Penn State Stays Strong Against Johns Hopkins
In their first home game of the season, fifteenth ranked Penn State hosted the fourth ranked John’s Hopkins BlueJays. This was the second of three exhibition games for the Nittany Lions. The game did not have an official score however both offenses were potent throughout the game. Penn State junior goaltender Austin Kaut was tested early in the game after the Bluejays held possession for 2 straight minutes. Penn State started to settle down after conceding an early goal, answering with two goals of their own in the first quarter.
“Coach [Tambroni] preached us to play hard and if we play hard and have energy you can play with any team in the country,” Kaut said.
This was the fourth meeting between the two teams. The teams met in the fall of last year and Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni saw a difference in this game compared to the last one.
“We communicated to our guys all week about doing a better job coming off the opening whistle.”
Tamboni also felt the defense was broken at times but Kaut was able to bail the team out to keep the game close. During the second quarter, the Bluejays took control of possession, keeping it away from Penn State defenders.
“I thought we went into a little [slump] during the second quarter but I was pleased with how we responded in the third,” said Tambroni.
Penn State came out into the 2nd half with two unanswered goals. One of the goals was by junior Tom Lacrosse, who led the team with game high four goals.
“It was more of a team effort. It wasn’t really what I did but more what people did off the ball or setting obstructions for me to get those goals,” Lacrosse said.
Penn State will look to carry the momentum from keeping up with a top five team in the country with them into the regular season.
“It could give us a lot of motivation and confidence which I think some people lacked and we needed that,” said LaCrosse.
Unofficially the final score of the game was 13-11 in favor the Penn State. They play their final exhibition next Saturday February 9 against Michigan in Ann Arbor. They will return home against third ranked Notre Dame on February 24.
Billy Kornfeld is a senior at Penn State majoring in Broadcast Journalism. He can be reached at whk5013@psu.edu.
