BALTIMORE, Md. – What ended up being a nearly 24-minute scoring drought doomed No. 6 Penn State men’s lacrosse’s shot at its first ever win at Homewood field, as the Nittany Lions fell, 11-10, to No. 16 Johns Hopkins on Saturday afternoon. The loss moves Penn State out of sole possession of the inside track to the conference title. In the closing minute of action, the Penn State defense forced a turnover to get the offense one last opportunity, but both shots the PSU attack got off missed the cage, leading to the loss.
Sophomore Chase Robertson led the Nittany Lion attack, scoring two goals and adding a pair of assists for four points. Redshirt senior Michael Faraone was the only other Nittany Lion with multiple scores, tallying two goals. Freshman Jack Iannantuono and redshirt sophomore Liam Matthews each had multi-point outings with a goal and an assist, while five other Nittany Lions accounted for one point.
In a game ridden with turnovers, only four were caused by Penn State. Senior Jon King was the groundball leader, scooping five. Sophomore Reid Gills and junior Colby Balwin combined for 14 wins on 24 faceoffs. Freshman goalkeeper Preston Hawkins, who at one point had six saves on two goals allowed, finished with just a .421 save percentage after facing a barrage of JHU shots down the stretch.
FIRST QUARTER – 4-3, Penn State
- Johns Hopkins took the opening faceoff, but a near-immediate turnover sent the Nittany Lions the other way. PSU was unable to get on the boards in its opening possession, and Hopkins took the 1-0 advantage at the 12:42 mark.
- The Blue Jays took the second faceoff to cage but again a quick Nittany Lion caused turnover sent Penn State on the attack. After drawing an extra-man opportunity, Matthews at X found a wide-open Lehman for the tally to get Penn State on the boards.
- Hopkins went on to regain the lead with 8:37 to go, but the Blue & White offense settled in, score three times in less than two minutes from the 5:44 mark to 3:51.
- JHU soured the run in the closing seconds of the quarter to end the first frame with a one-score Nittany Lion lead.
SECOND QUARTER – 7-4, Penn State
- Iannantuono opened the scoring in the second quarter with a dodge from goal line extended, taking the rock to cage all on his own and going five-hole on the Blue Jay netminder with his diving shot at the edge of the crease.
- Action quieted for nearly six minutes as turnovers plagued both squads. Mac Hobbs ended the drought with his third score of the season. He burned his man down the alley and punished the corner of the net to push PSU’s lead to three.
- Considine added to the Penn State edge, swimming past his man mark to the crease and throwing a few shot fakes in the face of the Hopkins goalkeeper before dunking his shot home.
- Hopkins finally broke its scoring drought with just under three minutes left in the quarter after Preston Hawkins held the Blue Jay offense at bay for 12-plus minutes.
THIRD QUARTER – 9-8, Penn State
- Just 30 second into the second half, Chase Robertson scored his second of the day, finding a seam from the left side while taking the ball from the restraining line right to cage.
- Robertson kept his point streak going, dishing a feed from the top of the zone to an open Luke Walstrum on the crease to secure a five-goal lead with 12:44 left in the period.
- Hopkins put up its first back-to-back tallies of the game centering around the fifth minute of the third to cut the Penn State lead back down to three.
- After almost seven scoreless minutes, Hopkins again put home a score to get their seventh of the afternoon.
- The Blue Jays kept their foot on the gas, tagging on another score in the final minute to continue the momentum swing.
FOURTH QUARTER – 11-10, Johns Hopkins
- Penn State won the opening faceoff of the quarter but came up empty handed on the first possession. The Blue Jays took advantage of their opening possession, scoring to knot the game at nine.
- JHU took its first lead since 2-1 with 12:49 to go in the final frame and tagged on one more less than two minutes later to push the lead to a deuce.
- The Blue Jays were content to sulk away the clock as PSU continued to come up empty on offense. After 23:10 of no scores from PSU, Michael Faraon finally found the net with just 3:34 to go.
- Hopkins continued to be able to waste precious seconds as PSU struggled to clear, but a turnover in the final minute gave the Nittany Lions one last gasp. Coach Tambroni got a timeout off with 28 seconds remaining to set up his offense. In the final stretch, PSU got two shots off, but neither made it on frame and the Blue Jays emerged victorious.
POST GAME NOTES
- Penn State is now 7-15 all-time against Johns Hopkins.
- PSU has still never won at Homewood Field.
UP NEXT
Penn State is back to is home confines next week to celebrate the program’s seniors and alumni while battling Michigan at Panzer Stadium on Saturday, April 11. The contest, set for 1 p.m. on the B1G+, will serve as the Nittany Lions final home contest of the 2026 regular season.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State men’s lacrosse. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion men’s lacrosse team on X and Instagram @PennStateMLAX, in addition to the team’s Facebook page at /PennStateMensLacrosse.