Penn State Men’s Lacrosse Looking to Stun the Bulldogs For the Second Year
Almost 365 days ago Penn State Men’s Lacrosse took on the Yale Bulldogs in a much anticipated contest in Happy Valley. Jeb Brenfleck and Mac Costin helped lead the Blue and White to an upset victory of the Bulldogs on home turf.
Fast forward to this year, Penn State has the opportunity to shock the world and defeat the Bulldogs again, but this time they have to do it on enemy turf in New Haven Connecticut.
Penn State is coming into the matchup wins over Lafayette and Stony Brook. However, the Nittany Lions dropped their only road game against Villanova earlier this season.
Graduate attackmen, Chris Jordan and TJ Malone, lead the Blue and White offensively. Malone has nine goals on the season and Jordan is right behind with eight of his own. Both Malone and Jordan have five assists on the season posing as great threats to not only score but feed each other and the other personnel on the field.
Penn State looked like they had their guy at faceoff in Hudson Bohn, but last week Bohn had to fight demons as he was pulled out of the contest and replaced by former five star recruit Chase Mullins, the North Carolina transfer after going one of seven on draws against the Seawolves.
With the faceoff guy up in the air after last week the Blue and White will need to rely on the defense to be strong like they were last season against Yale. Goaltender Jack Fracyon is looking to bounce back after a poor performance last week on home turf.
The close defender trio of Sam Sweeney, Jack Posey and Alex Ross will be paramount in shutting down a strong and explosive Bulldog attack.
Yale comes into the matchup with only one game played on the season, and that was against the Villanova Wildcats.
Attackmen Chris Lyons and Matt Brandau combined for 13 of the 20 goals that the Bulldogs scored in that contest. The dynamic duo of Brandau and Lyons will be plenty to handle for the Nittany Lion defense, and Jack Fracyon will be seeing plenty of shots from the two.
Jared Paquette is the Bulldog netminder, he had 18 saves against Villanova and is looking to continue his stellar play against Penn State.
As a lacrosse fan I am expecting nothing short of a close battle in New Haven this weekend when the Blue and White roll out onto the field against Yale. Expect a fast paced and exciting matchup between the two programs while the Bulldogs look to exact some revenge against the Nittany Lions.
Hayden Lewis is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email lewis1818hayden@gmail.com.
