Lacrosse tops No. 12 Drexel
With a 13-6 victory over No. 12 Drexel on Saturday, No. 13 Penn State notched another win that will help their climb in the NCAA lacrosse standings.
A little more than one thousand people were on hand to take in the beautiful day and the Nittany Lions' sixth straight win while celebrating 100 years of Penn State lacrosse. Seven decades of Penn State lacrosse alumni were also in attendance, and Penn State wore special gray uniforms to recognize the 100th anniversary.
Drexel took a quick 1-0 lead to start the game out, but it didn’t make a difference to Jack Forster, who responded with a goal of his own and 2 more in the first period. Forster went on to net a total of 4 goals in the game.
Freshman, TJ Sanders, shared the spotlight with his fellow attacker, as he also netted 4 goals on the day. Sanders scored 2 goals off of nice feeds by Shane Sturgis to provide to the scoring attack in the third period.
Penn State took the first half to get a feel for what the Drexel defense was throwing at them. With the score at 4-3, Penn State, both teams went into the locker room at half time with their own momentum.
However, it was Penn State that came out with a spark. The Nittany Lions scored seven straight goals, creating separation from the Dragons. Drexel wasn’t able to recover, as the Penn State defense kept scoring to a minimum this afternoon. Goalkeeper, Austin Kaut, had 13 saves.
Penn State would go on to hold its sixth straight opponent to seven or fewer goals.
The Nittany Lions began the final period with a 9-4 lead over Drexel and didn’t show complacency or even look back, as they poured on four more goals. Jack Forster added to Penn State’s scoring run, by grabbing his fourth goal of the day just 42 seconds into the period.
Riley Lasada, sophomore from New York, scored his first career goal today for Penn State, assisted by Shane Sturgis.
It was a good team effort from the Nittany Lions, they outshot Drexel in every period including (14-4) in the third period, which was when they really broke open the game. The third quarter run was also helped by Penn State’s winning of the ground balls 30-21 on the day, while Danny Henneghan was the key man in that department going 4-6 at the faceoff X in the third period.
“To be 3-0 in the league and beat a team like Drexel, meant a lot to our guys," said head coach Jeff Tambroni.
The Nittany Lions now have a winning streak of six games, winning their last six by a combined result of 58-29 and also remain undefeated in the league after handing Drexel its first CAA loss.
Penn State is now 4-3 against ranked opponents this year and will play Towson next Saturday. With Penn State’s win today, they are now tied for first place in the CAA with Towson University.
Saturday's home game starts at 1 pm and can be heard on ComRadio.
Tyler Ball is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email twb5255@psu.edu.
