UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State's Mac O'Keefe is just two goals away from breaking the career goals record in NCAA men's lacrosse after scoring twice in the Lions' 22-10 loss to No. 7 Rutgers on Saturday at Panzer Stadium. The Lions dropped to 2-6 overall and in the Big Ten, while the Scarlet Knights improved to 6-2, 6-2.
O'Keefe upped his career goal total to 211 with a pair of scores in the fourth quarter. He is just one behind the current record holder, Duke's Justin Guterding, who scored 212 goals in 75 games from 2015-18. O'Keefe, who has played in 63 career games, has at least three games remaining on the schedule with the Lions, including the next one at Panzer Stadium on Friday.
O'Keefe scored the final two goals of the game, the first coming off an assist from Jack Traynor with 3:00 to play and the second unassisted on a man-up opportunity with 1:03 left in the game. He will have a chance to break the record when the Lions host Michigan on Friday at 5 p.m. in a game that will air live on Big Ten Network.
Despite the loss, Penn State had numerous highlights in the game, including Canyon Birch scoring his first career goal and Aleric Fyock making a career-high 13 saves on 24 chances. Fyock played the second and fourth quarters of the game.
The Lions also had a highlight-reel goal from one of their star defensive players. Captain Nick Cardile went no-look behind the back for his first score of the season in the fourth quarter.
TJ Malone led Penn State with four points on three goals and one assist, while Mark Sickler was right behind him with a goal and two assists. Birch and Traynor each tallied one goal and one assist, Dan Reaume had one goal, and Jackson Reynolds contributed one assist.
Sickler has established himself as a larger part of the Penn State offense as of late, totaling seven points on two goals and five assists over the past two games. He was honored as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week after finishing with one goal and three assists in the team's previous game.
O'Keefe showed off one of the underrated parts of his game, finishing with five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Malone, Sam Sweeney, Jack Kelly, Jake Glatz and Brayden Peck each caused one turnover. Arceri went 17-27 on faceoffs, while Glatz was 5-8.
A trio of players came up big for Rutgers on offense, led by Connor Kirst with four goals and three assists. Kieran Mullins contributed five goals and one assist, while Adam Charalambides had five goals. Colin Kirst made 12 saves on 19 chances.
Penn State is now in a battle to earn a home game in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament. The third-place team will host the sixth-place team and the fourth-place team will host the fifth-place team. The Lions are currently in a three-way tie with Michigan and Johns Hopkins for fourth and play the Wolverines in their next game.
The semifinal and championship rounds of the Big Ten Tournament will be played at Panzer Stadium.
