UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Fifth-seeded Penn State men's lacrosse heads to Annapolis, Md. to take on unseeded Notre Dame on Sunday, May 18 in the NCAA Quarterfinals. The Nittany Lions and the Fighting Irish will square off at Navy Marine Corpse Memorial Stadium on Sunday at noon with the contest be nationally televised on ESPNU. The winner of the game will take on the winner of the Cornell and Richmond game at the NCAA Final Four at Gillette Stadium next weekend.
The Nittany Lions make their third NCAA Tournament Quartefinal appearance, their last coming in 2023. PSU is 5-7 in postseason tournament games including the most recent win against Colgate on Saturday, May 10 in the NCAA First Round game at Panzer Stadium. The last time the Nittany Lions played in the NCAA Quartefinals, they took on Army also at the Annapolis site. PSU defeated the Black Knights 10-9 and advanced to the Final Four in Philadelphia, Pa. at Lincoln Financial Field in 2023.
Follow the Action
Dates: Sunday, May 18
Place: Navy Marine Corpse Memorial Stadium | Annapolis, Md.
Time: noon ET
Watch: ESPNU
Live Statistics: Sunday
Game Notes: Penn State (PDF)
HISTORY
- The two teams have not met since 2014, Penn State won the game by an 8-7 final score in south bend.
- PSU and ND have not met in the postseason before.
- Notre Dame leads the all-time series 15-6.
- There have been two overtime games throughout the meeting history.
SCOUTING NOTRE DAME
- The Fighting Irish are 9-4 heading into the postseason. They earned an upset victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against fourth-seeded Ohio State on the road.
- ND is unseeded in the tournament.
- Notre Dame is back-to-back NCAA Champions, winning the title in 2023 and 2024.
- Chris Kavanagh has earned a slew of awards this season including ACC Offensive Player of the Year, Tewaaraton Top 5 finalist and was drafted 10th overall in the 2025 PLL Draft to the California Redwoods. Kavanagh is ninth in the nation in points per game (4.69) and 21st in goals per game (2.77).
- Jake Taylor earned All-ACC honors and was drafted ninth overall in the draft to the Philly Waterdogs. He has the fourth-best shot percentage in the country (.500).
- Will Lynch has the 15th-best faceoff winning percentage in the nation (.594) and is 18th in ground balls per game (6.08).
- As a team, ND has the fourth-best scoring margin in the country, averaging 13.77 goals per game while holding opponents to 6.77 goals per game. The Fighting Irish also have the fourth-highest shot percentage in the country (.325).
LAST TIME VS. NOTRE DAME
- In the 2014 contest, Shane Sturgis led the PSU offense with five goals, TJ Sanders scored two.
- Austin Kaut made 13 saves between the pipes.
- In the game, Penn State outshot ND 34-29 and won the ground ball battle 26-25.
- The contest took place on Feb. 22, 2014.
LAST TIME OUT
- Penn State came out of a hard fought battle with Colgate on top, earning a 13-11 win and a third trip to the NCAA Quarterfinals in program history.
- The Nittany Lions battled back from an early deficit to stay within striking distance of the Raiders. There were six tie scores throughout the game until Penn State engaged in a 3-0 scoring run over the last five minutes to seal the victory.
- Liam Matthews paced the offense with a career best four goals including two in the 3-0 stretch in the fourth quarter.
- Matt Traynor notched his fifth hat trick of the season to go along with a career high eight ground balls.
- Ethan Long led the squad in points with one goal and three assists.
- Reid Gills produced another dominant performance, going 21-28 at the faceoff x. He has combined for 39 faceoff wins over the last two games.
- Kevin Parnham led the defense with four caused turnovers and six ground balls. PSU set a new program record for most caused turnovers in an NCAA game with 18 in the contest.
LIONS IN THE RANKS
- Matt Traynor sits at the top of the B1G in points per game (4.00) and is second in goals per game (2.77).
- Kevin Parnham ranks eighth across the nation in caused turnovers per game (1.93) which is second in the Big Ten.
- Hunter Aquino is second in the Big Ten in assists per game (1.43) and Traynor and Ethan Long are fifth (1.23).
- As a team, PSU leads the conference in several categories including points per game (20.33), scoring offense (12.40), scoring margin (3.33), man-up offense (.404), assists per game (7.93) and caused turnovers per game (10.67).
- Nationally, Penn State is fifth in caused turnovers per game, eighth in scoring defense (9.07) and eighth in 10th in faceoff winning percentage (.601).
POSTSEASON AWARDS
- Matt Traynor was named the Big Ten Offensive Player, marking PSU’s third consecutive year claiming this award. He was also named to first team All-Big Ten.
- Hunter Aquino is the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, marking PSU’s first time having a player win this honor. He also landed on the All-Freshman team.
- Alex Ross earned second team All-Big Ten and Liam Matthews joined Aquino on the All-Freshman team.
- Richie Hughson took home Penn State’s Sportsmanship Award.
- Traynor was named a second team USA Lacrosse All-American while Ross landed on third team. Aquino and Kevin Parnham were tabbed honorable mentions.
- The same crew of four earned Inside Lacrosse All-American status with Aquino on second team and Traynor, Parnham and Ross named honorable mentions.
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