UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. – The No. 1 Penn State men's lacrosse team heads to the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 1 seed and will play No. 4 seed and predetermined host Rutgers at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 2 in HighPoint.Com Stadium in Piscataway, N.J. The game will be aired on the Big Ten Network with Joe Beninati and Mark Dixon on the call.
The second semifinal will feature Johns Hopkins and Maryland at 7 p.m.
TICKETS
Tickets for the 2019 Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Tournament are on sale through the Rutgers Ticket Office and can be purchased online here. All tickets will be general admission.
All-Session Passes (Access to All Three Games)
• All Passes -- $20
Single-Session Tickets (Thursday - access to both semifinal games)
• Individual Tickets -- $15
• Groups (10 or more) -- $10
• Students -- $1 at the gate (must present valid student ID from a Big Ten school)
Single-Session Tickets (Saturday)
• Individual Tickets -- $10
• Groups (10 or more) -- $5
• Students -- $1 at the gate (must present valid student ID from a Big Ten school)
THE MATCH-UP
Penn State and Rutgers have matched up 67 times with the Scarlet Knights holding a 44-23 advantage.
No.1 Penn State men's lacrosse topped No. 20 Rutgers, 14-13, in a back-and-forth battle to take program's first Big Ten title on Saturday afternoon.
In a neck-and-neck matchup with Big Ten foe Rutgers, sophomore Jack Kelly sealed the deal, in a game that saw eight different lead changes, with less than a minute left in play finding the back of the net off an assist from redshirt junior Grant Ament. Kelly's goal was his third of the game, paired with one assist for four points total.
Ament's seven points on seven assists pushed him into the number one-spot on the Penn State's single-season points leaderboard with 88, as well as the Big Ten lacrosse's single-season assists record with 71.
Junior Mac O'Keefe lead the Nittany Lions with five of the 14 goals in the game and two assists for a seven-point outing. O'Keefe now has 51 goals, tying the Penn State single season record, which he set in 2016.
Junior Colby Kneese came up huge for the Nittany Lions in crucial moments with 11 saves on the day. In his signature moment, with under two minutes on the clock, Kneese stuffed Rutgers attackman Adam Charalambides right on the doorstep of the goal to set up Penn State's game-winning moment.
Sophomore Cole Willard and redshirt junior Dylan Foulds both added two goals to the Penn State effort while the freshmen duo of Jack Traynor and TJ Malone stepped up pitching in a goal each. Foulds also added two assists to the Nittany Lion effort.
Senior classmates Nick Spillane and Chris Sabia made the most of their senior day on the field. Spillane dished out one assist and Sabia had one caused turnover to accompany a ground ball.
Junior Gerard Arceri dominated the 'x' going 18-29 with 13 ground balls.
Penn State took advantage of extra-man opportunities going three-for-three on the day.
B1G HONORS
Redshirt-junior Grant Ament was named the unanimous Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, senior Chris Sabia was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, and head coach Jeff Tambroni was named the 2019 Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Ament was the only unanimous selection to the All-Big Ten first team, and he was joined by Sabia and junior Mac O'Keefe on the first team.
The Nittany Lions saw juniors Gerard Arceri and Colby Kneese both earn a spot on the Second Team All-Big Ten.
Senior Nick Spillane was named the Nittany Lions' recipient for the Sportsmanship Award.
Tambroni earns his first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor after leading the Nittany Lions to a 12-1 regular season record, and a 5-0 record in the Big Ten for the first time in program history.
Ament, a 2017 First Team All-Big Ten selection, has racked up a Penn State record 88 points so far this season with 17 goals and both a Penn State record and a Big Ten single season record 71 assists. In Big Ten play alone, he scored seven goals and dished out 25 assists. He has added 12 ground balls and two game-winner goals
Sabia, a 2017 and 2018 All-Big Ten Second Team selection, has led the team with 16 caused turnovers while scooping up 27 ground balls and scoring two goals.
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 71 assists this season gave him the Big Ten lead after his seven-dime day against Rutgers 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 5.82 per game, well above the 5.25 record set by Dennis Fink, Drexel in 1978. Ament is currently just seven assists away from breaking the NCAA single season record.
DRAFTED
Penn State saw Chris Sabia and Nick Spillane picked in the top-10 of the 2019 Major League Lacrosse Draft on March 8 in at the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C.
Sabia, a defenseman from Harleysville, Pennsylvania, was selected in the first round at the No. 8 pick and the first selection by the Dallas Rattlers.
Spillane, a midfielder from Franklin Square, New York, was the first pick of the second round, No. 10 overall, by the Ohio Machine.
Since the MLL Draft, the Machine folded and Spillane was picked up by the New York Lizards.
Sabia was also drafted into the Premier Lacrosse League on April 23. He was the 10th overall pick to the Chrome.
