No. 4 Men's Lacrosse Set for Top 10 Matchup Under the Lights on Sunday Night Against No. 9 Ohio State

HISTORY

• Penn State leads the all-time series by a 21-7 clip, winning the most recent two meetings in 2024 and 2023.
• There have been six overtime contests between the squads including one triple overtime outing. The last OT game was in 2016.
• This will be the first top 10 matchup between the two teams since 2017 when PSU was no. 2 and OSU was no. 5. The Nittany Lions downed the Buckeyes 9-4 in front of the second largest crowd in program history (3,172 fans).

SCOUTING OHIO STATE

• After dropping its season opener to Utah at home, Ohio State has been on a tear, taking down eight straight opponents including top ranked wins over no. 12 Virginia and no. 2 Notre Dame.
• Alex Marinier leads the Buckeyes in scoring and in points. He leads the B1G in goals per game (3.22) and ranks third in points per game (3.33).
• OSU’s defense is one of the best in the conference, leading the Big Ten in ground balls per game (34.56) and caused turnovers per game (11.33). Jack Oldman is the ground ball leader and Cullen Brown the caused turnover top-ranked B1G player.
• Caleb Fyock has the second-best save percentage in the conference and fourth in the nation (.623). He also gives up just 6.00 goals against average, the best in the B1G and second-best in the country.

LAST TIME VS. OSU

• Penn State defeated Ohio State 12-9 in its 2024 Big Ten opener last season in Columbus, Ohio. 
• After the Nittany Lions scored the first goal in the game over halfway through the first quarter, the Buckeyes found six-straight goals. Penn State battled from behind until taking the final lead in the fourth stanza. 
• Matt Traynor and Mac Costin notched hat-tricks and TJ Malone added two goals.

 

LAST TIME OUT

• Penn State toppled Robert Morris 22-8 on Wednesday, March 12. The Nittany Lions had 14 different goal scorers to combine for their largest goal and point totals of the season.
• After a tight 6-4 advantage after the first quarter, PSU held the Colonials scoreless in the second stanza to create a large advantage.
• Ethan Long led the Lions in scoring with four goals and one assist, matching his career high in points.
• Luke Walstrum also tied his career high in points using three goals and two assists.
• Liam Matthews tallied his second consecutive hat-trick.
• Jack Aimone posted a career high six points, coming from a personal best five assists while also adding one goal.
• Reid Gills was effective at the face-off x, winning 10-of-12.
• Six Nittany Lions found their first career goals in the contest.
• PSU won the ground ball battle 42-34 and dominated faceoffs by a 20-34 margin.

LIONS IN THE RANKS

• Alex Ross ranks 12th across the nation in caused turnovers per game (2.14) which is second in the Big Ten.
• Colby Baldwin has the 12th-best face-off winning percentage (.611) in the country, leading his team to the 10th-best faceoff win percentage. He is 15th in ground balls per game (6.57).
• Hunter Aquino leads the conference in points per game (3.71) and ranks second in assists per game (2.14). He has the third-best shot percentage in the B1G as well (.393).
• As a team, PSU leads the conference in several categories including points per game (23.86), scoring margin (5.86), scoring offense (14.57), man-up offense (.464) and assists per game (9.29).

B1G HONORS

• Jack Fracyon was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week following a strong performance against Villanova. He tallied 10 saves on 15 shot attempts. He also allowed just five goals, the third lowest number of goals allowed in his career.
• Hunter Aquino earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week after his first career hat-trick and two assists to total five points against no. 8 Princeton.
• Hunter Aquino notched his second Big Ten weekly honor, being tabbed the Big Ten Freshman of the Week this week (3/4) after a seven-point (two goals, five assists) performance against Yale.
• Colby Balwin was named the Big Ten Specialist of the Week this week (3/4) following a dominant 17-of-26 performance at the face-off x against Yale while adding a goal and an assist.