UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Gerard Arceri had a big game at the faceoff x, going 17-24, but turnovers proved costly in No. 13 Penn State's 13-7 loss to No. 4 Maryland in a Big Ten men's lacrosse matchup Friday night at Panzer Stadium.
Penn State dropped to 0-2 with a pair of losses to Big Ten teams currently ranked in the top 10 of the national rankings. Maryland improved to 2-0.
Arceri, one of the best faceoff specialists in the NCAA during his collegiate career, had a huge bounce back game after going 5-10 with one ground ball at Rutgers. He had a busy night, totaling his 17 faceoff wins while taking all 24 for the Lions. He finished with 10 ground balls.
The 17 faceoff wins brings his career total to 801. That's easily the program record with the next best Penn State career total being 510. He passed Stony Brook's Adam Rand (2008-11) for ninth in NCAA history during the game and needs just 16 more to pass Duke's Brendan Fowler (2011-14) for eighth all-time.
Arceri's 10 ground balls give him 520 for his career, which is also a Penn State record. He currently ranks sixth in NCAA history and needs 22 to pass Delaware's Steve Shaw (1983-86) for fifth.
Unfortunately, Penn State wasn't able to take advantage of Arceri's success against Maryland due in large part to 23 turnovers. The Lions did hold a 37-33 edge in shots but had one less on goal and ran into another solid goalie performance. The Terrapins' Logan McNaney made 16 saves on 23 chances one week after Rutgers' Colin Kirst stopped 15 shots on 24 chances against the Lions.
The Penn State defense held strong for most of the game. Maryland led by just one after the first quarter (3-2) and at the half (5-4). The Terrapins took just six shots in the first quarter.
Penn State's first four goals came from four different players. Dan Reaume, one game after his first career hat trick, got the scoring started by putting the Lions up 1-0 3:35 into the game. Nate Buller later scored his first goal of the season with seven seconds left on the clock to cut the Lions' deficit to 3-2.
Buller's goal was one for the highlight reel. Dylan Foulds delivered a nice pass inside to Jack Kelly, but Kelly was sandwiched between three Maryland defenders and had his stick knocked out of his hands. Buller picked up the ground ball and then while off balance dove to his left and delivered a behind a behind-the-back shot past the goalie going left to right while just managing to avoid a crease violation.
Penn State scored the first two goals of the second quarter to go up 4-3. Jackson Reynolds notched his first score of the season to tie it up 1:20 into the quarter, and Mac O'Keefe scored his second goal of the season just over two minutes later to give the Lions a one-goal lead. It was O'Keefe's 194th career goal and marked the 34th consecutive game in which he scored.
The score remained 4-3 in favor of Penn State until Jared Bernhardt tied it up with 7:20 left in the first half. That was the start of a 6-0 run by Maryland that was capped by a pair of Bernhardt goals at the 7:41 and 7:05 marks of the third quarter.
The Lions trailed 9-4 but gave themselves a chance with back-to-back goals by TJ Malone with 5:25 left in the third quarter and Jack Kelly with 14:07 to play in the fourth, but the Terrapins tacked on another 4-0 run to pull away. Bobby Burns completed the scoring with his first goal of the season with 46 seconds to play.
Seven different players combined for Penn State's seven goals. Malone added an assist to his one goal, while Dylan Foulds and Sam Sweeney chipped in with one assist apiece.
Sweeney led the team with two caused turnovers. O'Keefe, Malone and Malcolm Glendinning each caused one turnover. Sutton Boland tallied a career-high five ground balls. Malone and Kelly each had four, while Sweeney finished with three.
Bernhardt was the standout player for Maryland, finishing with seven points on three goals and four assists. Daniel Maltz led all players with four goals.
Penn State continues its difficult Big Ten schedule with a home game against Ohio State on Saturday, March 3, at noon. The Buckeyes are 1-0 with a 14-8 win over Johns Hopkins and will play Rutgers at home tomorrow.