BALTIMORE, Md. – The 2022 Penn State men's lacrosse season came to a close with a 16-8 loss to fourth-seeded Johns Hopkins in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday at Homewood Field.
The Lions, who were the fifth-seeded team in the tournament, finish the year at 3-11 overall. The Blue Jays improved to 7-8 and advance to play top-seeded and unbeaten Maryland in the semifinal round.
Penn State struck first with a goal by freshman Kyle Aldridge at the 11:42 mark of the first quarter. Johns Hopkins countered with a 7-0 run that lasted until the Lions ended a 25:59 scoring drought with a goal by Mark Sickler with 43 seconds left in the half.
The teams played even in a high-scoring third quarter that saw each team score five goals. Johns Hopkins pulled away with a 4-1 advantage in the third quarter.
Will Peden and Jake Morin each finished with one goal and two assists for Penn State. Mark Sickler scored a pair of goals, while Long tallied one goal and one assist. Scoring one goal apiece for the Lions were Dan Reaume, Matt Traynor, and Aldridge. Mac Costin and Tate Gallagher each chipped in with an assist.
Gallagher and freshman goalie Jack Fracyon caused two turnovers apiece for Penn State, while Brian Townsend, Brett Funk, and Pup Buono each had one. The Lions were plagued by penalties in the contest, racking up 7:30 of time in the box on eight flags.
Fracyon made the start in goal for the second-straight week and finished with a career-high 17 saves.
Connor DeSimone and Johnathan Peshko led Johns Hopkins with two goals and two assists apiece. Joey Epstein recorded a hat trick.
Josh Kirson was outstanding in goal for the Blue Jays, stopping 14 of the 22 shots he faced.
Despite the final record, Penn State's future looks bright. Five of the team's losses came by just one goal, including four against opponents ranked in the top 10 nationally. As of now, the Lions are set to return 77 percent of their total points, including 76 percent of the goals and 88 percent of the assists, in addition to 81 percent of their ground balls, 74 percent of their caused turnovers, 79 percent of their faceoffs won, and 100 percent of their saves made. Not included in that list of returning stats is TJ Malone, who led the team in scoring in 2021 and will be back next season after missing this year with an injury.
Four Penn State players combined to win five Big Ten Freshman of the Week awards this season. The Lions were led in points (33) and assists (22) by freshman Will Peden, in ground balls (69) and faceoffs won (32) by redshirt freshman Hudson Bohn, in caused turnovers by freshman Kevin Parnham (12), and in save percentage by freshman Jack Fracyon (.538). Parnham was also second on the team overall and first amongst non-faceoff players in ground balls with 38.