UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 1 Penn State men's lacrosse team hosts No. 16 Johns Hopkins at 12 p.m. on Sunday, April 21 in Panzer Stadium. The game will be broadcast on ESPNU with Anish Shroff, Quint Kessenich and Paul Carcaterra on the call.
TICKETS
Ticket prices have been set at $5 for adults and $3 for youth (ages 12 and under). Penn State students will be able to get in for free by showing their Penn State ID. The ticket office will open 90 minutes before the game. Nittany Lion fans are able to buy their tickets through Penn State Account Manager, 1-800-NITTANY, or by visiting the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office in person Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Tickets purchased in advance will utilize mobile ticketing for entry. For help with mobile ticketing, fans are encouraged to go HERE.
PARKING
Parking for games played at Panzer Stadium will be available in the Jordan East lot, and while fans can bring bags into the facility, all bags are subject to search. Tailgating should be kept to the areas south of Dauer Drive in the grassy areas, keeping the aisles free for traffic to flow normally.
THE MATCH-UP
Penn State and Johns Hopkins have matched up 10 times, with JHU holding a 9-1 advantage.
However, the Nittany Lions earned its' first win over the Blue Jays in 2018.
Penn State, then No. 15, took down then No. 5 Johns Hopkins, 14-12, for the first win over the Blue Jays in program history.
The Nittany Lions used a 10-5 first half hot start to take the lead through the game and fought of a 4-1 fourth quarter that favored Johns Hopkins.
Mac O'Keefe and Kevin Hill each recorded hat tricks for the Blue & White, while Nick Spillane and Ryan Keenan each recorded two goals. Spillane also dished out a career-best five assists on the game.
Nittany Lions also saw Dylan Foulds, Brian Townsend, Nick McEvoy, and Cole Willard find the back of the cage. Townsend and McEvoy also added assist each to their stat lines, while Robby Black and Bobby Burns each added an assist as well.
Penn State saw an injured Gerard Arceri throw together the gutsiest performance of his career as he went 16-23 at the 'x' with nine ground balls on one leg after suffering a hamstring injury the game prior.
Colby Kneese took the win and recorded 14 saves on the game.
WEEK 9 ROUND-UP
The No. 1 Penn State men's lacrosse team took down Michigan, 17-7, last Saturday afternoon in Ann Arbor, Mich., to move to 10-1 on the season and 3-0 in Big Ten play for this first time in program history.
Penn State saw Mac O'Keefe break the Penn State career goals record on his first game of the afternoon after scoring a beauty of a goal as he sniped a behind the back goal on the crease. O'Keefe finished the game with four goals, one assist, one caused turnover and one ground ball.
O'Keefe now has 131 career goals after passing Will Driscoll (1999-2002), who he was tied with at 127 entering the game.
Redshirt junior Dylan Foulds had a career performance to pace the Nittany Lions with a career-best six points, scoring three goals and dishing out three assists. His three goals came in the span of 1:05 on the clock as he registered goals at 3:50 in the first quarter, 3:20, and 2:45 for a one-man offensive barrage.
The third Nittany Lion attackman redshirt junior Grant Ament added a cool eight points as he dished out seven assists and added one goal.
Senior Nick Spillane, freshman TJ Malone and redshirt freshman Dan Reaume each recorded multi-point performances as Spillane added three points with a goal and two dimes, while Malone scored two goals and Reaume, a Beverly Hills, Mich., native, added a goal and an assist.
Penn State also saw Cole Willard, Jack Traynor, Seamus Glynn, Joe White and Gerard Arceri all find the back of the net.
Arceri was a monster at the x for the Blue & White as the junior face-off specialist won 22 of 27 face-off attempts, the most wins in Big Ten play by a Nittany Lion. He also scooped up a career-best 21 ground balls. His 21 ground balls tie for 7th most in NCAA history, and ties for second most in a NCAA DI game this season.
Penn State saw O'Keefe, Spillane, Bobby Burns, Chris Sabia, Robby Black and Kevin Fox all record caused turnovers.
Junior goalie Colby Kneese registered the win with a 12-save performance at 63.2-percent save percentage.
ACTIVE STREAKS
Redshirt junior Grant Ament has the eighth longest point scoring streak in the nation, recording a point in all 41 of his career games played are 63-125-188. Senior Pat Spencer of Loyola currently leads the list at 63 as a senior at 136-213-349.
Junior Mac O'Keefe is on an 18-game goal scoring streak, dating back to March 17, 2018. He has scored 61 goals during that time. His streak is good for 10th in the nation. He is also on a 21-game point streak that started on March 3, 2018 with 70-21-91.
Penn State is tied with Penn for the longest active winning streak at seven consecutive wins.
NCAA STAT RANKINGS
As a team, the Nittany Lions currently rank No. 1 in the nation in seven categories. They are the top team in man-up offense (0.600), points per game (27.82), scoring margin (7.36), scoring offense (17.27), assists per game (10.55), and shot percentage (.433). They also have the best winning percentage at 10-1 (.909).
Redshirt junior Grant Ament currently leads the nation in assists per game at 6.10. He also leads points per game at 7.40.
Junior Mac O'Keefe is second for goals per game at 4.09, and ninth in points per game at 5.09.
Freshman TJ Malone is fifth in shot percentage (.500). Dylan Foulds is 10th at 0.480.
Junior Gerard Arceri is 9th in the nation in faceoff winning percentage at .634 and fifth in groundballs at 9.64.
SYOSSET'S SHARP-SHOOTER
Junior Mac O'Keefe has been known as one of the nation's best shooters his entire career and is now the most prolific goal scorer in Penn State history.
The native of Syosset, New York is broke the Penn State career goals record on Saturday, April 13 on his first goal against Michigan. He passed Will Driscoll, who had 127 from 1999-2002.
O'Keefe is currently at 131 for his career.
On February 16 against Stony Brook, O'Keefe scored seven goal to record his 100th career goal, becoming the first junior to surpass that mark. O'Keefe's seventh goal at the 2:47 mark in the second quarter in that game. He is just the eighth player in Penn State history to score 100 career goals.
O'Keefe also happens to hold the single season record for goals after scoring 51 in his rookie campaign. He is currently on pace to break that record as he is averaging 4.09 goals per game, good for second in the nation.
In an article from Inside Lacrosse from his freshman year, O'Keefe credited a fence to his success.
"It served as his own private shot incubator. It still does, to a degree. Mistakes, and there were many, were tangible. The brown wooden fence in Mac O'Keefe's backyard took the brunt of each miss. The fence, which has since been restored, was at one time in shambles. Pocked by white, round blotches and splintered in other areas, O'Keefe's backstop took a beating through the years. The family dog would go in and out because the fence had so many gaping holes in it."
"That fence is where it started. Where the vision and precision began. The moves against imaginary defenders. The perfected lefty release."
MOVIN' ON UP
Redshirt junior Grant Ament has put on a historical performance not only on the Penn State level but on both the conference and national level. His 61 assists this season has him second all-time in Big Ten history and he is also making his way up the career lists as well. If the season ended today, Ament would have the assists per game average that would top the NCAA record books as he is at 6.10 per game, well above the 5.25 record set by Dennis Fink, Drexel in 1978.
