Even Will Manny wasn’t enough to stop the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team’s scoring troubles.
The No. 19 Minutemen outshot Penn State 40-32 for the game, but failed to capitalize against the Nittany Lions’ zone defense in a 7-5 loss in front of 1,023 at Garber Field on Saturday in the team’s Colonial Athletic Association opener.
UMass (3-4, 0-1 CAA) expected to get a boost from last year’s leading-scorer Manny after he missed the last five games with a broken thumb, and last season’s fourth-leading scorer Colin Fleming after he missed most of the year with an ankle injury.
Manny added two assists and played for a majority of the game, but even he couldn’t solve Penn State goalkeeper Austin Kaut, who made 16 saves in a winning effort.
“On offensive we just need to shoot the ball better,” Manny said. “We shot the ball at Kaut a million times. I mean, he’s a great goalie to begin with, but as a team we haven’t shot the ball well in the last couple of weeks and we need to start backing up our defense a little bit.”
UMass came out sloppy in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 5, and the Nittany Lions (3-3, 1-0 CAA) took advantage with 5:52 to go as they took their first lead since the second quarter on Kyle VanThof’s one-hop goal from the top of the restraining box.
Penn State then took the first multi-goal lead for either team with 3:28 to play when Jack Forster’s tally gave it the 7-5 advantage.
The Minutemen had the ball in their offensive zone in the final minute of the game, but couldn’t get a shot off in the final sequence and instead turned it over as the Nittany Lions ran off the closing seconds of the game.
“I think guys on our team think about it too much instead of just shooting,” Manny said. “They know how to shoot the ball, they’ve played lacrosse their whole lives.”
It was the second time this season UMass went up against a zone defense – the Minutemen faced a zone against Brown in a 9-8 loss March 2 – and once again struggled.
They tried to work the ball around, but couldn’t exploit any openings in front of the net. And whenever they did find a seam, Kaut was there to make the stop.
“We have four or five zone offenses, and we ran them all,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said. “The shots we had we thought we had good looks at the goal with the guys that we wanted to take those shots, so it’s disappointing.”
UMass took its first lead of the game with 11:31 left in the third quarter when Connor Mooney scored his second goal of the game. Mooney received a high pass form Grant Whiteway that he caught in mid-air and fired past Kaut.
After Nick Dolik tied it at 7:08, Mooney completed the hat trick less than two minutes later for his 12th tally of the season.
But Penn State responded once again when Forster scored from the ground at 3:12 to even the score at 5-5.
Goalie Zachary Oliveri was one of the few bright spots for the Minutemen with his 14 saves.
UMass was hoping for a better offensive output on Saturday after averaging just 7.25 goals in its previous four games. But against the zone, it appears the problems offensively go beyond having Manny and Fleming in the lineup.
“Having those guys back obviously helps, but there was no fluidity because of the zone,” Cannella said. “We’re out there basically playing man-up plays against 6-on-6.
“(Penn State) did a good job in their prep for it, but when you get those seams and you get those opportunities to shoot it and score it with your hands free you gotta take advantage because if you score a couple of goals they’ll come at them.”
UMass will try to snap its first four-game losing-streak since the end of the 2008 season when it goes on the road to face No. 16 Lehigh at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
Nick Canelas can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter @NickCanelas.
