PISCATAWAY, N.J. (April 18, 2009) – The Rutgers men's lacrosse team was unable to climb out of an early deficit, falling to ECAC foe Penn State, 9-4, Saturday afternoon in front of 2,500 fans at Rutgers Stadium.

The Scarlet Knights (4-9, 2-3) were led by junior Justin Pennington (Flemington, N.J.) with two goals and classmate Billy Olin (Horseheads, N.Y.) who recorded a game-high 14 saves. Penn State (7-5, 3-3) was paced by Rob Forster's game-best four goals.

Penn State raced out to an early 3-0 lead in the first quarter, getting goals from three different players. Pennington would get RU on the board at the 4:13 mark of the opening stanza, scoring off a pass from hometown teammate Mike Diehl (Flemington, N.J.).

The Nittany Lion defense would hold RU scoreless in the second quarter and PSU scored five consecutive goals spanning three quarters to extend its advantage to 8-1. The Scarlet Knights would mount a late comeback, getting three straight goals from Pennington, Kory Kelly (Princeton, N.J.) and Gerhard Buehning (Essex Fells, N.J.). Rutgers would be held scoreless over the final nine minutes and get no closer than four scores the rest of the way.

Rutgers outshot Penn State 41-33 and held a plus-six advantage in turnovers.

The Scarlet Knights will play their final road game of the season on Saturday, April 25 at Georgetown. Face-off is set for 11:00 a.m.

* * * *

STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; April 18, 2009 – The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team hammered Rutgers 9-4 for its fourth straight win today. Senior Rob Forester (Jenkintown, Pa.) and sophomore Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) each totaled four points to lead the Nittany Lions to the ECAC road victory.

Penn State bolted out to a 3-0 lead to start the game and never trailed in the contest. A 7-1 halftime lead and superb goalkeeping from senior Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) allowed the Nittany Lions to roll to the victory and move to 7-5 on the year, 3-3 in the ECAC Lacrosse League.

Colton Vosburgh (Kennett Square, Pa.) got Penn State started, scoring the first of three straight goals to open the first period. Vosburgh's unassisted goal came just two minutes into the contest and was followed quickly by a Mike Toner (Geneva, N.Y.) score off a Hogan assist at the 10:17 mark. Forster gave PSU a 3-0 lead at the 4:23 mark with an unassisted goal before Rutgers answered with a Justin Pennington goal with 4:13 left in the opening period. Hogan would give Penn State a 4-1 lead after one period with an unassisted goal with 2:30 on the clock.

Forster scored his second goal to open up the second period's scoring, taking an assist from Matthew Mackrides (Newtown Square, Pa.) three minutes into the stanza. Hogan scored off a Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) with just 1:31 left in the half and goalie Adams continued to shut down the Scarlet Knights with sizzling goalie play, allowing Penn State to carry a 6-1 lead into the halftime break.

Forster's third goal of the game opened up second half scoring as the senior scored an unassisted goal just 1:30 into the third period. He followed that up with another goal off a Mackrides assist with 7:45 left to give the Lions an 8-1 lead. Rutgers' Pennington notched the only other goal of the third period and Penn State maintained a six goal lead (8-2) after three quarters of play.

The Scarlet Knights mounted a mini-rally to start the fourth period, scoring the final stanza's first two goals. Kory Kelly scored at the 10:23 mark and Gerhard Buehning notched a goal with 9:35 left to play to cut Penn State's lead to 8-4. But Adams continued to shine in the net and Hogan iced the game with his second goal at the 5:34 mark to give Penn State the 9-4 victory.

1 2    Next  »

2009-04-18