Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/14/23
From Press Release
The fifth-seeded Penn State men’s lacrosse team squeaked past Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 13-12 victory on Sunday night. With the win, the Nittany Lions will make their second NCAA quarterfinal appearance.
Penn State will now head to Annapolis, Md. for a quarterfinal matchup against Army West Point on Sunday, May 21 at noon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Princeton opened the scoring with a goal by Sean Cameron with 12:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The Tigers added another goal with 10:02 left in the quarter to take a 2-0 lead.
Penn State scored their first goal of the game with 7:04 remaining in the first quarter to tighten the Princeton lead to 2-1.
The Tigers then scored five unanswered goals to take a 7-1 lead with 9:20 remaining in the first half.
The Nittany Lions responded with three straight goals from Ethan Long, Mark Sickler, and TJ Malone (Haverford School) to cut the Princeton lead to 7-4.
Princeton didn’t go away as Alex Vardaro found the back of the net with 4:12 remaining in the half to take a four-goal lead.
Ethan Long fired back with his third goal of the game with 3:42 remaining in the half to tighten the Princeton lead to 8-5.
Jack Traynor (Malvern Prep) followed with his first goal of the game coming with 1:40 remaining in the half to cut the Tiger lead to 8-6.
Princeton scored one more goal in the closing minute of the half to take a 9-6 lead.
Penn State opened the second half with a goal by Kevin Winkoff with 7:23 remaining in the third quarter to narrow the Princeton lead to 9-7.
Ethan Long soon followed with his fourth goal of the game with 6:49 remaining in the quarter to cut the Tigers lead to 9-8.
Penn State fired its third goal of the second half off the stick of Matt Traynor (Malvern Prep) with 5:16 left in the third quarter to tie the game up at 9-9.
Ethan Long tacked on his fifth goal of the game coming with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter to give Penn State its first lead of the game with the score being 10-9.
Malone scored his 100th career goal with 1:52 remaining in the quarter to cap all the scoring in the quarter and to give Penn State an 11-9 lead.
Jeb Brenfleck (Academy of the New Church) added onto the 10-2 scoring run for Penn State with 12:38 remaining in the fourth quarter to put the Nittany Lions ahead 12-9.
Princeton broke the scoring drought with 7:24 remaining in the quarter off a goal by Coulter Mackesy to cut the Penn State lead to 12-10.
The Tigers cut the Penn State lead to one with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter off a goal by Jake Stevens.
Princeton then tied the game up at 12-12 with 6:08 remaining in regulation off a goal by Vardaro.
Winkoff fired back for Penn State to give the Nittany Lions a 13-12 lead with 4:16 left in the fourth quarter.
GOALTENDING
Goalie Jack Fracyon stopped 16 shots on just 12 goals allowed to improve his record to 10-4 on the year.
STATS AND NOTES
With the win, Penn State advances to its second NCAA quarterfinal game in program history.
Ethan Long scored a single-game high five goals.
Penn State captures its first victory over Princeton in program history to set the series at 3-1.
Malone led the Nittany Lions with two goals and four assists for six goals. His second goal was his 100th career goal.
Penn State ends its final home game with a 7-0 record at Panzer Stadium which ties a program record from 2019 when they also went 7-0 at home.
Jack Fracyon’s 16 saves ties a program record for most saves by an individual goalie in an NCAA tournament game in Penn State history.
Penn State is now 3-5 overall in the NCAA tournament.
