Defense Leads Rutgers To 8-4 Win Over Penn State
Apr 20 | Men's Lacrosse
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The Rutgers men's lacrosse team jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and put forth an exceptional defensive effort en route to an 8-4 ECAC win over Penn State Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.
The Scarlet Knights improve to 5-6 overall and move into a tie for third place in the ECAC with a 3-2 league mark. Penn State, coming off an 8-7 victory over No. 9 Bucknell Tuesday, drops to 5-7 overall and 1-5 in conference action.
Sophomore Hunter Burnard (Binghamton, N.Y.) led the Scarlet Knights with a season-high four points on two goals and two assists, while classmate Justin Pennington (Flemington, N.J.) also tallied two goals.
Rutgers dominated the early portion of the first quarter, netting the first three scores of the game. Freshman Kory Kelly (Princeton, N.J.) notched his 20th goal of the season off a Tad Stanwick (Baltimore, Md.) assist one minute into the contest to get RU rolling. Taylor Bottar (Syracuse, N.Y.) and Pennington would follow Kelly's score with back-to-back goals to push the Scarlet Knights' lead to 3-0. The Nittany Lions would break the RU run though with a goal from Colby Rhodes at the 2:16 mark of the first quarter.
Pennington scored RU's lone second quarter goal by blasting a shot from 10 yards out past two-time ECAC Goalie of the Year Drew Adams to put RU up 4-1. Penn State's Andrew Mackrides scored the only second quarter goal for the Nittany Lions at the 7:31 mark. Rutgers, which ranks eighth in the country in man-down defense, killed three Nittany Lion man-up opportunities in the quarter.
Rutgers increased its lead to four goals after Burnard posted his first score of the game and assisted on a Stanwick tally. However, the Nittany Lions responded with back-to-back goals of their own to pull within two (6-4) at the end of the third quarter. The RU defense proved to be too much in the fourth quarter though as sophomore goalie Billy Olin (Horseheads, N.Y.) posted seven of his 15 saves in the period to shut down the PSU offense and pick up his fifth win of the season. Late goals from Burnard and junior Jeff Rommel (Syracuse, N.Y.) clinched the Rutgers victory.
The Scarlet Knights, who have won the last two meetings against Penn State, lead the all-time series 41-18.
Rutgers will next be in action on Saturday, April 26 when the Scarlet Knights welcome No. 5 Georgetown to Yurcak Field. The game will air live on CN8 at 1 p.m. as the ECAC Lacrosse Game of the Week. The action can be seen throughout CN8's entire market, ranging from Maine to Virginia, which encompasses over nine million homes. Additionally, a live telecast will also be available on www.CN8.tv.
