Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/21/23
From Press Releases
The fifth-ranked Penn State men’s lacrosse team captured a share of the Big Ten Regular Season Title and won the Friendship Cup after a 14-5 dominating victory over 11th-ranked Rutgers on Friday night.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Nittany Lions started out the game with five unanswered goals off the sticks Kevin Winkoff, Mac Costin (Haverford School), Mark Sickler (Hershey), Jack Traynor (Malvern Prep) and Jake Morin (Garnet Valley) to put Penn State ahead 5-0 with 5:46 remaining in the first quarter.
Eric Civetti scored the first goal for the Scarlett Knights with :28 seconds remaining to close the first quarter.
Rutgers opened the second quarter with two goals to cut the Penn State lead to 5-3 with 12:08 remaining in the half.
Penn State fired back with two goals in the quarter including a man-up goal by Ethan Long with 5:38 remaining to put Penn State ahead 7-3 after the first half.
TJ Malone (Haverford School) started the second half with a goal just thirty seconds into the third quarter to put Penn State ahead 8-3.
Rutgers and Penn State each exchanged goals for the remainder of the quarter to close the third with Penn State ahead 9-4.
Penn State opened the fourth quarter with two straight goals off the sticks of Winkoff and freshman Mac Hobbs to give the Nittany Lions an 11-4 lead with 11:51 remaining in the quarter.
After a Rutgers goal with 7:33 remaining, Penn State brought the final attack with three goals off the sticks of Winkoff, Luke Mercer and Jeb Brenfleck (Academy of the New Church) to secure the 14-5 victory.
UP NEXT
With today’s victory Penn State will have a bye in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament and will advance to semifinals which will be played on Thursday, May 4 in Baltimore, Md. Game-time is still to be determined.
Lafayette 14, Bucknell 13, OT
The Leopards clinched a berth in the Patriot League Tournament with a thrilling win over Bucknell.
Junior Charlie Cunniffe (Episcopal Academy) surpassed 100 career points in the win, leading Lafayette with four goals and four assists. Classmate Kalman Kraham scored two goals and dished out two assists and netted the game winner in overtime.
The Bison were led by Cam Doolan with four goals while Jack Feda and Jack Dudas each chipped in three goals.
Carter Cecil and Doolan led first quarter scoring efforts with two goals apiece, but the Leopards headed into the second quarter up 4-3.
Lafayette had a 4-0 run for the duration of the second quarter, with Cunniffe leading the charge with three goals as the Leopards held an 8-3 lead at intermission.
Feda struck twice for the Bison in the third quarter, trimming the Lafayette lead to 10-6.
The Leopards held a 13-9 lead with 5:37 remaining the contest, before Bucknell responded with three goals in a row to send the teams to overtime tied at 13-13. Dudas led the Bison comeback with two scores in the run.
Lafayette’s James Turco won the opening faceoff in overtime, giving the Leopards possession. Sophomore Liam Sargent had the first shot of extra time, missing wide as Lafayette maintained possession. With the shot clock winding down, Sargent fed the ball in front of the net to Kraham who had his back to the goal and scored the game-winning goal over his shoulder.
Turco went 20-for-31 from the faceoff x, picking up 10 ground balls. Rookie goalkeeper Joe Doherty made an impressive 13 saves.
The Leopards’ last postseason berth occurred during the 2010 season when they dropped an 11-9 decision to Navy in a Patriot League semifinal on Apr. 30.
Lafayette closes out the regular season on Tuesday when its hosts No. 3 Virginia at 7:30 p.m. The contest will be the Leopards’ community and youth night.