Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/3/24
From Press Releases
Despite strong performances by TJ Malone (Haverford School) and Kyle Lehman (Wissahickon), The No. 4 Penn State men’s lacrosse team fell to Colgate, 13-12, in the team’s season opener on Saturday afternoon. With four seconds remaining in regulation, Liam Connor scored the game-winner for Colgate.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Penn State scored in the first quarter off a goal by Mac Costin (Haverford School) to put Penn State ahead 1-0 with 13:22 remaining in the quarter. Colgate fired back with a pair of goals by Jack Turner and Hunter Drouin with 9:46 and 8:24 remaining in the quarter to take a 2-0 lead.
Penn State retook the lead as Lehman (3G, 1A) and Ethan Long each scored off assists by Malone (1G, 7A) to put the Nittany Lions ahead 3-2. Colgate responded in the second quarter off goals by Jack Turner and Jacob Sposita to take a 4-3 lead with 8:22 left in the first half.
After Costin tied the game up for the Nittany Lions with 7:13 remaining, Colgate closed the half with a pair of goals to hold a 6-4 lead at halftime. Lehman opened the second half with a goal by Lehman with 14:26 left in the third quarter before Colgate answered with goals by Michael Kiely and Hunter Drouin to give the Raiders an 8-5 advantage.
Malone scored his first goal with 11:31 remaining in the third quarter before Colgate fired two more goals to hold a 10-6 lead with 7:52 remaining in the quarter. The Nittany Lions would two more in the quarter off goals by Luke Mercer and Lehman to tighten the Colgate lead to 10-8 with 6:14 left in the quarter. Colgate closed the third with a man-up goal by Rory Connor to send the game into the fourth with the Raiders ahead 11-8.
Penn State rocketed three unanswered goals to open the fourth quarter including two off the sticks of Matt Traynor (Malvern Prep) to tie the game up at 11-11 with 6:21 remaining in the fourth quarter. Colgate regained the lead with 5:24 remaining off a goal by Michael Minicus to make the score 12-11. Long tied the game back at 12-12 with 2:33 remaining off an unassisted goal.
Will Costin (Haverford School) had three groundballs to lead the Lions’ defense.
Rutgers 14, Lehigh 12
Lehigh opened up the 2024 season with a loss at No.14 Rutgers as Shane Knobloch (Moorestown) had three goals and an assist for the Scarlet Knights.
Both teams went on their own runs, but the difference would be the third quarter when the Scarlet Knights outscored the Mountain Hawks 5-3, and Lehigh wasn’t able to make up the difference in the fourth quarter.
Andrew Kelly (La Salle) netted a career-high four goals to lead the way for the Mountain Hawks. Kelly scored three of those four goals in the first half, one of which he netted with six seconds left in the the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7 heading into halftime.
Scott Cole and Quinn Armstrong finished with two goals apiece. Dakota Eierman, Tyler Lahey, EJ Vasile and Grant Rodny each finished with one goal. Eierman also had Lehigh’s two assists.
Lehigh came out of the gates ready to start, scoring the first two goals. Rutgers scored two goals in a little over a minute to tie the game, but the Mountain Hawks ended the quarter on a 3-0 run.
The Scarlet Knights won the faceoff battle, holding an 18-12 advantage. Matt Brock (Perkiomen Valley) was 2-of-4 from the stripe, and Sean Dow was 10-of-26.
Rutgers had 14 turnovers compared to Lehigh’s 11. Raul Ochotorena (Southern Lehigh) had a team-high of two caused turnovers, which was also a career-high for the junior defenseman.
