at the Penn State Lacrosse Field.
"We seemed not to have a lot of rhythm today," head coach Jeff Tambroni said. "The momentum just never seemed to shift in our favor."
Freshman Kevin Hill led the team with two goals, registering his first two career goals in his first multi-goal outing. Freshmen Jimmy Nowoswiat and Robby Black also logged a pair of goals for their second on the year, while juniors Dan Craig and Mike Sutton also added one.
Freshman Grant Ament, senior TJ Sanders and junior Nick Aponte all posted one goal and one assist for two points apiece.
Ament and senior Tommy O'Neill tied for first on the team, scooping up three ground balls each. Senior Peter Triolo finished with two ground balls, while also causing a team-high two turnovers.
Sophomore Will Schreiner made six saves for the Nittany Lions in the first two and a half quarters of the game. Entering midway through the third quarter, freshman Trevor Scollins finished with a career-high four saves.
Villanova held a 26-32 advantage at the faceoff x, helped out by Luke Palmedesso, who finished 22-for-27 for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats opened the scoring with their first goal of the afternoon from Christian Cuccinello with 11:16 remaining in the first quarter. Sutton answered back for the Nittany Lions with his third goal of the season to tie the score, 1-1 with 3:52 remaining. The Wildcats responded with a goal on the man advantage to spark a 3-0 spurt that lifted Villanova ahead by three, 4-1 with less than two minutes to play in the quarter.
Sanders put an end to the run nearly three minutes into the second quarter with his lone goal of the game off a behind-the-net feed from Ament to make it 4-2. Just 30 seconds later the Wildcats scored to move back up by three, 5-2. Hill looked to spark some momentum with his first goal of the afternoon that trimmed the deficit to two, 5-3 with 6:20 remaining in the second quarter.
The Nittany Lions could not sustain the momentum as Villanova answered with three unanswered goals, scoring two with less than a minute remaining to send Penn State into halftime trailing by five, 8-3.
The Wildcats opened the third quarter with a goal to widen the advantage to six, 9-3. Aponte answered back for Penn State, faking high and then shooting low for a goal to pull the Nittany Lions within five, 9-4. Despite another Villanova goal, Hill followed with his second of the game, unassisted, to keep Penn State within five, 10-5 with 9:41 left in the third quarter.
Penn State could not settle into an offensive rhythm as Villanova's Jake Froccaro scored three straight to open a 5-0 run that put the Nittany Lions behind by as many 10, 15-5, with 7:18 remaining in the third quarter. After moving Scollins into the net, Craig looked to get PSU back on track with an unassisted goal to make it 15-6. Villanova fired back with another goal to remain ahead, 16-6, heading into the final stanza.
The Nittany Lions made another attempt to erase the gap with a goal from Ament, 16-7, with 12:11 left to play. The Wildcats responded with a 3-0 streak to take their largest lead of the game, 19-7, with just under five minutes remaining.
Nowoswiat and Black made one final attempt to spark momentum with back-to-back goals in the last two minutes of regulation, but time expired as Penn State fell to the Wildcats in a 19-9 final decision.
Next up, Penn State hits the road for a pair of spring break matchups on the road. The Nittany Lions travel to Penn to take on the Quakers Saturday, March 5 at noon.