Feb. 16, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State men's lacrosse team hosts Stony Brook on Saturday, February 17 at 2 p.m. outside at Panzer Stadium. The Nittany Lions will face Stony Brook for the first time since 2006.
Penn State holds a 6-2 all-time record over the Seawolves, but Stony Brook took the last two contests in 2005 and 2006.
PARKING
Spectators for men's lacrosse may park in the lower portion of lot 44, which is reserved parking for the Lacrosse and Track & Field events on Saturday. Fans are asked to not park in the back of the Multi-Sport facility due to the team tent areas.
LAST TIME OUT
The Penn State men's lacrosse team used a big second half performance to claim their first win of the season by out-scoring the Statesmen, 8-1, over the final two quarters to take the game, 15-8, in Holuba Hall on last weekend.
The Nittany Lions trailed Hobart heading into the half, 7-6, but a 4-0 third quarter performance jump-started the Penn State offense, and the home squad never looked back.
Sophomore Mac O'Keefe found his stroke on Saturday, sniping a season-best five goals, adding an assist as well.
Junior Kevin Hill tallied five points on the day, scoring two goals, and adding three assists. Fellow junior Nick Spillane also dished out three dimes, while adding a goal of his own. Senior Ryan Keenan added two goals and an assist, while Matt Donnelly found the back of the net twice.
Redshirt sophomore Dylan Foulds added two points, tallying a goal and an assist, both on man-up opportunities. Juniors Robby Black and Chris Sabia both added goals for Penn State, while freshman Brian Townsend added an assist.
PENN STATE ON BTN
Penn State will be featured on the Big Ten Network four times, along with two ESPNU coverages which were announced earlier this month.
The Nittany Lions will be the first game of the season to be aired on BTN as Penn State's contest against Stony Brook on Saturday, February 17 will be aired live at 2 p.m. ET.
Penn State will also be on BTN for their conference games against Maryland, Rutgers, and Michigan.
The Terrapins will come to Happy Valley on Sunday, April 8 for a 7 p.m. game, and the Nittany Lions' home 'Senior Day' contest against Michigan on April 28 at 11 a.m. will also be aired. The Michigan game will be a Penn State doubleheader as the women's lacrosse team will also take on Michigan for their 'Senior Day' and will be aired at 2 p.m.
Penn State's road trip to Rutgers will be on BTN at 7 p.m. on April 22.
Penn State's road trip to Rutgers will be on BTN at 7 p.m. on April 22.
O'KEEFE NAMED B1G OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK (2/13)
Mac O'Keefe was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week for his performance against Hobart, as announced by the league office on TuesÂday afternoon. O'Keefe scored a team-best five goals against Hobart, adding an assist as well. The attackman added four ground balls and one caused turnover. He scored three of Penn State's goals during a crucial second half 8-1 run that gave the Nittany Lions the lead and the win after being down 7-6 at half. His assist came during that run as well.
This is the second-straight Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor for Penn State as Ryan Keenan was honored last week. Freshman Jack Kelly earned Freshman of the Week honors as well last week. O'Keefe now has two career Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors, earning one in his freshman campaign (2/8/17).
KEENAN, KELLY EARN B1G HONORS
Following the first week of action, the Penn State men's lacrosse team saw senior midfielder Ryan Keenan and freshman midfielder Jack Kelly earn Big Ten weekly honors as Keenan was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Kelly took home the Freshman of the Week honor, as announced by the league office on Tuesday afternoon.
Keenan, who was named a member of the USILA DI Team of the Week on Monday, earns his first career honor from the Big Ten after putting together a career performance against Villanova. The middie scored a career-high five goals and added two assists on the way to a personal best seven points. He also scooped up five ground balls in the game. His five goals put him in a four-way tie atop the NCAA goals per game leaderboard.
Kelly took home the Freshman of the Week honor after scoring two goals in his first collegiate game. His two goals came on his only two shots of the game. He also added two ground balls and a caused turnover.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
The trio of juniors Chris Sabia and Grant Ament and sophomore Gerard Arceri were named to the USILA Preseason DI Player of the Year Watch List. They were also named as Penn State's Big Ten Players to Watch. Sabia was named an Inside Lacrosse Preseason Second Team All-America honoree, while Arceri was named to the Third Team and Ament earned Honorable Mention.
QUAD CORE OF CAPTAINS
The 2018 Nittany Lion squad will be led by senior middies Ryan Keenan, Tanner Peck, and Tripp Traynor, and redshirt junior defender Mike Aronow. When asked about their leadership skills, Head Coach Jeff Tambroni mentioned how each was different, and together they provided a well-rounded leadership core. The quartet has helped the Nittany Lions' program come from a 5-9 record in their freshman season to an improved 12-4, and a No. 1 ranking in the national poll in their junior year, and will look to build upon in 2018.
