No. 8 Penn State men’s lacrosse (8-3, 2-2 Big Ten) defeated No. 19 Johns Hopkins (6-6, 0-4 Big Ten) at Panzer Stadium in the wear white game on Saturday.

Matt Traynor and Colby Baldwin took over in the second quarter despite a slow first for both teams. Baldwin did not lose a face-off in the first half, allowing Penn State to go on a 6-1 run in the second quarter, and the Nittany Lions never looked back.

Penn State continued its offensive play in the second half, widening its lead. The zone defense allowed just two goals the rest of the game, and the Nittany Lions took their second straight Big Ten Victory 10-4.

How It Happened

Baldwin almost opened the scoring five seconds into the game after he won the opening faceoff but just missed the net. The Nittany Lions kept possession and worked the shot clock down, but could not find the back of the net after three minutes of offense.

Penn State drew an offsides call with just under 10 minutes to play in the first quarter. While man-up, Jack Aimone took a hands-free shot, but the Johns Hopkins goalie, Oran Gelinas, made a nice save.

Finally, with four minutes in the first quarter, Traynor opened the scoring for the Nittany Lions with a low-to-high shot. The Blue Jays responded less than two minutes later, though, to make it 1-1, and that’s how the quarter ended.

Penn State flipped the script in the second quarter and scored three goals in the first two minutes and 15 seconds, causing the Blue Jays to call a timeout. It started with Luke Walstrum on a man-up play, and then Traynor and Aimone found the back of the net as well.

After the timeout, the Nittany Lions went to a zone, which held the Blue Jays to the outside and forced questionable shots on the next possession. After an efficient transition back to offense, Traynor completed his first-half hat trick with an aggressive low-to-high shot to make it 5-1.

Johns Hopkins finally responded with seven minutes left in the half, after a crease violation from Penn State.

Traynor scored twice more before the end of the half, making it five goals for him in the first half. The Blue Jays were not giving enough attention to one of the best shooters in the country to start this game.

The Nittany Lions went into halftime leading 7-2.

Traynor kept the momentum up in the second half and scored a sixth goal to make it 8-2 in favor of Penn State.

After a couple more scoreless minutes, Kevin Parnham laid a big open-field hit that drew a flag. The officials then reviewed it for a while to see if it deserved an upgrade to a non-releasable penalty, but it did not.

Two huge saves from Jack Fracyon helped kill the man-down for Penn State. Traynor extended Penn State’s lead, tying his career record with seven goals on the day.

Johns Hopkins got back on the board as the third quarter started to wind down, scoring back-to-back goals. The third quarter ended 9-4.

The fourth quarter slowed down the game with no goals through the first seven minutes of play. Penn State, though, took a penalty and gave Johns Hopkins a chance to close the lead. The Nittany Lions played excellent defense and shut down the opportunity.

Hunter Aquino got his first of the game with a minute and a half left in the game to make it 10-4, and that is what the game would end at.

Takeaways

• Traynor tied his career high with seven goals and was dominant throughout Saturday’s tilt. Surprisingly, the Blue Jays didn’t adjust to the attackman, and they paid the price for it as he outscored them by himself.
• Penn State’s defense was locked down the entire game. Only allowing four goals in the whole game and none in the fourth goal was more than enough to get the win. The Nittany Lions’ ability to switch between zone and man effectively makes them one of the top units in the country.
• Shots, shots, shots. Penn State had 50 total shots today. When you shoot that much, you don’t have to be as efficient.

What’s Next?

Penn State continues its conference play with a home matchup against No. 18 Rutgers at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 18.