No. 11 Men's Lacrosse Downs Villanova, 15-5No. 11 Men's Lacrosse Downs Villanova, 15-5

No. 11 Men's Lacrosse Downs Villanova, 15-5

Matt Traynor tallied his 100th career point in the win

Box Score

VILLANOVA, Pa. – Matt Traynor’s six-point outing drove the No. 11 Penn State men’s lacrosse team (2-0-0, 0-0-0 B1G) to a 15-5 victory over Villanova (0-1-0, 0-0-0 Big East) on Sunday afternoon. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

  • Kyle Lehman scored the opening goal as he fired a goal from long distance off a feed by Jack Aimone to put Penn State ahead 1-0 with 9:50 left in the opening quarter. 
  • Villanova shortly answered with a goal by Colin Michener as he scored the goal from the slot to even the game at 1-1 with 6:27 left in the first quarter. 
  • Penn State quickly responded with a goal by Matt Traynor from the top corner off a feed by Kevin Parnham to put the Nittany Lions ahead 2-1 with 1:52 left in the quarter. 
  • Villanova opened the second quarter with a wraparound goal by Luke Raynor with 14:04 left in the half to tie the game at 2-2. 
  • Traynor scored his second goal of the game with 5:45 left in the second quarter from the bottom corner to put Penn State ahead 3-2.
  • Ethan Long followed Traynor’s goal with one of his own as he found the back of the net with 1:32 left in the half as he ripped the goal on the run to put Penn State ahead 4-2 at the half. 
  • Villanova opened the second half with a goal by Matt Licata off a spin move and score to narrow the Penn State lead to 4-3 with 11:56 left in the third quarter. 
  • With 8:34 left in the quarter, Mack Prbylski netted a long-distance goal from the point to tie the game up at 4-4. 
  • Penn State closed the quarter with four unanswered goals, starting with a goal by Ryan DiRocco as he launched the shot from the slot to put Penn State back in the lead 5-4. 
  • With 1:31 left in the third quarter. Jack Aimone scored in front of the Villanova netminder to put Penn State ahead 6-4. 
  • DiRocco soon followed with 30 seconds left in the quarter as he scored while battling a defender in front to put Penn State ahead 7-4. 
  • Long closed out the quarter with a goal on the run to put Penn State ahead 8-4 with 15 second left in the third quarter. 
  • The Nittany Lions continued their scoring rush in the fourth quarter as Traynor tallied his hat-trick with a goal coming with 13:23 in the quarter as he banked a goal from beyond the circle to put Penn State ahead 9-4. 
  • Lehman continued the Penn State attack with a goal coming with 11:36 left in the fourth quarter as he dove and scored to put Penn State ahead 10-4. 
  • With 11:10 left in the quarter, Mac Hobbs found his first goal of the game as he scored from beyond the arc to put the Nittany Lions ahead 11-4. 
  • Hunter Aquino scored his first goal of the game coming with 7:54 left in the game on the wraparound to put Penn State ahead 12-4. 
  • Traynor ran by the entire Villanova defense and scored his fourth goal of the game on the run to put Penn State ahead 13-4 with 7:14 left in the game. 
  • David Link scored the last goal for the Wildcats with 5:49 left in the quarter as he leapt and scored to cut the Penn State lead to 13-5.
  • With 5:36 left in the quarter, Colby Baldwin scooped and scored off the faceoff win to put Penn State ahead 14-5.
  • Luke Walstrum capped off the Penn State attack with a goal coming with 3:57 left in the quarter as he buried the goal while diving in front of the goalie to put Penn State ahead 15-5

GOALTENDERS

  • Junior goalie Jack Fracyon tallied 10 saves on 15 shots attempted.
  • This is the 23rd time in his career he’s let up less than 10 goals in a single game.
  • Five goals are the third lowest amount of goals he’s allowed in a single game in his career. His record improves to 2-0 on the year. 
  • Villanova goalie Anthony Wilson recorded 15 saves on 34 shots attempted. His record dropped to 0-1 on the year. 

STATS AND NOTES

  • Penn State captured their 580th victory in program history. 
  • Traynor tallied his 100th career point off his first goal of the game. 
  • He sits at 105 career-points on 87 goals and 18 assists. 
  • Baldwin scored his first goal since February 17, 2024, when he scored against Stony Brook.
  • Long scored his first goals of the year with two on the day. 
  • Penn State now leads the all-time series 21-9. The Nittany Lions have won the past two games against Wildcats.
  • This is the second time in program history the Nittany Lions have won by 10 points against Villanova. The last time this occurred came on February 2, 2019, when Penn State won 17-7. 

UP NEXT

  • Penn State returns to action on Saturday, February 15 when they host No. 5 Princeton. The game will start at 1 p.m.