UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 6 Penn State men's lacrosse team heads to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take on No. 3 Cornell on Friday, March 8 at 8 p.m. and then will play Jacksonville on Sunday, March 10 at 3:30 p.m. Both games are part of The Crown hosted at the Sportsplex at Matthews in Charlotte.
The Crown Homepage | Tickets | Game Notes
March 8: Penn State vs. Cornell – 8 p.m.
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March 10: Penn State vs. Jacksonville – 3:30 p.m.
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THE MATCH-UPS
Penn State and Cornell have an even 21-21 record since their first match-up in 1923. Head coach Jeff Tambroni will be facing his former team for the fourth time since he has arrived at Penn State. Under his tutelage, the Nittany Lions are 2-1 against Cornell. In 2016, Penn State won, 8-7, at Cornell, and in 2017, the Nittany Lions dominated in University Park, Pa., 20-10. In 2018, the two squads squared off in Sparks, Maryland at the US Lacrosse facility, and Cornell won 9-7 in a relatively low scoring affair. Penn State currently ranks second in the nation in assists per game at 11.20, and Cornell is at third at 10.00. Cornell is also third in scoring offense at 16.67 goals per game, while Penn State is second at 17.80. Individually, Grant Ament is first in the nation in points per game at 7.40, while Cornell's Jeff Teat is fourth at 6.33. Cornell is 3-0 with wins over Hobart, Lehigh and Albany.
Penn State will square off with Jacksonville for the first time. Jacksonville is known for their defense as they lead the nation at 12.60 caused turnovers per game. They are 1-4 on the year with their lone win coming over Drexel last weekend.
WEEK 3 ROUND-UP
Penn State moved to 4-1 after a 15-14 win over Penn at home in Panzer Stadium. The Nittany Lions trailed by two goals early in the fourth quarter, but a Jack Kelly goal and a man-up TJ Malone goal tied the game at 2, and then the two teams traded goals, 13-13, and then Penn would go up 14-13 with 3:05 left to play but back-to-back Nick Spillane goals both tied and gave the Nittany Lions the lead and the win.
Nick Spillane was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and earned a spot on the USILA Team of the Week for his late-game heroics and his four-point (3 goal/1 assist) game.
Penn State ranked No. 4 in Inside Lacrosse and No. 6 in both USILA and US Lacrosse/Nike.
NCAA STAT RANKINGS
The Nittany Lions are averaging 17.8 goals per game which is second in the nation and are also averaging 11.20 assists per game which is good for second as well. Penn State is leading the nation in scoring margin at 8.00 per game as they hold their opponents to just 9.80 goals per game
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The Nittany Lions are assisting on 62.9-percent of their goals with Grant Ament assisting on 32.6-percent alone. Ament currently leads the nation in both points per game (7.40) and assists per game (5.80).
Mac O'Keefe is currently second in the nation in goals per game at 4.40. He is tied for fourth with teammate TJ Malone and Johns Hopkins' Kyle Marr for fourth for man-up goals with 3.
Colby Kneese is fifth in the nation in save percentage at 61.5-percent. He is also seventh in goals against average at 8.60 per game.
ACTIVE POINT STREAK
Redshirt junior Grant Ament has the fifth longest point scoring streak in the nation, recording a point in all 36 of his career games played are 58-93-151. Senior Pat Spencer of Loyola currently leads the list at 56 as a senior at 117-186-303. Ament's streak is the longest active in the Big Ten with Michigan's Brent Noseworthy following at 32 games.
SABIA NAMED CANDIDATE FOR THE SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Senior defenseman Chris Sabia has been named one of 30 candidates for the 2019 Men's Lacrosse Senior CLASS Award. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition. Check out Sabia's Senior CLASS Award bio HERE
MORE THAN A NUMBER
Penn State has special meaning behind the jersey numbers 11 and 16.
Matt Donnelly has proven his perseverance throughout his career and was given the No. 11 jersey as a freshman as the No. 11 is presented to a young man who has persevered in the face of adversity. Donnelly lost his father during his junior year of high school. The jersey number 11, worn by Michael Jacober, 2002-05, has become symbolic of the strength and compassion of the 2005 Penn State lacrosse team who rallied around Michael after his family was tragically killed in a plane crash during his senior season year.
The No. 16 uniform will be worn by Chris Sabia in 2019 as he was selected by former Nittany Lion Ryan Keenan to next wear the number, which has been presented annually, since 2016, to a senior who best represents the "Heart of a Competitor" in honor of our "Teammate for Life" Connor Darcey. Connor passed away tragically on June 12, 2015 in a car accident, prior to his redshirt junior season. The No. 16 is passed down by the student-athlete who had the honor of wearing the No. 16 during the previous season.
CAPTAINS
The Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni named Mike Aronow, Matt Donnelly and Chris Sabia as captains for 2019.
Aronow, a native of Holbrook, N.Y., returns as team captain after being the only underclassman in the role in 2018, an honor he received after missing all of the 2017 season due to injury. In his comeback season as a redshirt junior, Aronow started all 14 games at defender, causing 11 turnovers, which was good for second on the team. He added 24 ground balls and an assist in 2018.
Donnelly, a native of Sewell, N.J., played in all 14 games in 2018, including earning four starts. He scored eight goals and added five assists for 13 points. He also added seven ground balls and two caused turnovers on the season. Donnelly has also proven his perseverance throughout his career and was given the No. 11 jersey as a freshman.
Sabia has started all 45 games in his collegiate career, and has accumulated 51 career turnovers, 75 ground balls, six goals and an assist in his time at Penn State. The defenseman has earned both conference and national recognition as he was named both a 2017 and 2018 All-Big Ten second team honoree and was a USILA honorable mention All-American in 2017 and 2018 as well.
