ITHACA, N.Y.- No. 9 Penn State men’s lacrosse’s Ethan Long scores overtime, game-winning goal to complete the comeback victory over no. 3 Cornell. The Nittany Lions battled down by four in the last two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter using a 4-0 scoring run to send the game to overtime. Long’s efforts on offense give Penn State its first ranked win and first overtime win, while handing Cornell its first loss of the 2025 campaign. PSU improves to 5-1, 0-0 Big Ten and the Big Red fall to 4-1, 0-0 Ivy League.
Sophomore Liam Matthews led the offense with his first career hat-trick, one of his three coming during the crucial 4-0 run down the stretch. He also added an assist to total four points. Senior Luke Walstrum also had a multi-goal day, adding two goals and two assists including a goal in the final two minutes of regulation. Jack Aimone had a goal in the first and last quarter of regular time, his second goal was the game-tying point to send the game to overtime. Freshman Hunter Aquino totaled five points for his third multi-point performance of the year using a goal and four assists. His final assist was a pass to Long on the game-winner. Alex Ross, Will Peden, Mac Hobbs and Kyle Aldridge also added a goal apiece.
FIRST QUARTER - 3-2 Cornell
- Cornell struck first with a goal from Hugh Kelleher.
- Penn State got on the board with back-to-back goals from Aquino and Aimone. Aquino found the back of the net on unassisted goal and Aimone did the same minutes later.
- The Big Red got the final word of the quarter, pushing ahead with two goals from Michael Long.
SECOND QUARTER – 6-4 Cornell
- Cornell got off to an early start again, finding the back of the net on its first offensive possession before a six-minute scoring drought for both teams. The home team found two more goals to extend to a 6-2 lead.
- Walstrum, off a pass from Aquino, scored PSU’s first goal of the quarter to cut the lead.
- Hobbs secured a man-up goal off another feed from Aquino to bring the margin to two at the end of the first half.
THIRD QUARTER – 8-6 Cornell
- The Big Red once again began the scoring out of the break, edging Penn State 7-4.
- Defenseman Ross scored his first goal of the season, a man-down off a laser from the middle of Penn State’s offensive half.
- Neither team put a point up for the next 10 minutes of game time until the Big Red added their eighth with a goal from Kelleher.
- Matthews had the final goal of the half to bring the score to 8-6 heading into the final stanza of regulation.
FOURTH QUARTER – 12-12
- The highest scoring quarter of the game began with a goal from Cornell again to extend to a three-point advantage.
- Peden cut the margin to two using a feed from Walstrum as a response to Cornell’s opening offense.
- The Big Red put up two-straight goals to create their biggest advantage of the day at 11-7.
- Matthews found his second of the day to cut the deficit, but Cornell had a response, pushing back to a four score lead at 12-8.
- A 4-0 scoring run in the final two and a half minutes of play sent the game, into overtime with the Nittany Lions coming back to tie the score at 12-12.
- Kyle Aldridge found his first goal of the season off a turnover he forced in the Cornell clear.
- Matthews and Walstrum netted their third and second goals of the day respectively, before the clock hit 1:00.
- Aimone had the game-tying, man-up goal with 16 seconds on the board to send the game into overtime.
OVERTIME– 13-12 PSU
- Penn State forced a turnover in the opening minute of the overtime period, allowing PSU to head on offense.
- Long found the game winner off a pass from Aquino to seal the overtime victory.
POSTGAME NOTES
- Penn State improves to 3-0 on the road and 25-23 in the all-time series with Cornell, winning the most recent three matchups with the Big Red.
- Long’s overtime game winner was his third goal of the season.
- Matthew’s hat-trick is a career high in goals and his four points marks a career best as well.
- Aquino posted his third, multi-assist and point outing with five. He has scored in every game of the season.
- Walstrum notched his second multi-point outing of the season with his four points and second game with multiple assists.
- Ross’s goal was his first of his career.
- There were nine different goal scorers in the contest.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions return to Happy Valley to host Robert Morris on Wednesday, March 12 for their first mid-week game of the season. First face-off is set for 4 p.m. at Panzer Stadium.