No. 5 Penn State men’s lacrosse (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten) took down Colgate (10-8, 4-4 Patriot) in a 13-11 battle during the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Penn State started the game with their longest scoring drought to start a game this season but bounced back with five second-quarter goals en route to a first-round victory.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions took the opening draw and set up Ethan Long for a shot that sailed over the net. Colgate forced an early turnover, and Liam Connor capitalized less than two minutes into the game to give the Raiders an early 1-0 lead.

Back-and-forth turnovers led to another Nittany Lion possession, and after Luke Walstrum rung one off the pipe, Colgate forced Penn State into its fourth turnover on as many possessions. Jack Turner hit the post for the Raiders, Penn State regained possession, and Colgate forced them into yet another turnover.

Out of the Raider timeout, Ben Trumble let one go from just outside the 12-meter mark, beating Jack Fraycon for the 2-0 Colgate lead. A 30-second man-up advantage for Penn State led to a seventh turnover.

After gaining back possession, Colgate goalie Matt LaCombe was forced to make a great save on Kyle Lehman, but Penn State retained possession. Penn State drained the shot clock down to 17 seconds and was unable to get a good attempt on net.

Colgate was unable to generate any offense, and Penn State took a long shot downfield and turned the ball over for a ninth time in the frame closing out the opening quarter.

Penn State grabbed possession to start the second quarter, and Matt Traynor delivered his 34th goal on the season, cutting Penn State’s deficit to one.

The Nittany Lions won the draw after scoring, but were unable to turn it into any offense as the shot clock expired. Colgate stormed down the field and immediately returned the favor with another goal, this time from Turner.

A clean face-off win for the Nittany Lions led to a change from Traynor, but it was met by LaCombe at the net.

In transition, Colgate’s careless exchange behind the goal led to a turnover. Lehman set up Jack Aimone from behind the net to beat LaCombe, bringing Penn State back within one at 3-2.

Colgate won the draw, and after setting up their offense, Turner buried his second goal of the evening from just outside the back post to put the Raiders back up by two goals.

With 5:27 left in the second, Long shot at an open net from beyond the midfield line and scored to bring the score to 4-3. Penn State won the draw, and Aimone netted his second goal of the game, sneaking one LaCombe to tie it up.

Colgate would respond less than a minute later, and Turner tallied his third goal of the first half, putting Colgate back up by a goal. Liam Matthews notched his 20th goal this season for Penn State on a beautiful behind-the-back no-look finish, evening the score at 5-5 going into halftime.

TUFF

Leary with the gritty pass Matthews with the BTB pic.twitter.com/H6e4RJsvVu

— Penn State Men’s Lacrosse (@PennStateMLAX) May 10, 2025

Another face-off win for Reid Gills to start the second half led to Matthew’s second goal of the game, and Penn State’s first lead of the afternoon. Penn State made Colgate pay on the 10-man again, hitting the open net for the second time in the game, with Will Costin firing it from the restraining box.

Fracyon made his first save on the day, robbing Colgate of a point-blank opportunity, but they would score less than a minute later with a wide-open shot from Rory Connor in the most dangerous spot on the field.

Connor came down and hit a sharp angle shot, netting his second goal in a row, and tying it up at 7-7. Penn State won possession but turned the ball over, leading to a transition goal from Sam Erickson that put Colgate back up by one.

Traynor forced a turnover and took on the whole Colgate defense, managing to score his 35th goal of the season to tie the game. Penn State took the face-off, and Will Peden tallied his sixth goal for the Nittany Lions this season on a beautiful shot late in the shot clock.

Lehman added to the lead, scoring in transition off a ground ball to push the Nittany Lions in front by two. Colgate won their first face-off out of the last ten, but Fracyon delivered with a huge save for Penn State. The third quarter closed out with Penn State leading 10-8.

Neither team was able to put points on the board for the first five and a half minutes of the fourth quarter. Casey Quinson ended the 12 minute scoring drought for the Raiders, brining Colgate within a goal.

A takeaway from Kevin Parnham looked promising, but LaCombe stepped up and made his 11th save of the game of the game for Colgate. Turner kept the ball inbounds and then popped one nearside to knot the game at 10-10.

Erickson went coast-to-coast and ripped one past Fracyon to give Colgate its first lead of the second half. Off the face-off, Penn State would gain possession and Mathews scored his third of the game, evening the score at 11-11.

Colgate forced a shot clock violation on the Nittany Lions but turned the ball over with under two minutes remaining. With possession, Mathews worked around the defender and put one past LaCombe for his fourth goal of the contest, giving the Nittany Lions the lead back with under 90 seconds to go in regulation.

Penn State won the huge face-off, and Traynor buried one into the open net, putting the final touch on a 13-11 first-round win.

Takeaways

• Gills was dominant in the center circle, with face-offs keeping them in the game despite struggling offensively the first half.
• Mathews four goals, including the game-tying and game-winning goals, delivered big time for Penn State, just barely pushing them past Colgate.
• The Nittany Lions played disciplined, staying out of the penalty box all game and never going down a man.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will head to Annapolis, Maryland to face the winner of No. 4 seed Ohio State versus Notre Dame in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 18.