No. 8 Penn State men’s lacrosse (10-5, 5-2 Big Ten) defeated Army (13-4, 8-2 Patriot League) 10-6 in round one of the NCAA Tournament.

Hunter Aquino continued to dominate on offense and finished with three goals, the most of any player. The defense played well all day, allowing fewer than 30 shots and forcing 13 turnovers against a high-scoring offense.

How It Happened

After jumping on the opening faceoff, Army’s goalie Sean Byrne made a save on the first shot. The subsequent clear was unsuccessful, though, and Penn State regained possession. Hunter Aquino then cut behind X and bounced the ball in the back of the net, scoring the first goal of the game.

Penn State won the next face-off, but a strong stick check gave Army possession. The Black Knights quickly equalized when standout Evan Plunkett first goal of the game.

Both teams started the game with fierce defense, but Penn State looked better in transition early. Penn State caused a turnover on Army’s second drive, and Aquino found himself open from distance for his second goal of the game. The ball was perfectly placed in the top right corner.

After some back-and-forth, the Army regained possession and called a timeout with 3:45 left in the first quarter. The Black Knights came out and threw a pass out of bounds. Penn State took advantage of the opportunity and scored its third goal. Michael Farone cut to the crease and quickly released the ball into the net to make it 3-1.

The first quarter ended at the same score, with Penn State leading the Black Knights. Aquino had an immediate impact on offense with two goals.

After the break, Penn State won the first face-off of the second quarter, but failed its clear attempt. Both teams started the quarter with three turnovers. Army goalkeeper Byrne had an impressive save, his fifth on the day, but Andrew Beard found a way through for the Nittany Lions shortly after. Penn State was now up three goals over the Black Knights.

Army quickly responded and scored a diving goal to narrow its deficit. Brayden Fountain scored the second goal for the Black Knights, which was quickly followed by the team’s third. The Black Knights called a timeout with 3:54 left in the first half.

Shortly after the timeout, Beard dodged a defender to score an unassisted goal in the slot. His second goal of the game put the Nittany Lions ahead by two. Penn State later called a timeout with two minutes left in the half, and following the timeout, Luke Walstrum snuck the ball into the goal.

The first half ended with Penn State leading 6-3. The Nittany Lions were 9-for-3 on face-offs and had 25 shots, while Army only had nine. The defense was aggressive and caused nine turnovers, but the team struggled on clears, going 11-for-16.

Army committed another false start violation on the first face-off of the second half. Penn State, though, committed a turnover, and Army capitalized. Gunnar Fellows found himself wide open in front of the crease for an easy goal to make it 6-4.

Both teams had a turnover following the next draw, but the Nittany Lions were the ones to take advantage of the chaos. Kyle Lehman had a shot saved by Byrne, but Aquino intercepted his pass and ripped the ball into the net, completing his hat trick.

The next five minutes of the game remained scoreless. A large reason for that was that Penn State missed its next seven shots, two of which Byrne saved. Penn State had more time of possession on offense and ended the third quarter with a team total of 41 shots. But none in the final 10 minutes of the quarter fell through. The Nittany Lions led 7-4 heading into the fourth.

Penn State won the first face-off in the fourth quarter and had another shot saved. Luckily, it defended Army’s clear, which led to Lehman’s first goal of the game. He cut through the slot and had an open shot in front of the crease, putting Penn State up four goals.

Penn State won the next face-off, but had three shots saved by Byrne. Preston Hawkins, Penn State’s goalie, followed suit and saved Army’s next shot. His clearing pass was perfect, and the Nittany Lions went into transition offense.

Short-stick defensive midfielder Brendan Leary cut to the goal and scored his first goal of the season. Shortly after, Farone caught a ball in traffic and scored an impressive behind-the-back goal, which gave Penn State its largest lead of the game. A media timeout was called as Penn State led 10-4.

Both teams had a few back-and-forth possessions in the final minutes, which led to Army eventually scoring after around a 24-minute drought. Fountain recovered a save that bounced off Hawkins for a wide-open goal. Less than 30 seconds later, Army scored another goal in the slot. The Black Knights wasted no time scoring back-to-back goals in an attempt to come back.

Penn State began to hold the ball on offense to kill time. The team took a shot clock violation, preventing Army from scoring. While the Black Knights attempted to come back, it wasn’t enough to win.

Penn State defeated Army 10-6.

Takeaways

• Aquino continued to lead the offense since coming back from an injury. He scored three goals, the most by any player on either Penn State or Army.
• Penn State dominated face-offs all day allowing them to control the time of possession. With more of the ball came more shots. Penn State ended with 55 shots, 30 of which were on goal, too much for even one of the best goalies in the country to handle.
• The defense for Penn State stepped up today as well. Army had only 29 shots, 18 of which were on goal. The team also had a ton of caused turnovers, and Hawkins had 12 saves. However, Penn State had seven failed clear attempts, which it will need to improve in round two, when it will likely face a highly talented offense from Princeton.

What’s Next?

Penn State will travel to Delaware to face the winner of the No. 1 Princeton vs. Marist game on Sunday, May 17, at Delaware Stadium. The game time is still TBA. Folks looking to tune into the Princeton-Marist game can watch it on ESPNU at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 10.