ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Penn State's Mac O'Keefe is just the third player in the history of NCAA Division I men's lacrosse to score 200 career goals, reaching the milestone with a goal early in the first quarter of a Big Ten game at Michigan on Saturday. He tacked on two more during the game to give him 202 for his career.
Unfortunately for the 18th-ranked Nittany Lions, O'Keefe's milestone goal came in a losing effort as the Wolverines came out on top 14-12 to improve to 1-4 overall and in the conference. The Lions left Ann Arbor with identical records.
With the milestone behind him, O'Keefe now sets his sights on the NCAA Division I goal-scoring record. The mark is currently held by Justin Guterding, who scored 212 goals while playing 75 games for Duke from 2015-18. O'Keefe, whose 202 goals have come in 60 games, sits third on the all-time list, just five goals away from passing Duke's Zack Greer (2005-08) for second.
O'Keefe has scored in 37 consecutive games, which is the second longest active streak in Division I and the longest active streak by a player that was in Division I his entire career.
O'Keefe needed less than two minutes to get the one goal he needed for the career milestone, putting Penn State up 1-0 with 13:36 still showing on the clock in the opening quarter. Fast starts haven't been an issue for the Lions this year as they've scored first in all five games to start the season.
It was a game of runs at the U-M Lacrosse Stadium. Jack Kelly made it 2-0 with a goal less than a minute after O'Keefe's, but that was followed by four straight goals by Michigan.
It was then Penn State's turn to go on a lengthy run as the Lions scored the next five goals to go up 7-4. Jackson Reynolds got things gong with two goals to end the first half that knotted the score at 4-all. The first came with 5:04 left on the clock, while the second was scored with just 45 seconds left.
Penn State didn't allow a Michigan goal for the first 12:30 of play in the second quarter while scoring three of their own. Dylan Foulds gave the Lions a 5-4 lead with a man-up goal off an assist from Kelly. O'Keefe and freshman Jake Morin followed with goals to put their team up by three. Morin's score was the first of his career.
The next stretch of play was the difference in the game as Michigan scored seven of the next eight goals. The Wolverines cut into the lead with two goals to end the first half and then tied it up with the first score of the second half. The Lions did retake the lead on Foulds's second goal of the game with 8:59 to play in the third quarter, but the Wolverines responded with a 4-0 run to go up 11-8.
Penn State clawed its way back to within one goal three different times in the fourth quarter but couldn't get the game-tying score. The last time came on freshman Mark Sickler's first career goal with 4:34 to play to make the score 13-12. Michigan went back up two with Bryce Clay's fifth goal of the game, which ended the scoring with 2:17 left on the clock.
O'Keefe finished with three goals and one assists, while Reynolds recorded his first career hat trick. Foulds totaled three points on two goals and one assist. TJ Malone and Kelly each contributed one goal and one assist, Sickler and Morin had one goal apiece, and Nick Cardile registered an assist.
Cardile also caused a pair of turnovers. Penn State had five caused turnovers on the day, including one apiece from Sickler, Sam Sweeney and Grant Haus. Sweeney leads the team with five caused turnovers on the season.
Clay and Zawada led the way for Michigan. Clay's five points were all on goals, while Zwada tallied five points on four goals and an assist.
The second half of Penn State's Big Ten-only schedule begins next weekend as the Lions host Johns Hopkins on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will air live on ESPNU. The Blue Jays are 2-3 following a 15-9 loss to Rutgers.
