No. 3 seed Penn State men’s lacrosse (9-3, 3-2 Big Ten) took down No. 6 seed Johns Hopkins (6-7, 0-5 Big Ten) 13-12 in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament.

The Nittany Lions fended off the Blue Jays to advance to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament despite an over 10-minute scoring drought.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions grabbed the opening draw, and Matt Traynor was hit in the back, resulting in an early man-advantage. Ethan Long cashed in on the penalty, and Penn State went up 1-0 less than a minute into the game.

After another faceoff win, Penn State couldn’t score again as a grounball found its way to Oran Gelinas’ stick in the crease. Jack Fracyon made a save on the Blue Jays’ first possession, and the Nittany Lions went the other way.

Fracyon made another save after a Penn State turnover, and Traynor scored on a behind-the-back goal, and the Nittany Lions led 2-0. Gelinas made a save after another Nittany Lion faceoff win following the goal.

Dylan Bauer put the Blue Jays on the board after beating Fracyon in front of the net and cut Penn State’s lead to 2-1. Kyle Lehman got the lead back to two on the next possession to make it 3-1 at the midway point of the first quarter.

Fracyon picked up his third save of the day, and the Nittany Lions cleared to the other end. Gelinas stopped a shot from Mac Hobbs before Matt Collison pushed it back to a one-goal game at 3-2.

It didn’t last long as the Nittany Lions took the faceoff and Brendan Leary scored his fourth goal of the year to make it 4-2. A promising effort from Penn State was stopped by Gelinas as the Blue Jays cleared. An offside call gave Johns Hopkins a man-advantage opportunity, and Hunter Chauvette capitalized to make it 4-3.

Chuck Rawson evened the game at 4-4 for the Blue Jays with less than a minute left in the quarter. The Nittany Lions won the ensuing faceoff and held for the final shot, which Traynor put away to make it 5-4 at the end of the first.

Bauer tied the game 30 seconds into the second quarter after getting a bounce shot past Fracyon. The Nittany Lion offense went stagnant as the Blue Jays unleashed a barrage of shots at Fracyon. Erik Chick eventually found the back of the net, and Johns Hopkins took its first lead of the day at 6-5.

Penn State headed to the man advantage with 8:26 left in the half after a cross-check. Gelinas made a big save ten seconds into the penalty, and the Nittany Lions couldn’t capitalize as the Blue Jays went back to even strength. Penn State’s scoring drought ended with less than two minutes left in the half on a goal from Jack Aimone that tied the game at six.

The Nittany Lions took the next faceoff and ripped a shot that rang off the crossbar as the crowd came to life. Head coach Jeff Tambroni called a timeout with 20 seconds left in the half as Penn State tried to get the final shot.

The timeout worked, and Lehman gave Penn State the 7-6 lead as the half came to a close.

Johns Hopkins won the opening faceoff, but Penn State got the ball back on a push. The Nittany Lions couldn’t convert, and Johns Hopkins cleared.

Johns Hopkins almost committed a shot clock violation, but a push gave the Blue Jays a fresh shot clock. Fracyon made a save on the extended possession, and the Nittany Lions eventually regained the ball.

After empty possessions from both sides, Liam Matthews beat Gelinas and put the Nittany Lions back up by two at 8-6. Chauvette answered less than a minute later, but Lehman extended the lead again at 9-7.

Will Peden scored his fifth goal of the season with just over four minutes left in the third quarter as the Nittany Lions went up by 3 at 10-7. Penn State was called for a penalty on the ensuing faceoff, and Johns Hopkins went to a man-advantage. The Blue Jays couldn’t find any offense, though, and the Nittany Lions added to the lead and made it 11-7 with a goal from Aimone, which proved to be the last of the third quarter.

The Nittany Lions won a long faceoff to open the fourth quarter, but both teams had empty possessions to start the frame. Liam Burke eventually found the back of the net with 11 minutes left in the game, and Penn State’s lead was cut to 11-8. After a push, Penn State went to another man-up situation. Lehman took advantage and beat Gelinas while falling over to push it to 12-8.

Burke answered quickly and cut the lead back to 12-9 with eight minutes remaining. Long scored again two possessions later to push the game back to a four-goal contest with 6:40 left in the game. The Blue Jays wouldn’t go away, though, and scored another goal less than 30 seconds later to make it 10-13.

Johns Hopkins went a man-up with 4:44 remaining after a cross-check from Lucca DiBartolomeo. Collinson buried a shot from the point to make it 13-11 with four minutes left. The Blue Jays won the next faceoff and after a sustained offensive possession, Rawson beat Fracyon and made it a one-goal game with 2:51 remaining.

Hopkins took another faceoff, but the Nittany Lions forced a turnover and returned to the offensive end with 1:35 left in regulation.

Hopkins desperately tried to regain possession, but Penn State held strong and ended a 13-12 win.

Takeaways

• Fracyon was a presence in the net during Saturday’s victory when the Nittany Lions’ offense went cold. Fracyon came up big and kept Penn State in the game, ending the game with 8 saves with a .400 save percentage
• The Nittany Lions’ faceoff faltered in the fourth quarter, and the Blue Jays went on a run. Johns Hopkins took seven of eight faceoffs in the fourth quarter while closing in on the Nittany Lions.
• Lehman led the offense with four goals and one assist, while Aimone ended the Nittany Lions’ scoring drought and helped them regain critical momentum.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will head to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for the Big Ten Tournament semifinals to face No. 2 seed Maryland at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 1.