STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – No. 20 Rutgers men's lacrosse battled the nation's top-ranked team to the wire, as behind a career-high six goals from sophomore Tommy Coyne, the Scarlet Knights (7-7, 2-3 Big Ten) and No. 1 Penn State (12-1, 5-0 Big Ten) were tied at 13-13 entering the final minute of play. PSU's Jack Kelly had the game-winning goal with 40 seconds remaining, as RU was unable to score on two final attempts on goal. 

Adam Charalambides also had six points on two goals and four assists. Ryan Gallagher had a career-best four assists for a five-point day. Max Edelmann made 12 saves. Casey Rose, Kieran Mullins, David Sprock and Gallagher each had one goal apiece. 

Despite only winning 11-of-29 faceoffs, Rutgers forced Penn State into 15 turnovers and held capitalized in non-faceoff ground balls to outshoot the home team 46-37. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

Penn State scored the first three goals of the game. But after a Rutgers timeout, the team regroup and held them scoreless over the final 9:44 of the quarter, scoring four straight goals. Tommy Coyne tallied twice in the first quarter, and Adam Charalamides and Ryan Gallagher added goals as RU took a 4-3 lead after 15 minutes.

Penn State had the next two goals, but Rutgers quickly answered on goals from David Sprock and Owen Mead for a 6-5 lead. PSU finished the half with three goals, taking an 8-6 lead into the locker room.

In the third quarter, Garrett Michaeli caused a turnover off the opening faceoff, and fed the ball to Charalambides for a quick Rutgers goal. Five minutes later it was Tommy Coyne scoring, making it a hat trick for him and tying the game at eight goals apiece. 

PSU scored next with a man-up goal, but Rutgers answered with the next two. First it was Tommy Coyne with his fourth goal of the day. Then senior captain Casey Rose fought off contact to score and give Rutgers a 10-9 lead with 4:32 left in the third quarter. The Nittany Lions came back with the next two goals to take an 11-10 lead after three quarters.

Coyne continued his goal-scoring prowess with the game's next two goals, making it six on the day as Rutgers took a 12-11 lead. The team's continued to trade goals, with PSU tying it at 12-12, then Kieran Mullins put Rutgers back in front at 13-12 with 7:51 to play.

Dylan Foulds scored the game-tying goal with 5:44 left, evening the score at 13-13. The final goal of the game was scored by the Nittany Lions' Jack Kelly with 40 seconds remaining.

NOTABLE 

-       Tommy Coyne set a career-high with six goals, having never previously had more than three in a game.

-       Adam Charalambides scored two goals. He now has 45 this season, giving him sole possession of third place on Rutgers' single-season list.

- Charlambides' four assists was a new career-high. 

-       Ryan Gallagher had a career-high four assists and tied his career-high with five points.

-       Jordan Pakzad made his first career start on defense. He had three ground balls and caused a turnover.  

 QUOTABLE

"It was one of those days that felt good for me offensively. Travelling here, we had a good week of practice, prepared well on and off the field. Even with them being the number one ranked team in the country, we realize there isn't that big of a gap between all the teams in the Big Ten. We're going to tighten some things up and know what we need to do on Thursday when we face them again. It was a great atmosphere here today and we know it's going to be a great atmosphere at our home field for the Big Ten Tournament, so we're excited to get another chance at them at our place."

Sophomore midfielder Tommy Coyne

Rutgers will be the fourth seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which will be hosted in Piscataway starting on Thursday. The Scarlet Knights will face Penn State at 5 p.m. in the first semifinal. The second semifinal between Maryland and Johns Hopkins will follow that at 7:30 p.m. Tournament information can be found here.

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