March 25, 2018
By Erin Neri, GoPSUsports.com student staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State men's lacrosse closed out its nonconference slate in dominating fashion, defeating Cleveland State 16-5 Saturday afternoon.
Although the Nittany Lions looked slow to start the first half, they quickly bounced back, scoring 10 unanswered goals throughout the second half.
"It was definitely a good ending [to nonconference play]," head coach Jeff Tambroni said. "I thought we came out in the second half and right off that first faceoff, [Gerard Arceri won] and two or three guys [got] involved in moving the ball up the field for that first goal. I thought that set the stage for our second half. We played hard and kept things simple at both ends of the field."
Perhaps one of the more consistent units for the Nittany Lions, Penn State's defense put on a stellar show against Cleveland State, allowing only one goal in the second half.
All season long though, Tambroni has placed a great deal of importance on getting the team to play as one cohesive unit. During Saturday's outing, Penn State's defense perfectly executed what the coaching staff has been waiting to see.
"I thought our defense did a better job of just playing together," Tambroni said. "Not just one guy had to do anything in particular, it was about just getting seven guys to do a better job of connecting with one another and I thought they did a really nice job in the second half."
Although the score was 6-4 in Penn State's favor at the end of the first half, associate head coach Peter Toner knew the Nittany Lion defense could be better. During halftime, he and the team went over key adjustments, which then resulted in a nearly flawless second half.
One of the standouts from the defensive unit was sophomore Nick Cardile. Not only did he defend well against a hardworking Vikings offense, but even netted a goal of his own in the fourth quarter. Along with fellow veterans in his defensive unit, Cardile is confident Penn State can continue the momentum headed to Big Ten play.
"Coming out of halftime, the defense really put their foot down," Cardile said. "We came together and said we can't let this happen and especially moving on forward, if our offense isn't playing as well we're going to have to put our foot down."
On the offensive side of the ball, redshirt sophomore Dylan Foulds continued to find success in the back of the net. Foulds scored four goals on eight shots to go along with a lone assist in front of a crowded Panzer Stadium.
While the coaching staff is still looking for a leader on the offense to step up and take their play to the next level, it is reassuring to see Foulds continuing to put up high numbers on the stat sheet, week after week.
"Seeing what he's doing in the time that he's doing it, he's just super-efficient right now," Tambroni said. "You can see his confidence grow, it's palpable. On the field in the last couple games and watching him in practice, he's just a completely different player over the past couple of weeks."
While Foulds is only spending about half the game on the field, he has continued to rank among the team's top scorers with a total of 13 goals. Conference play though, is the perfect time for gaining confidence shooting the ball.
"It's been fun to watch him play, this is what we had imagined Dylan Foulds to be like coming on his redshirt sophomore year," Tambroni said. "It's taken a little bit longer than we thought but it's nice to know he continues to keep developing into the player we know, and he knows, he's capable of becoming."
Although the Nittany Lions have a whole week of preparation ahead of them before heading to Ohio State, they feel they are in a good place after Saturday's win.
"We feel really good as a team, we have a lot of confidence in each other right now," senior captain Tanner Peck said. "It's important to be peaking as the season goes on and that's what we'll look to do as we enter Big Ten play and continue on. As important as it is to play well right now we want to be around campus in May."