(Photo Courtesy of Penn State Athletics)
Coming into Saturday on a three-game losing streak, the Penn State Nittany Lions desperately needed a win. And a what a win they would get as they upset the No. 6 Yale Bulldogs 10-6.
Behind a 21-save performance from Aleric Fyock, the Nittany Lions’ defense held Yale to single digits for the first time since their 13-9 loss against Virginia in the 2019 national title game. Penn State also caused 12 of the Bulldogs’ 16 turnovers in the contest (nine in second half).
Yale took an early lead off a pair of goal from Will Cabrera, but it wouldn’t be long until the Nittany Lions found their groove. Penn State ended the first quarter of play on a five-goal run that included two from Jeb Brenfleck to put them up 5-2 heading into the second frame.
That first-quarter run would be all Penn State would grab on the offensive end as the Bulldogs outscored the Nittany Lions 3-0 in the second to make it a 5-5 game heading into the half. Following that run Yale would only get one more goal all game: a fourth Will Cabera tally with 4:50 left in the contest.
Penn State put in three goals, including a man-up score from Brenfleck, in the first six minutes of the third and added two tallies late in the fourth to seal the deal.
Jeb Brenfleck led the way for Penn State with four points off three goals and one assist. Ethan Long dished out three assists.
Will Cabrera had a hat trick to lead Yale while Nicholas Ramsey went 14-for-20 (70%) at the faceoff dot.
Penn State outshot Yale 42-35. Yale won the ground ball battle 36-30 and went 13-for-18 in the clearing game opposed to Penn State’s 20-for-28 mark.
Georgetown Holds off Notre Dame
The Georgetown Hoyas move to 3-0 on the season with a third top-20 win as they took down the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 16-11 on the road on Saturday afternoon.
James Reilly dominated the faceoff dot from the get-go and ended with a 72% (21-for-29) day. The dominance at the dot, in addition to the Owen McElroy’s career-best 24-save performance in cage helped the Hoyas jump out to dominant 11-4 lead at the half.
Georgetown outscored Notre Dane 6-1 in the first quarter and then 5-3 in the second frame. The Hoyas put together a five-goal run in both the first and second quarters to pull away. However, the Irish soon showed that they too could score in bunches.
Pat Kavanagh and Reilly Gray scored the final two goals of the first half to get the Irish to four. Morrison Mirer would then find the back of the net three consecutive times in the third before adding one more early in the fourth that brought the Irish run to eight goals and cut the Hoyas lead to 11-10. Pat Kavanagh assisted on the final two scores of the big Irish run, including one dish to his brother, Chris. The run
The Hoyas took back control in the final 11 minutes of the game, winning six of seven faceoffs and holding the Irish to just one goal on 10 shots during that time. McElroy saved six of those shots.
On top of their late-game defensive performance, the Hoyas put in five goals to effectively end this one. That included two straight Connor Morin, which came against his former team, before Dylan Hess put the cherry on top with under a minute left.
Declan McDermott led the way for the Hoyas offense with five points off four goals and one assist. Morin had four points off three goals and one assist.
Morrison Mirer’s four second half goals led the way for the Irish.
Maryland Keeps Rolling, Knocks off Princeton
John Tillman and the No. 1 Maryland Terrapins are 4-0 and still sit atop the rest in college lacrosse at this point in the season after taking down No. 20 Princeton 15-10 in a game in which the Terrapins never trailed and no tie ever took place.
Two goals within 11 seconds of each other from Jonathan Donville and Luke Wierman put Maryland up 2-0 less than a minute into the contest. They would add three more and Princeton would get a first-quarter half trick from Sam English to make it a 5-3 game heading into the second stanza.
A man-up goal from Alex Vadaro off a feed from Chris Brown pulled Princeton within one early in the second. It would be the last time the Tigers came within a goal of the Terrapins as they answered with three straight, two of which came from Logan Wisnauskas to give him a first-half hat trick, and pulled away 9-6 at the half.
