CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Penn State men's lacrosse came up just short of pulling off an upset over a top-10 team for the second-straight game, falling to No. 6 Penn 10-9 in the Crown Lacrosse Classic Saturday at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte. James Shipley scored with one second left in the game to give the Quakers the win.
The Nittany Lions dropped to 2-4 overall, while the Quakers improved to 2-1. Penn State's last two games at the Crown Classic have been decided by just one goal. In its last classic appearance in 2020, Cornell scored with eight seconds remaining in regulation to secure an 18-17 win over the Lions.
Saturday's game was back and forth throughout with the score being tied seven times. The final game-tying goal was scored by sophomore Mark Sickler to knot the score at 9-9 with 4:55 to play.
Penn's game-winner came on its only shot of the final 5:30 of play. Penn State took five shots in the final 3:29, two of which were saved and three that went wide. The Lions forced a turnover and received a ground ball from Sam Sweeney with 1:56 to play and called timeout. Penn goalie Patrick Burkinshaw made a save on a shot by Jeb Brenfleck, but Will Peden picked up the ground ball and the Lions called timeout again with 1:13 left on the clock. They got one more shot that went off target before turning the ball over with 24 seconds left.
Penn called a timeout after the clear following the late-game turnover. Shipley came through with the last-second heroics out of the timeout.
The teams matched goals in three of the four quarters. Penn posted a 3-2 advantage in the second quarter.
Sickler's hat trick was the first of his career. He opened the scoring to put Penn State up 1-0 just 1:23 into the game. He added a goal to bring the Lions within one in the third quarter and then tied it up late in the game with his third goal.
Penn countered with four goals from Dylan Gerger, who entered the game as the top scorer in the nation at 5.0 goals per game. Sam Handley was right behind him with three goals.
Junior Mac Costin scored a pair of goals for Penn State. Dan Reaume tallied a goal and an assist, while Brenfleck, Jack Kelly, and Luke Mercer each scored once. Peden and Ethan Long contributed one assist apiece.
Mercer's goal was the first of his career. The sophomore tied the game at 7-7 with 2:39 left in the third quarter.
Aleric Fyock, fresh off a career-high 21 saves in a win over No. 5 Yale last weekend, made 11 saves on 21 chances. The Lions also received a solid effort at the faceoff x with freshman Hudson Bohn going 12-21.
Penn State had five caused turnovers, led by Jack Posey with three. Kevin Parnham and Sutton Boland added one apiece. Parnham, Boland, Reaume, Brayden Peck, Grant Haus, and Sweeney each had two ground balls.
Penn State has a third-straight nationally-ranked Ivy League opponent up next. The Lions host No. 9 Cornell at Panzer Stadium on Saturday at noon. The Big Red are 4-0 following a 14-11 win over No. 5 Ohio State.
