March 5, 2016
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PHILADELPHIA -- No. 20 Penn State men's lacrosse's (3-2) fourth quarter rally fell short as the Nittany Lions dropped an 11-7 decision to Penn (2-1) Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field.
Trailing by as many as seven, 9-2, heading into the final period of play, the Nittany Lions rebounded with five goals in the fourth quarter but could not complete the comeback as the Quakers held off Penn State.
"I thought every time we tried to fix sometime Penn came right back," head coach Jeff Tambroni said. "Momentum and possession time seemed to have not favored us all that well, but that's on us, not a particular unit."
Senior TJ Sanders led the team with three goals, while junior Nick Aponte tallied two goals and one assist for a three-point outing. Redshirt junior Matt Florence and freshman Grant Ament logged one goal apiece.
Junior Billy Lombardi matched a career-high mark, finishing 14-for-19 from the faceoff X, while also leading the team with a career-best seven ground balls.
"It was good to see us win more face offs, that was good. It's a sign of moving in a positive direction," Tambroni said.
Sophomore Mike Aronow also matched a career-high mark finishing second on the team with four ground balls. Seniors Tommy O'Neill and James Chakey added three ground balls, as Penn State won the ground ball battle, 35-28, against the Quakers.
Sophomore Will Schreiner tallied a career-high mark with nine saves, playing all 60 minutes in net for the Nittany Lions.
Penn opened the game scoring 25 seconds in for an early lead, before adding two more goals to send the Nittany Lions into the second quarter trailing 2-0.
The Quakers scored once more in the second frame before Aponte halted the streak with a goal to put Penn State on the board, 4-1 with 6:10 remaining in the quarter. Penn answered back with a 3-0 stretch, scoring the first goal of the strike on the man advantage to stretch the Quaker lead to as many as six, 7-1 at halftime.
Nearly two minutes into the third quarter, Florence scored to cut the deficit to five, 7-2. Penn responded with back-to-back goals to send the Nittany Lions into the fourth quarter trailing 9-2.
Sanders sparked the Nittany Lions' fourth-quarter with his first goal of the game to shave the deficit to six, 9-3. The Quakers looked to halt the momentum with a goal, but Sanders answered with back-to-back goals, going to the top right corner for his third goal of the afternoon off a pass from Aponte to cut the deficit to five, 10-5, with 7:39 remaining in the game.
With 5:55 remaining, Penn called timeout and regrouped with a goal with less than two minutes left in the game to go back up by six, 11-5. Ament and Aponte looked to mount a comeback with a pair of goals to make it 11-7, but Penn held off the attempt as the Quakers came away with the win as time expired.
NOTES: Penn State moves to 23-14-1 in the all-time series against Penn, having played the Quakers on the road for the first time since 1975 ... With three points, Aponte has now registered at least one point in 23 consecutive games dating back to April 5, 2014 ... Sanders' three goals marks his third game of the season with a hat trick and the 20th of his career.