No. 7 Penn State Men’s Lacrosse Dominates Furman In 22-7 Victory
No. 7 Penn State men’s lacrosse (5-2) took care of the Furman Paladins (1-6) 22-7 with a dominant performance on Tuesday night. T.J Malone, Mac O’Keefe, and Jack White all had more than three goals for the Nittany Lions, keeping Penn State in control throughout the entire game.
How It Happened
Mac O’Keefe got the game started with his first goal, and Grant Ament picked up the assist. Ament then got a goal on the next possession, and TJ Malone added to the scoring total as well. All three of these goals were benefitted by Gerard Arceri, who won all three of the face-offs at that point in the game.
Malone added his second goal of the game soon after, as Furman had not had any offensive possessions to that point. Joe White then notched his second goal of the season to extend the Nittany Lions’ lead in the first quarter. Jack Traynor and Malone added two more goals and Penn State ended the first quarter with a 7-1 lead.
The Paladins got the scoring started in the second quarter, but Ament responded very quickly with a goal of his own. Traynor scored another goal, and Malone was able to pick up the assist. O’Keefe added another goal on top of yet another Ament assist to keep up the offensive pressure.
White scored his second goal of the game and then Malone added another goal to his game total, making it four before the first half was over. Kevin Hill was feeling left out so he decided to join the scoring party, which extended the Nittany Lions’ lead to 11.
Furman scored to slow down Penn State’s momentum, but it did not hold for long. Dan Reaume was able to pick up his first goal of the season to extend the Nittany Lions’ lead again. White added another goal to his total, which gave him a hat trick for the game. The Nittany Lions went into the half with a 15-3 lead.
Mac O’Keefe kicked things off for Penn State third quarter with his third goal of the game. There wasn’t much offense after that however, as it wasn’t until under seven minutes when Furman scored and broke the scoreless streak.
T.J. Malone responded later in the quarter with a sick behind the back shot to score his fifth goal of the game. The Paladins came back and put up another goal as a response. With under two minutes left in the quarter, the Nittany Lions and the Paladins traded goals and Penn State had the lead 19-6 going into the fourth quarter.
Mike Shinske scored his first goal of the season to start the scoring for the fourth quarter. Dylan Foulds added his second goal of the game soon after to extend the lead even further. Jackson Reynolds also got his first goal of the season, and the Nittany Lions won the game 22-7.
Takeaways
- T.J. Malone is good at lacrosse. When you think of the star players for the Nittany Lions, you think of Mac O’Keefe and Grant Ament. But, Malone is a solid compliment to those two players and makes the offensive attack much more potent. If Malone is on his A-game, the Nittany Lions can be a dangerous team moving forward.
- This was an important game for Penn State to gain some confidence after its heartbreaking loss to Cornell the game before. The schedule will get much more difficult as the season progresses, so these games are very important to build up all the momentum they can before they play teams like Maryland and John’s Hopkins.
- Penn State’s pace is an interesting aspect of its game that can be looked at. Their quickness is a very good part of the game, but they do tend to slow down in the second half. It was very apparent in today’s game, even though it didn’t really matter since they were so ahead. If the Nittany Lions want to be balanced in the both halves, they must be able to make adjustments to be able to be at full capacity in the later parts of the game.
What’s Next
The Nittany Lions will be back at home as they play Lehigh on Saturday, March 21 at 1:00 p.m.
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