Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/18/26
From Press Release
No. 16 Penn State men’s lacrosse won the Friendship Cup for the fifth straight season, downing No. 19 Rutgers, 16-8, Friday in a critical regular season finale.
The win, which boosted Penn State to a 7-5 (3-2 B1G) record, solidified the Nittany Lions as the two-seed in the 2026 Big Ten Tournament, earning the Blue & White a first-round bye and fast-tracking the tournament semifinals at SHI Stadium on Thursday, April 30. Rutgers fell to 8-6 (1-4 B1G) with the loss.
Penn State’s attack outscored Rutgers by a combined 10-2 margin in the second and fourth quarters alone, led primarily by sophomore Hunter Aquino (Academy of the New Church), who put up four goals and an assist for five points. Redshirt freshman Andrew Beard had a career day with five points, scoring two goals on three shots a feeding three helpers.
Following closely was junior Kyle Lehman (Wissahickon) and redshirt sophomore Liam Matthews, who each secured a hat trick. Freshman Jack Iannnatuono was back on the scoresheet after being blanked against Michigan. The first year scored a goal and dished two assists for three points. Redshirt sophomore Patrick Carragher and true sophomore Chase Robertson rounded out the multi-point Penn Staters, dropping a score and an apple apiece.
The Nittany Lions defense was anchored by freshman goalkeeper Preston Hawkins, who made 10 saves in 56 minutes of action for a 62.5 save percentage. His defense forced 16 Rutgers turnovers, including six by direct cause.
Senior Alex Ross, who was drafted eighth overall earlier this week by the New York Atlas, accounted for two of the causes and scooped a pair of groundballs. Reid Gills led the faceoff unit, winning 10 of his 16 pulls from the dot, scooping seven groundballs, and scoring a goal, the first of his career. Also for Penn State, Brendan Leary (Haverford School) had three groundballs, an assist and a caused turnover.
FIRST QUARTER – 3-3
Rutgers opened the scoring with a goal 2:01 into the contest, but a pair of Penn State answers had the Nittany Lions on top midway through the first quarter.
RU regained the lead with a two-goal run, but Andrew Beard’s solo goal in the closing minute of action knotted the game at three after the first 15.
SECOND QUARTER – 9-3, Penn State
The second quarter started quiet for both sides with neither squad scoring for nearly eight minutes.
Kyle Lehman broke the drought with a score at 6:17, and the Nittany Lion offense poured it on, scoring five more times before the quarter expired.
THIRD QUARTER – 12-6, Penn State
The third quarter started with a quick tally from Lehman, who scoring 47 seconds into the back half of the contest.
Rutgers finally scored after nearly 19 minutes held off the board and tagged on another to cut the Penn State lead to five with 4:26 left in the frame.
PSU outscored the Scarlet Knights 2-1 to close the quarter.
FOURTH QUARTER – 16-8, Penn State
Penn State poured on four more goals in the final quarter before RU tallied on a pair of scores in the closing two minutes to get up to eight goals on the day.
