Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/13/17
From Press Release
The No. 8 Penn State men’s lacrosse team (12-4) exited the NCAA tournament earlier than anticipated on Saturday afternoon, falling to CAA champions Towson (11-4), 12-8, at the Penn State Lacrosse Field.
The Nittany Lions’ season ends at 12-4, tying the program record for most wins in a single season. Penn State’s game against Towson marked the program’s fourth-ever NCAA tournament appearance.
Freshman Mac O’Keefe and sophomore Grant Ament (Haverford School) led Penn State’s goal-scoring efforts, each logging three goals on the day. O’Keefe’s hat trick gave him 51 goals on the season, marking a new program record. Bill Hess held the previous mark, setting the record 60 years prior.
Ament added an assist for four points. With his four points, Ament logged 59 points on the season, tied for the seventh-most in a single Penn State season.
In his final game in the Blue and White, senior attackman Nick Aponte logged a pair of goals. The West Islip, New York native concludes his career with 140 points (70g, 70a), good for the 11th most in program history.
Sophomores Kevin Hill, Chris Sabia (Haverford School), and Kevin Fox, along with freshman Nick McEvoy all added assists. Tripp Tranor (Malvern Prep) had five groundballs.
Freshman goalkeeper Colby Kneese finished his rookie campaign on a 16-save outing, just two short of his career-best. Fellow classmate Gerard Arceri manned the faceoff ‘x’ for the majority of the game, going 10-21, as the team combined for an 11-24 mark at the dot.
With its win, Towson will advance to the quarterfinal round, facing the winner of Syracuse and Yale in Newark, Delaware on Sunday.
The Turning Point
Trailing by two heading into the fourth quarter, Ament strung together a pair of goals early to tie the game at 7-7. With 9:10 on the clock, Towson’s Tyler Konen skipped the ball to Mike Lynch, who scored the go-ahead man-up goal. The Tigers would go on a 4-0 run over the next seven minutes to effectively put the game out of reach.
Difference Makers
Penn State
Mac O’Keefe – O’Keefe logged another three-goal performance, breaking the single-season record for goals in a season with 51.
Grant Ament – The sophomore standout logged three goals and a hat trick while adding an assist. He gave Penn State a swing in momentum with a pair of goals over the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to give the Nittany Lions a shot to equalize.
Towson
Joe Seider – Seider proved problematic for the Nittany Lions’ defense, racking up a game-high six points on four goals and two assists.
Alex Woodall – Woodall went 7-13 on faceoffs and scored a goal before sustaining an injury that sidelined him for the remainder of the game.