Fifth-Seeded Men's Lacrosse Welcomes Colgate for NCAA First Round Contest

HISTORY

• The two teams have faced 25 times in program history with PSU leading the series by a 15-10 margin.
• Penn State is 7-5 in the series in games played at home.

SCOUTING COLGATE

• The Raiders are 10-7 heading into the NCAA Tournament.
• Colgate began the season ranked 15th but endured some tough losses early on that caused them to drop from the rankings.
• Colagate was in a must-win situation heading into the Patriot League Tournament.
• The Raiders earned an upset win over top-seeded Army on its home turf to compete for the conference tournament championship. Colgate beat Boston 17-10 to win the tournament title.
• Colgate owns ranked wins over Harvard, Villanova, and Army.
• Rory Connor and Hunter Drouin were named to the first team All-Patriot League Team while Liam Connor and Max Yates landed on second team.
• Rory Connor, Liam Connor, Hunter Drouin, Max Yates and Sam Erickson were named Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-Americans.
• Colgate has the third-best scoring offense in the country, averaging 14.24 goals per game.
• Defensively, the Raiders are second in the nation in ground balls per game (36.24) and fourth in caused turnovers per game (11.24).
• Liam Connor is fifth nationally in points per game (5.06) and sixth in assists per game (2.82).

LAST TIME VS. COLGATE

• The most recent meeting took place at the beginning of the 2025 campaign as Penn State’s season opener.
• The Nittany Lions earned the win on Feb. 1 with a 14-9 final score. Matt Traynor had a five goal, seven-point performance. Jack Fracyon made 14 saves as the netminder.
• The game was also played in Happy Valley.

LAST TIME OUT

• Penn State fell to Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament Semifinals on Thursday, March 1.
• The Terps got out to an early advantage, leading by as many as four goals at halftime. Penn State battled back in the third quarter to tie the score heading into the final stanza. A scoring run for Maryland in the final 15 minutes was too much for the Nittany Lions to overcome.
• Freshman faceoff specialist Reid Gills put on a record-breaking performance. He won 18-22 attempts, a new Big Ten Tournament program record. Gills also collected eight ground balls, a new program conference tournament record as well. He was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team
• Liam Matthews was the lone Nittany Lion to score multiple goals, with two.
• Matt Traynor, Ethan Long, Jack Aimone, Kyle Lehman, Patrick Carragher and Luke Walstrum were responsible for the other goals.
• Between the pipes, Fracyon posted five saves.
• Penn State won the ground ball battle for the ninth time this season, 29-19.

LIONS IN THE RANKS

• Matt Traynor sits at the top of the B1G in points per game (4.27) and is second in goals per game (2.91).
• Kevin Parnham ranks 16th across the nation in caused turnovers per game (1.77) which is third in the Big Ten.
• Colby Baldwin has the 18th-best face-off winning percentage (.580) in the country, leading his team to the 13th-best faceoff win percentage. He is 20th in ground balls per game (5.77).
• Hunter Aquino is second in the Big Ten in assists per game (1.42) and Traynor is third (1.36).
• As a team, PSU leads the conference in several categories including points per game (20.77), man-up offense (.429), assists per game (8.08) and caused turnovers per game (10.46).

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.