FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Penn State men’s lacrosse battled for 60 minutes in the NCAA Final Four against one-seeded Cornell. A back-and-forth contest concluded with an 11-9 win in favor of the Big Red. Penn State concludes its season with a 12-5 overall record while Cornell plays in the National Championship on Monday, May 26 against the winner of the Maryland vs. Syracuse game.
Liam Matthews paced the offense with four goals including two in behind the back fashion. He also added one ground ball, and one caused turnover. Matt Traynor was the only other multi-goal scorer with two on the afternoon, continuing his streak to 10 games scoring at least one goal. Kyle Lehman, Ethan Long and Will Peden each produced one goal apiece to total nine as a squad.
The netminder Jack Fracyon made eight saves between the pipes, while getting involved outside the goal mouth by corralling five ground balls and causing two turnovers. Jon King led the Nittany Lions in ground balls, recording six to go with one caused turnover. Alex Ross was tasked with guarding CJ Kirst, a consensus first team All-American. Ross held the Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year to no goals for the first time all season.
FIRST QUARTER – 1-0 Cornell
- A game that most media outlets tabbed as an offensive-minded one, saw a defensive stalemate for the first 12:41 of the first quarter. A Big Red tripping penalty gave Penn State a man advantage for a full minute, but the Nittany Lions could not find the back of the net, and the scoreless streak continued for both squads.
- Cornell attackman Willem Firth was the first to get either team on the boards getting a look in front of cage with :09 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
- Penn State managed to get one last look on frame before the first quarter expired with a quick faceoff win from Reid Gills, but Big Red netminder Wyatt Knust gobbled up his sixth save of the afternoon on a bounce shot from Matt Traynor.
SECOND QUARTER – 5-4 Penn State
- Matthews broke the PSU drought after nearly 16 scoreless minutes with a highlight-worthy behind-the-back score on a feed from Jack Aimone.
- Peden grabbed the second Nittany Lion score of the day on a dunk just feet from the crease to move Penn State ahead for the first time Saturday afternoon.
- Cornell tied the score back up just seven seconds later when faceoff man Jack Cascadden barreled towards net after winning the pull.
- Matthews put away his second of the afternoon to give Penn State the advantage again when he went over top of his short-stick man-mark on a pass from Luke Walstrum.
- Lehman boosted the Blue and White’s lead to two when a dodge from X earned him a bear trap on his pole defender, getting him the space he needed to get on the board.
- The Big Red cut the deficit back to one at 2:54 and tied the game up at four just 26 seconds later.
- Traynor took flight for a second-straight game, this time dunking over Knust with 42 seconds left in the half to retake the lead, 5-4, before half.
THIRD QUARTER – 10-6 Cornell
- The No. 1 overall seed leveled the game at five less than one minute into the second half.
- Penn State killed off a one-minute slash charged to Kyle Aldridge, and two possessions later retook the lead as Matthews finished his hat trick on an apple from
- Cornell tied the game with 8:48 to go in the third and took its first lead at 7-6 for the first time since the closing seconds of the first quarter.
- The Big Red needed just 13 seconds of game clock to take a two-goal lead coming out of the media timeout.
- Cornell stretched its scoring run to four to lead 9-6 with 4:05 left in the third and tagged on one more before the end of the quarter to break double digits.
FOURTH QUARTER – 11-9 Cornell
- Long found his first goal of the afternoon on a shot from distance after an effective pick by Lehman.
- Matthews buried his second behind-the-back goal of the afternoon with 11:16 remaining, cutting the deficit to two.
- Traynor grabbed his second of the day on a feed in transition from Costin, bringing up a 10-9 scoreline with 8:24 left.
- The Cornell defense stepped up in the final eight minutes of action, holding Penn State scoreless to the final whistle, while the Big Red attack added one more goal.
POST GAME NOTES
- Costin tallied his second career assist and third career-point.
- Traynor continues his streak to 18 of producing at least one point and 10 posting a goal.
- Matthews tallied four hat tricks in 2025. Half of them were posted in NCAA tournament games.
- Penn State finishes the season 12-5, the Nittany Lions third 12-win season in program history, all coming under head coach Jeff Tambroni.
- PSU made the Final Four for the third time in program history and second in the last three seasons.