No. 1 Penn State men’s lacrosse (13-1, 5-0 Big Ten) took down Rutgers (7-8, 2-3 Big Ten) by a score of 18-6 to claim its first Big Ten Tournament win in program history.

Grant Ament and TJ Malone each had four goals on the day in a game that Penn State dominated Rutgers throughout. Starting goalie Colby Kneese finished with 11 saves while back up goalie Trevor Scollins collected four in the game’s final minutes.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions opened things up with two goals in the opening minutes from Mac O’Keefe and TJ Malone. Rutgers tied up the score at two with goals of their own, but Jack Kelly helped Penn State retake the lead with an unassisted goal.

Penn State went on to score five goals in the second quarter while Rutgers couldn’t put any on the board. The Nittany Lion’s strong defensive play mixed with Kneese’s spectacular play in goal silenced the Scarlet Knights. Penn State held an 8-2 lead heading into halftime.

Things didn’t change much in the third quarter, as Penn State outscored the Scarlet Knights 7-2 in the period. Ryan Gallagher was one of the only sources of offensive success for Rutgers, as he scored both of their goals in the third. Malone had two goals in the third quarter, leading the way for Penn State’s offense.

The Nittany Lions continued to dominate in the fourth quarter. The combination of Grant Ament and O’Keefe was tough for Rutgers to defend throughout the night, as the pair combined for seven goals in the game.

Brett Hobbs finished things off for Penn State, giving the Nittany Lions an 18-6 lead with 5:19 remaining. Per usual, Ament was the straw that stirred the drink for Penn State. The redshirt junior finished the game with a team-high three assists.

Takeaways

• This game couldn’t have been any more different from Penn State’s last matchup with Rutgers. The Nittany Lions controlled the tempo of the game throughout, as four players finished the day with multiple goals.
• A huge part of Penn State’s offense was its’ dominance on extra-man opportunities. The Nittany Lions scored on all five of their chances with a man up while Rutgers failed to score on either of their opportunities.
• Penn State’s exciting transition offense was jumpstarted by their success on ground ball opportunities. The Nittany Lions finished the game with 45 ground balls while Rutgers had 26.

What’s Next

Penn State will take on Johns Hopkins at 7 p.m. on Saturday in Piscataway, N.J. in the Big Ten Championship. This will be Penn State’s first time in the Big Ten title game as it takes on a Johns Hopkins squad that it beat 20-9 in the regular season.