UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 1 Penn State men's lacrosse team walked away with a 13-8 victory over No. 7 Ohio State on rainy Sunday night at Panzer Stadium to move to 9-1, 2-0 in Big Ten action.
The Nittany Lions found success on both offense and defense to find their first Big Ten home win. Penn State moves to 17-6 all-time against Ohio State and stretches its win streak over the Buckeyes to four.
Leading the way for Penn State on the offensive end was junior attackman Mac O'Keefe and sophomore midfielder Cole Willard who both collected hat tricks.
With his third goal on the night, O'Keefe tied Will Driscoll's (1999-2002) Penn State career goals record of 127.
O'Keefe and Willard were just two of eight total Nittany Lions to find the back of the Buckeyes' net. Freshman attackman TJ Malone, senior midfielder Nick Spillane, redshirt junior attackman Dylan Foulds, redshirt freshman midfielder Dan Reaume and sophomore midfielder Brian Townsend also found the back of the net.
Redshirt Junior Grant Ament dished out six assists to get himself over the 50-assist mark and bring his season total to 54. He also added two goals to lead the team with eight points. His six assists is the most assists by a Nittany Lion in Big Ten play
Ament is at 66 points on the season (12g, 54a), which is good for fourth all-time at Penn State, and is a new career-high, passing his 60-point total from 2017.
Ament is now at 180 career points and moved up to third all-time in Penn State history, trailing Greg Jackson (181 – 1994-97) and Gary Martin (252 – 1981-84).
Junior defenseman Nick Cardile recorded a career-high three caused turnovers and two ground balls to help keep the Nittany Lion defensive zone on lockdown. Senior LSM Kevin Fox added two caused turnovers.
Goalie Colby Kneese anchored the defense with 14 saves and a .636 save percentage.
The Nittany Lions scored at least three goals in all four quarters and held Ohio State to just one goal in both the second and fourth quarters.
Penn State returns to action on Saturday, April 13 at 12 p.m. as the Nittany Lions head to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan.
