The Ohio State men’s lacrosse team fell to Penn State Sunday in University Park, Pennsylvania. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
Try as they might, No. 14 Ohio State fell to its fourth, ranked opponent of the year — No. 11 Penn State–at Panzer Stadium in University Park Sunday.
Buckeye men’s lacrosse (5-5, 1-1 Big Ten) could not come back after an undisputed, eight-goal run by the Nittany Lions (6-3, 1-1 Big Ten) and suffered a 17-minute-plus scoring drought, ultimately falling 17-9.
The Buckeyes started off strong with an unassisted goal by Kyle Borda, the graduate midfielder from Kensington, Maryland.
Up until five minutes remaining in the second quarter, the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions traded the scoring.
Freshman attack Matt Caputo hit the back of the net for the second time of the meeting with 5:23 to play before the half. Penn State sophomore midfielder Matt Traynor matched Caputo’s goal, sparking the Nittany Lion offense.
The final two goals of the first half belonged to Penn State.
Coming out of the half, five more fell for the Nittany Lions putting them up on the Buckeyes 15-6 with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter.
Ohio State’s senior attack Jack Myers, who leads the team in points this season with 29, netted his second of the game, ending the Buckeye-scoring drought.
A short 32 seconds later, Penn State junior midfielder Luke Mercer answered with his sole-goal of the day.
Borda earned himself a hat trick with two, late goals to bring the Buckeyes within seven.
The day’s scoring finished off with a final Nittany Lion goal by sophomore attack Michael Faraone.
Penn State won the game on all fronts. The Buckeyes were outshot 41-30, trailed in ground-ball pickups 40-30 and sophomore Matthew Fritz lost the faceoff battle 15-13.
Nittany Lions head coach Jeff Tambroni is now 9-4 all-time against the Buckeyes, while Ohio State’s head coach Nick Myers falls to 5-10 against Penn State.
Ohio State is now 1-1 in Big Ten play and will be tested once again versus No. 2 Maryland Friday at Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium. This will close out the Buckeyes’ home season.
Faceoff is set for 8 p.m. and will be televised on Big Ten Network.
