UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The third-seeded Penn State men's lacrosse team defeated sixth-seeded Rutgers 14-8 in the quarterfinal round of the Big Ten Tournament on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Nittany Lions advance to semifinal game against second-seeded Maryland on Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m.
HOW IT HAPPENDED
- Rutgers jumped out to a 1-0 lead with 13:45 remaining in the first quarter off a goal by Dante Kulas.
- The Scarlet Knights added another goal with 11:44 left in the quarter from a goal by Colin Kurdyla.
- Penn State then fired back three unanswered goals off the sticks of Jake Morin, Kyle Lehman, and Ethan Long to give the Nittany Lions a 3-2 lead with 3:09 left in the quarter.
- Both sides exchanged goals to close out the opening period off goals by Kurdyla and TJ Malone to make the score 4-3 Penn State after one.
- Rutgers opened the second quarter with a goal from Logan Peters with 12:47 remaining in the half to tie the game up at 4-4.
- Penn State then scored four unanswered goals from Luke Walstrum, Long, Kyle Aldridge (man-up), and Mac Costin (man-up) to give the Nittany Lions an 8-4 lead with 6:32 left in the half.
- Rutgers closed the second quarter with a goal from John Sidorski with 2:00 left in the half to make the score 8-5 in favor of Penn State.
- Penn State opened the third quarter with a goal from Walstrum (man-up) with 12:39 remaining to put the Nittany Lions ahead 9-5.
- Rutgers cut the Penn State lead back to three with 9:28 left in the quarter off a goal by James Ringers to narrow the score to 9-6.
- The Nittany Lions closed out the third quarter with back-to-back goals from TJ Malone to give Penn State a commanding 11-6 lead.
- Rutgers opened the fourth quarter with a goal from Scott Ross with 14:03 left to narrow the Penn State lead to 11-7.
- Then Sean Donnelly would score his first goal as a Nittany Lion with 8:37 left in the quarter to regain a five-goal lead over the Scarlet Knights.
- Rutgers countered with 8:14 remaining in regulation off a goal by Kurdyla to narrow the Nittany Lion lead to 12-8.
- Ethan Long and TJ Malone each scored one goal to close out the game to result in the 14-8 victory.
GOALTENDER
- Junior Jack Fracyon recorded 18 saves as his record improves to 10-3 on the year.
- It is the 10th game he has held a team to under 10 goals this season.
STATS AND NOTES
- This is Penn State's first Big Ten tournament quarterfinal win and first Big Ten tournament win at home in program history.
- It is also Penn State's first win as a number three seed in the Big Ten tournament in program history.
- TJ Malone led the offense for the Nittany Lions recording four goals and three assists. It's his fifth game this season he's recorded seven points or more in a single game.
- Chase Mullins dominated the faceoff dot winning 15 of 20 faceoffs. It's the second highest he's recorded this season.
- Penn State improves to 10-3 overall on the year.
UP NEXT
- With today's win, the Nittany Lions advance to Big Ten semifinal game against second-seeded Maryland on Thursday, May 2 at 8 p.m.