In its second game of the season, the then-No. 8/9 Pioneer men’s lacrosse team fell 15-12 to then-No. 15 Penn State in the Moe’s Southwest Grill Classic in Jacksonville, Fla.
The loss drops Denver to 1-1 on the season, while Penn State improves to 2-0. The loss drops Denver to No. 11 in both the Nike/Inside Lacrosse Media Poll and the USILA Coaches Poll, while Penn State jumps to No. 8/9. Despite a three-goal run in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers could not overcome the Nittany Lions’ lead.
The Pioneers were led by senior attackman Eric Law and sophomore midfielder Wes Berg with three goals each, while senior midfielder Cameron Flint and junior midfielder Jeremy Noble each added two goals. Noble also added an assist, to put his point total at three for the day.
Sophomore attackman Eric Adamson, who was named the National Player of the Week by the Baltimore Sun on Friday, finished the game with three points off one goal and two assists, while freshman midfielder Colin Woolford found the net for the first time in his collegiate career.
Sophomore goaltender Ryan LaPlante defended the Pioneer net, finishing with 12 saves for his second double-digit save performance of the season. Penn State goaltender Austin Kaut made 10 saves on the day.
Senior midfielder Chace Calkin finished 13-of-25 in the face-off circle, as senior midfielder Chase Carraro was out on injury.
“We’re really disappointed in the outcome, but more so, we’re disappointed that another first quarter comes and we’re giving up goals all too easily,” said head coach Bill Tierney. “We’ve got to find a way to come into a game with a more intense attitude. We’ve got to go back and work very hard. Penn State is a good team, but they took it to us today with ground balls, they played harder, they out-coached us, they just did all the things right; and we just didn’t play our best.”
Leading the Nittany Lions with four goals each were redshirt senior attackman Jack Forester and junior attackman Shane Sturgis, while TJ Sanders finished three goals.
“[The win] is huge,” said Forester. “It is the second game of the year and beating a top-10 opponent in Denver who has been deep in the tournament before. We’re taking it to the next step here at Penn State.”
Penn State opened the scoring just 47 seconds into the game off a goal from Forester before Law answered less than a minute later.
The back-and-forth action continued throughout the first period, as Flint answered within a minute of the Nittany Lions goal with 11:40 left in the first to tie the game again.
Just 19 seconds later, Penn State regained the lead, making the score 3-2 before adding another goal less than a minute later to stretch it to a two-goal lead.
Adamson cut the lead to 4-3 with 4:48 remaining in the first quarter, but Penn State answered with a goal five seconds before the end of the quarter to head into the second quarter with a 5-3 advantage over the Pioneers.
After each team scored two goals in the second quarter, both teams headed into the locker room with Penn State holding a 7-5 lead over Denver.
The second-half scoring was opened when Sturgis found the net just 30 seconds in before Berg netted his first tally of the game with 12:27 remaining in the third quarter.
After a two-goal run by the Nittany Lions, Woolford scored on a solo effort to cut the deficit to three at 10-7.
Penn State went on a three-goal run before Berg answered with his second of the game with 2:36 left in the quarter to bring the score tot 13-8. The Nittany Lions netted one more with 38 seconds left to take a 14-8 cushion into the fourth quarter.
Noble attempted to spark the Pioneer offense with a goal with 12:31 remaining in regulation to bring Denver within five goals, but the Nittany Lions halted the momentum with a goal to return the lead to six goals.
The Pioneers went on a three-goal run, including a man-up goal from Law, in attempt to make a comeback, but they fell short as Penn State took the win.
“Our offense wasn’t bad,” said Tierney. “I thought we shot well, 12 of 28 shots went in against a pretty good goalie, but we also threw the ball away a couple times; we had some really simple turnovers; we had some other layups that we didn’t cash in on. But, as I told the guys, we can’t wait until the fourth quarter to play a great offense, which we did. We have to do that stuff from right from the beginning. I’m proud of the way we played in the fourth quarter, but we need more of that throughout the game.”
The Pioneers return home to host the Frontier Airlines Face-Off Classic at Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium this weekend, opening with Lehigh at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and finishing against Canisius at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Lehigh is 2-0 on the season after topping St. Joseph’s and Villanova. The team is led by senior attackman David DiMaria with seven points off six goals and one assist.
Canisius will be opening their season in Denver, playing Air Force on Saturday before facing off against the Pioneers.
