Charlotte, N.C. – The No. 6 Penn State men's lacrosse team took down No. 3 Cornell, 19-13, on Friday evening in a rainy battle in the Crown Lacrosse Classic at the SportsPlex at Matthews in Charlotte, N.C.
Penn State came out firing on Friday evening, using a 9-2 first quarter advantage to carry them through the rest of the game.
Cornell would out-score the Nittany Lions 8-5 over the second and third quarters, but a 5-3 fourth quarter in favor of the Blue & White sealed the deal.
Penn State made its mark at the x on the faceoff as junior Gerard Arceri went 25-36 at the x and scooped up 18 groundballs. His 25 faceoff wins is a new personal best, and his 18 groundballs tie a career-high.
The possession advantage helped the Nittany Lions as they out-shot Cornell, 37-31.
The Nittany Lions offense was orchestrated by redshirt junior Grant Ament who did something that has not been done by a Nittany Lion since 1983. The Doylestown, Pa., native, dished out a personal-best nine assists which tied the single game school record set by Gary Martin in 1983. Ament now has 38 assists on the year, surpassing his single-season personal best set in 2016 when he recorded 34 assists. He now has had three seasons with over 30 assists (34-2016, 30-2017, 38-2019).
Junior Mac O'Keefe was on the receiving end of a few of Ament's dimes and finished the game with six goals for his sixth multi-goal game of the season. He also added one assist, one caused turnover and four groundballs on the evening.
Senior Nick Spillane finished the game with a season-high five points as the middie scored four goals and added an assist. His four goals were also a season high. Spillane added four groundballs and a caused turnover.
Redshirt junior attackman Dylan Foulds tied his career-high with four goals, and it was the first time this season he reached that mark. He also added one groundball.
Redshirt freshman Dan Reaume had his first multi-goal game as he scored two goal. He recorded two groundballs as well.
Penn State also got goals from sophomores Jack Kelly and Brian Townsend, and one from freshman Jack Traynor. Freshman TJ Malone also recorded an assist to continue his point streak.
The Nittany Lions saw junior Nick Cardile, senior Kevin Fox and redshirt junior Tommy Wright all recorded two caused turnovers. Cardile and Wright each scooped up three groundballs as well. Townsend added a caused turnover and two ground balls to his final stat line.
Junior goalie Colby Kneese earned the win and recorded eight saves and two groundballs.
Penn State returns to action on Sunday, March 10 at 3:30 p.m. as they take on Jacksonville in their second game of the 2019 Crown Lacrosse Classic.