UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 2 Penn State men's lacrosse is set to leave Pennsylvania for the first time this season as it travels to play No. 7 Cornell in Cornelius, North Carolina on Sunday at 4 p.m. The game, which will be played at the William Amos Hough High School Athletic Complex, is a part of the Crown Lacrosse Classic.
Penn State-Cornell is the third game of the event. Limestone and Lenoir-Rhyne will play a Division II men's game at 11 a.m., while a Division I women's game between Syracuse and Virginia Tech follows at 1:30 p.m.
The game between the Lions and the Big Red will be streamed by the Lax Sports Network.
Penn State continues its trip south with a game at Furman just two days later on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 8 | 4 p.m.
No. 2 Penn State vs. No. 7 Cornell
Watch Live | Live Stats | Game Notes
Tuesday, March 10 | 7 p.m.
No. 2 Penn State at Furman
Watch Live | Live Stats
THE MATCHUP – CORNELL
• Penn State is 22-21 in the all-time series with Cornell. The series began in 1923 with a 3-1 win by the Big Red.
• Sunday marks the fifth-consecutive year Penn State and Cornell play each other. The Lions won three of the past four meetings, including a 19-13 win in last year's Crown Lacrosse Classic.
• Mac O'Keefe scored six goals and added one assist in last year's victory. Grant Ament tied a program record with nine assists. Dylan Foulds added four goals.
SCOUTING CORNELL
• Cornell is unbeaten at 4-0 and ranked seventh in the USILA Coaches Poll.
• The Big Red are winning by an average of 6.8 goals, beating Albany (19-10), Towson (17-10), High Point (21-11) and Ohio State (17-16).
• Jeff Teat ranks third in Cornell history in career points with 262.
• Cornell ranks first in the nation in shot percentage (.394) and second in scoring offense (18.5).
THE MATCHUP – FURMAN
• Penn State is 2-0 in the all-time series with Furman. The Lions won 16-7 on the road in 2016 and 12-10 at home in 2017.
• Kevin Hill scored two goals in Penn State's win in 2017.
SCOUTING FURMAN
• Furman is 1-5 following an 18-11 loss to No. 3 North Carolina on Friday.
• The Paladins trailed by just one, 4-3, at halftime in the loss to North Carolina and by three, 9-6, after three quarters.
• Furman's win this season came by a 19-4 score over Hampton.
• Alec Van De Bovenkamp ranks ninth in the nation in saves per game, averaging 13.6.
WEEK 5 RECAP
• Mac O'Keefe scored four goals, including the game-winner 1:12 in to overtime in an 18-17 win at then-No. 6 Penn.
• Jack Kelly picked up a ground ball while being pulled to the ground from behind and went on to make a pass to O'Keefe to set up the game-winning shot.
• With his third goal of the game, O'Keefe broke the Big Ten record of 184 career goals held by Johns Hopkins' Terry Riordan (1992-95).
• Nick Cardile was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his play against the Quakers, He scored his second goal of the season, picked up one ground ball and caused one turnover. His ground ball tied the game at 11-all early in the fourth quarter.
• Colby Kneese recorded the win in goal, making 18 saves on 35 shots on goal. He has stopped 59.7 percent of the shots he has faced over the past three games.
NCAA LEADERS
• Grant Ament ranks second in the nation in assists/game (4.60), third in assists (23), third in points (34) and third in points/game (6.80).
• Mac O'Keefe ranks third in the nation in goals (22), third in goals/game (4.4), ninth in points/game (5.60) and points (28).
• Gerard Arceri ranks fourth in the nation in ground balls (54) and sixth in ground balls/game (10.80).
• Jack Traynor ranks fourth in the nation in shot percentage (.600).
• As a team, Penn State ranks fourth in the nation in man-up offense (.700), fifth in assists (40), sixth in assists/game (10.0), sixth in shot percentage (.364), seventh in points (104), eighth in goals (64), ninth in points/game (26.0), ninth in scoring margin (+7.25) and ninth in goals/game (16.0).
WEEKLY AWARDS
• Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week (2) – Grant Ament 2 (2/4, 2/11)
• Big Ten Specialist of the Week (2) – Gerard Arceri (2/4), Colby Kneese (2/25)
• Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week (1) – NickCardile (3/3)
UP NEXT
Penn State returns to Panzer Stadium to host No. 19 Lehigh on Saturday, March 21. The teams will meet for the first time since 2013. The Mountain Hawks are 4-1 after posting three-straight wins over VMI, NJIT and Navy.
