COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Mac O'Keefe moved closer to the NCAA goals record and freshman Mark Sickler had the best statistical game of his young career, but Penn State men's lacrosse was unable to stop the high-powered Maryland offense in a 17-10 loss Saturday at Capital One Field.
The 19th-ranked Nittany Lions fell to 2-5 overall and in the Big Ten, while the third-ranked Terrapins stayed unbeaten at 7-0, 7-0.
O'Keefe scored three goals, giving him 209 for his career. That puts him all alone in second place in the NCAA Division I record book. He needs just four more to pass Justin Guterding (Duke, 2015-2018) for the record. Guterding's 2012 goals came in 75 games, while O'Keefe has played in 62 games.
Maryland kept O'Keefe off the scoreboard in the first half, but the Penn State star caught fire in the third quarter. He scored twice in less than a minute, the second coming with 6:40 left in the quarter. He then scored again with 1:51 showing on the clock. The first goal was unassisted while the other two goals were assisted by Jack Traynor and TJ Malone, respectively.
Sickler, a Hershey High School graduate, continues to be a bigger part of the offense as of late as he scored a goal for the third-straight game. He also added three assists for a career-high four points on the day.
Penn State trailed by just one, 3-2, after one quarter thanks to goals by Jackson Reynolds and TJ Malone, and were down by just two, 6-4, after a goal by Jack Kelly midway through the second quarter. But a huge Maryland over the second and third quarters put a large distance between the teams on the scoreboard.
The Terrapins scored four straight goals in the final 6:32 of the first half, including the last one by Jared Bernhardt at the buzzer. They then scored the first three goals of the second half to go up 13-4.
Penn State scored six of the game's final 10 games, but the deficit was too much to overcome. The final goal of the game was an individual highlight for the Lions as Mac Costin scored his first goal as a Nittany Lion. He had 11 goals as a freshman for Utah last season.
Gerard Arceri was solid on faceoffs for Penn State, going 14-24. Nick Cardile caused turnovers, while Sam Sweeney, Sutton Boland and Reynolds had one caused turnover apiece.
Bernhardt was the star for Maryland, finishing with eight points on five goals and three assists. He entered the game ranking first in the Big Ten and sixth nationally in points/game with 5.83.
Penn State's next game is at Panzer Stadium, where the Lions are 2-1 this season and 9-2 all-time. The Lions host No. 8 Rutgers on Saturday at noon. The Scarlet Knights are 5-2 following a 10-9 win over No. 14 Ohio State on Saturday.
