MLAX: Hopkins Slips by Nittany Lions in Overtime Sunday Night
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The Penn State Nittany Lions fell behind early and were never able to pull in front as the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays used an overtime winner from John Crawley to beat the Nittany Lions 12-11 at a jam packed Penn State Lacrosse Field Sunday night.
Penn State (7-5, 1-2 Big Ten) fell behind early as the Blue Jays (7-4, 2-1 Big Ten) opened up a 4-0 lead early in the first quarter, capped off by Holden Cattoni scoring the first of his three goals causing a Penn State timeout. The Lions would rebound, scoring two goals by the end of the first period, the second with only four-tenths of a second remaining.
That would be the first of three goals in the game that Penn State would score in the final 30 seconds of a period. Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni would speak after the game about this.
“The momentum coming into each quarter is huge,” Tambroni remarked. “We just made some lacrosse plays as athletes and against a good team like Hopkins, you have to make plays.”
The Nittany Lions would trade goals with the Blue Jays for most of the second and third period, until Penn State would finally draw level with 10 seconds remaining in the third.
Johns Hopkins would score twice to begin the fourth period, before Penn State would equalize with two of their own, the second of which came with only 29 seconds left on the clock to send the game into the extra period.
Penn State would get the first chance in overtime, but would turn it over when Ryan Keenan stepped into the crease. The Blue Jays would come right down the other end and score by way of Crawley, his third consecutive goal, this one being the overtime winner with 2:02 left.
This was the second straight conference game lost in overtime for the Lions, and Tambroni spoke to this after the game.
“The only real similarity between the two games was the final score. They were played differently and we just have to put in the rear view mirror and move onto Rutgers,” Tambroni said.
Nick Aponte was the standout player for the Lions on the evening, scoring four goals. After the game he discussed how the game went from his own perspective.
“We were moving the ball well, and getting good opportunities,” said Aponte. “Their goalie was playing well, I was just seeing the ball well and getting off good shots stick side.”
Penn State saw a record attendance in this game with the total number being over 2,700 people in the crowd.
The Nittany Lions will be back in action on Friday when they travel to Rutgers for another Big Ten affair.
Zach Green is a sophomore majoring in broadcast Journalism. He can be reached on twitter @zgreen05 or by email at zag5035@psu.edu.