#BRICKSQUAD MENTALITY
The blue-collar work ethic of Penn State men's lacrosse has been a mainstay under Coach Jeff Tambroni, and even using a brick to symbolize what that means has been in play for a few years, but following the 2017 season, the now-graduated seniors of 2017 gave Tambroni a brick with the engraving "Leave it better than you found it... Class of 2017." "We wanted an identity piece," Tambroni said. "We wanted our program to think about a symbol more visually instead of just conversations with our guys about what we want it to look like. Also, there is a second brick that is passed around by the team to the player with the "most brick mentality" every week. The player who holds the brick chooses who deserves the brick the following week, and they pass the actual brick on to the next deserving player.
PSU ON ESPNU
ESPN announced its spring lacrosse television schedule on Wednesday evening with Penn State men's lacrosse receiving national coverage on ESPNU twice this season. The Nittany Lions will travel to Ohio State for their Big Ten season opener and will be featured on ESPNU on Saturday, March 31 at 3 p.m. ET. Penn State will also be featured on ESPNU on when they host Johns Hopkins on Saturday, April 14 at 2 p.m.
WHO'S NEW
ATTACK
Sean Sperzel
Attack | 5'10" | 187| Westwood, Massachusetts | Xaverian Brothers
Cole Willard
Attack/Midfield | 5'11" | 165 | Cazenovia, New York | Cazenovia
MIDFIELD
Bobby Burns
Midfield | 6'1" | 175 | Smithtown, Long Island, New York | Smithtown East
Jake Glatz
Midfield | 5'10" | 190 | Shrewsbury, Pa.| Boys' Latin
Jack Kelly
Midfield | 6'1" | 180 | Scarbrough, Ontario, Canada | Birchmount Park
John Nostrant
Midfield | 5'8" | 155 | Haverford, Pennsylvania | The Haverford School
Mike Shinske
Midfield | 5'11" | 180 | Medford, New Jersey | Shawnee
DEFENSE
Jake McCaughan
Defense | 6'0" | 175 | Richland, N.J. | St. Augustine Prep
Brayden Peck
Defense | 5'11" | 185 | West Grove, Pennsylvania | Avon Grove
Dan Reaume
Midfield | 6'0" | 180 | Beverly Hills, Michigan | Brother Rice
Joey Soran
Defense | 6'4" | 220 | Aurora, Colorado | Regis Jesuit
GOALIE
Dylan Sulzbach
Goalie | 5'8" | 180 | Pittsford, New York | Salisbury School
PSU TIES PROGRAM WIN RECORDS
With the Nittany Lions eclipsed the 12-win mark in the 2017 season with a victory over Michigan. Penn State matched the program record for wins in a season with 12, set by the 2013 team. The 2017 team was just the seventh to reach double-figure wins.
FACEOFF FRENZY
Faceoff man Gerard Arceri also returns after winning 61.8 percent of his faceoffs in 2017, the sixth-best mark in the country and second-most by a freshman. He won 196 of his 317 attempts and scooped up a team-best 103 ground balls.
NITTANY LIONS SET HISTORICAL STREAK
- Penn State began the 2017 season on a historical win streak, going 10-0 through the opening 10 games of the season.
• Following Penn State's win over Ohio State, the Nittany Lions continued the best start in program history at 10-0. Prior to the 2017 season, the best record to begin a season at Penn State was 7-0, achieved by the 1992 team.
• With the win over OSU (4/2/17), Penn State remained one of two undefeated squads nationally at 10-0. Penn State's 10-game win streak was the best in the country.
• With Penn State's victory over Ohio State, the Nittany Lions matched the longest single-season win streak with 10-straight. The win also saw Penn State earn its seventh ever season with double-figure wins.
• With the win against Cleveland State (3/25/17), Penn State went undefeated in the non-conference slate for the first time in program history at a perfect 9-0 mark. Penn State first became a conference member in 2000 when the team joined the ECAC before transitioning to the CAA and eventually the Big Ten.
MAKING THE MARGIN
Despite a defense that ranked 38th in the country with 10.69 goals allowed per game in 2017, PSU still had the twelfth-best scoring margin last year, winning games by over two and a half goals per game. Its 13.31 goals per game were the sixth-highest in the nation.
RECORD-SETTING ROOKIE
Attackman Mac O'Keefe logged the freshman scoring record on April 30, scoring four goals to eclipse the 44 goal mark set by TJ Sanders in 2013. O'Keefe would earn the program record for single-season goals on with three goals against Towson (5/13/17). O'Keefe's 51 goals are the most in a single season in Jeff Tambroni's seven-season tenure at Penn State.