With the lacrosse season getting underway, the No. 9 Penn State men’s lacrosse team battled future Big Ten rival Michigan, running away with the game early and never looking back.
The Nittany Lions (1-0) opened the game tallying the first 10 goals en route to a 22-7 thrashing of the Wolverines.
Shane Sturgis and TJ Sanders led Penn State, scoring 11 of the 22 goals. It was a career high for Sturgis, who registered the first goal off a feed from Drake Kreinz. The Nittany Lions scored six goals in the first five minutes of the game, putting Michigan (0-1) away early. Sanders and Sturgis added two more in the period to make it 8-0.
The second started off the same for the Nittany Lions as they scored 41 seconds into the frame. Michigan finally got on the board with a goal from Ian King with a man-advantage. Penn State took an 11-1 lead into the third period.
The Nittany Lions outscored the Wolverines 11-6 in the final period to secure their first win of the season. Penn State returns to action next week against Loyola.
Towson overcomes slow start to beat High Point
Senior Thomas DeNapoli and freshman Joe Seider both had strong games to lead the Towson men’s lacrosse team to a season-opening 11-8 victory over High Point.
DeNapoli and Seider combined for seven goals and added an assist each. Coming into their first game of the season, the Tigers looked slow and not ready to play. High Point had the luxury of playing a regular season game before against Delaware. But Towson finally took control in the third period.
Down 5-4 at halftime, the Tigers scored five unanswered goals in the third behind DeNapoli and Seider. Towson overcame a late three-goal surge by High Point to hold on for the victory.
DeNapoli and Seider each scored back-to-back goals in the third. It was Seider’s first career hat trick. Towson outshot High Point 41-26.
Next up for Towson is John Hopkins this Saturday.
Blue Hens nearly pull off upset over Bucknell
Delaware fell short against No. 15 Bucknell in a low scoring affair, 6-4.
Bucknell (1-0) jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, which it would not relinquish. The Blue Hens (1-1) managed just one goal in each of the four periods. No team had a player score multiple goals.
Connor Frisina and Connor McRoy led Delaware with a goal and an assist each. Tom Holland and Brian Kormondy added the other two goals for the Blue Hens.
Both teams played a hard-fought game with the statistics virtually even. Bucknell held a 37-33 shot advantage while the Blue Hens held a 32-25 advantage in groundballs.
Bucknell took a 6-2 lead into the third quarter. It was too much for Delaware to overcome as they cut the lead to two but nothing closer.
Delaware will look to get back on track next Saturday when they host Fairfield.
Tyler Fielder can be reached at [email protected].