Both teams went back and forth for the majority of the second half as the only multi-goal runs either team would see were two straight from Maryland early and late in the fourth to help them finish the job. The Terrapins outscored the Tigers 6-4 in the final two periods of play.
Logan Wisnauskas (4G/2A) led the Terrapins with six points on the day while Jonathan Donville had four goals. Luker Wierman went 19-for-27 at the dot, facing Princeton’s Jack-Henry Vara who was the Tigers’ only available faceoff man on Saturday.
Sam English tallied four goals to lead Princeton while Erik Peters made 19 saves in cage, facing fire-friendly Maryland offense that took 50 shots (34 on cage) in the contest.
Virginia Blows Past Syracuse
Almost a year ago to the day, the Syracuse Orange poured it onto the Virginia Cavaliers in a 20-10 win in the Carrier Dome. Fast-forward to this season and these two teams matched up in Charlottesville and it was Virginia’s time to turn up the heat to win 20-11.
Within the first eight minutes of the game it was a 4-1 Virginia lead and by the time the first quarter had come to a close, the Cavaliers had pushed that lead out to 8-1.
Syracuse got some life in the middle of the contest with two straight from Owen Seebold and Mikey Berkman to start the third, as well as a four-goal run that features two Griffin Cook scores to make it a 7-11 game with 13:52 in the third.
Unfortunately for the Orange, they would get much else the remainder of the game. Virginia a massive seven-goal run from the 5:58 mark in the third through the 13:53 mark in the fourth to effectively put this one away. The Orange got two fourth quarter goals from Berkman and Cook before Noah Chizmar put in the final tally for Virginia.
Connor Shellenberger led the way for the Cavaliers with seven points (3G/4A) while Petey LaSalla went 19-for-28 (67%).
Mikey Berkman led Syracuse with four points (2G/2A).
Penn Beats Duke in Overtime
Down 12-9 with 10:32 remaining in regulation, the Penn Quakers popped off three consecutive goals within three minutes or each other, the first two of which came from Dylan Gergar, to knot things all up at 12. Dyson Williams would be able to pull Duke back in front, but a buzzer-beater from James Shipley with two seconds remaining would send this one to overtime.
With under a minute left in the overtime period, Jack Schultz dodged a Duke short-stick from up top, beat him and subsequently put the game-winner past Mike Adler to give the Quakers their first win of the season.
Dylan Gergar led Penn with six goals while James Shipley had a hat trick and an assist for four points on the day. Patrick Burkinshaw made his season debut and had 11 saves in cage.
Duke was led by a six-point outing from Nakeie Montgomery (4G/2A).
Jacksonville Downs Denver
Behind a sock trick (6G) performance from Jacob Greiner, the Jacksonville Dolphins took down the the Denver Pioneers 11-9 in their first of two games out West this weekend. The Dolphins will play former SoCon foe Air Force on Sunday.
Trailing 6-5 at the half, the Dolphins exploded in the final two quarters of play as the outscored the Pioneers 6-3 in the final nine minutes of play. That big run started with three consecutive scores from Greiner before he added two more later on in the half.
Jack Hannah (4G/1A) and Ted Sullivan (3G) combined for eight points (seven goals) in the game for Denver and had the final two scores of the game. Alec Stathakis went 12-for-24 (50%) at the dot.
Other Notable Results
- Jack Myers had 11 points (5G/6A) in Ohio State’s 17-12 win over Harvard in Naples, Fla.
- In a game that was delayed due to Rutgers not having their jerseys and not streamed at all, the Scarlet Knights beat the Loyola Greyhounds 14-13. Ross Scott had four goals for the Scarlet Knights.
- After initially being down 9-1 at the end of the first quarter, the Richmond Spiders came back to beat Towson 16-15 in triple overtime.
- Devon McLane had seven points (3G/4A) in Brown’s 12-11 win over Vermont.
- Behind a 19-save effort from Daniel Hincks, Dartmouth beat Bryant 11-9.
- Utah moves to 2-1 on the season with a 12-11 win over Marquette.
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