April 10, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- No. 14 Penn State men's lacrosse (7-4, 1-1) came up short in a close 11-10 overtime loss against No. 5 Maryland (8-2, 2-0) Sunday evening at the Penn State Lacrosse Field.
"I don't think there was a lot of negative from tonight and that's a tough thing," head coach Jeff Tambroni said. "We still lost and other than the fact that it's a loss, I thought our guys played their hearts out on this field and that's what we ask them to do. They did it, but we just couldn't make one more play at the end."
Junior Mike Sutton led a group of six Nittany Lion goal-scorers with his second hat trick of the season. Junior Nick Aponte and freshman Grant Ament followed close behind with two goals apiece. Aponte also led the team with two assists for a team-high four points.
Senior TJ Sanders, sophomore Ryan Keenan and freshman Kevin Hill all tallied one goal each.
Sophomore goalie Will Schreiner recorded eight saves, while also totaling a team-high three ground balls. Junior Peter Triolo had two ground balls, while also causing one turnover. Sophomore Mike Aronow also finished with one caused turnover.
Penn State finished 10-for-25 from the faceoff "x" as senior Drake Kreinz finished 3-for-9 while junior Billy Lombardi went 7-for-16.
Maryland opened the scoring with a goal with 12:39 remaining in the first quarter to pull ahead early. The Nittany Lions answered with back-to-back goals from Sutton and Aponte to move ahead, 2-1 with less than 10 minutes to play in the quarter. The Terps came battling back with two more goals to go back on top, 3-2 with 6:27 left in the opening frame. PSU responded with a 3-0 streak, as Ament, Hill and Aponte all scored to give the Nittany Lions a two-goal lead, 5-3, heading into the second quarter.
The Terrapins cut the deficit to one, 5-4, with 14:02 left in the half, but the Nittany Lions regrouped with another 3-0 scoring streak, as two goals from Sutton and one from Sanders sent Penn State ahead by as many as four, 8-4 with 9:39 remaining in the second quarter. PSU continued to hold off the Maryland offense until the Terps opened a 3-0 run with 9:39 left in the frame to enter halftime just one goal behind the Nittany Lions at 8-7.
Maryland continued the scoring into the third quarter, scoring with 13:56 remaining to even the score, 8-8, for the first time since the opening frame. After receiving a pass from junior Dan Craig, Ament faked high before scoring low to give the Nittany Lions the edge, 9-8. Maryland responded with a goal to tie the score once again, 9-9, knotting the frame as time expired in the third quarter.
The Terps looked to pull ahead with a goal with 10:40 remaining in the game, but Keenan scored off of a feed from Ament to tie the game, 10-10 with 8:52 left in regulation. The Nittany Lion defense shined in the final minutes of the game, holding off offensive pressure from Terps to force an overtime period.
The Nittany Lions couldn't capitalize on a pair of shots in the overtime period as the Terrapins scored the game winner with 43 seconds remaining to end the game. Maryland goalkeeper Kyle Bernlohr led the team with 14 saves.
Penn State remains home next week, welcoming Johns Hopkins to the Penn State Lacrosse Field for another Big Ten conference matchup under the lights. Opening faceoff between the two teams is set for 7 p.m. Sunday April 17, live on the Big Ten Network.
NOTES: Penn State dropped its first and only overtime decision of the season, while also moving to 3-1 against a Top 20 team ... The Nittany Lions also surrendered their first game of the season when scoring 10 or more goals ... Penn State also moved to 3-1 in games decided by a single goal ... Penn State is 2-37 all-time against Maryland and 0-2 under head coach Jeff Tambroni ... Nick Aponte stretches his point-scoring streak to 29 consecutive games, dating back to April 4, 2014 ... TJ Sanders also extends his point-scoring streak to 25 straight games since Feb. 7, 2015 ... Sutton's hat trick is his second of the season and seventh of his career.