Tag: Penn State lacrosse

Photos from Penn State lacrosse’s NCAA semifinal matchup with Duke

Best Penn State lacrosse photos from NCAA Lacrosse Tournament semifinal matchup vs. Duke

The season may not have ended the way Penn State wanted, but the Nittany Lions were rightfully praised for the effort showed against Duke in the NCAA tournament semifinal in Philadelphia on Memorial Day weekend. The last Big Ten team standing in the NCAA tournament came up short in an overtime loss that drew plenty of attention to the sport’s instant replay policy, which poured some salt on the wound for the program. Penn State came just short of a signature moment for the program but should hold its heads high after the battle put up against one of the top programs in the sport.

Here are some of the best photos from Philadelphia during Penn State’s semifinal matchup with the Duke Blue Devils.

Lacrosse fans were furious that Duke’s game-winning NCAA semifinal goal didn’t get called for a crease violation

Lacrosse fans were FURIOUS that Duke looked to have won its NCAA semifinal game on a crease violation.

Lacrosse fans couldn’t believe that Duke’s lacrosse team didn’t get called for a crease violation on a game-winning overtime goal over Penn State in Saturday’s NCAA semifinals.

As the game went to extra minutes, Duke midfielder Garrett Leadmon popped in the ball for a walk-off score on Penn State that won the game, 16-15, and got his team into the NCAA finals.

However, it looked like Leadmon may have stepped into the crease (the circular area around the net) on the game winner, which would’ve been a rule violation and nullified the goal.

The referees looked to have missed the call, which did not thrill the lacrosse viewers at home who felt that Leadmon had earned a penalty.

There aren’t reviewable replays in NCAA lacrosse for these situations, which didn’t allow for a second look at Leadmon’s game-winning goal.

Lacrosse fans felt that the Duke midfielder indeed crossed the crease to spark the overtime victory, and they were vocal about it on social media.

Feature image courtesy of ESPN.

Controversial goal ends Penn State lacrosse season with NCAA semifinal loss to Duke

Penn State lacrosse put up a great fight against Duke but ended on a controversial overtime goal in the NCAA semifinals.

Let me be the first to tell you I am in no way an expert on college lacrosse. But I do fancy myself as a top-notch critic of how instant replay is and is not used in sports. And on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, I can tell you without any hesitation that Penn State’s lacrosse season came to a close earlier than it should have because of a bad instant replay policy in the NCAA rulebook.

Penn State went toe-to-toe with the no. 1 seed Duke at Lincoln Financial Field, taking the top-seeded Blue Devils and prohibitive favorites to overtime with a 15-15 tie at the end of regulation. Not long into the overtime session, where the first goal scored by either team would determine the victor and clinch a spot in Monday’s national championship game, Duke wrapped around the back of the Penn State net and fired the game-winning shot into the net for the victory.

But instant replay showed that Duke’s Garrett Leadmon actually had a foot on the line of the crease, which should have wiped the goal off the board and allowed the game to continue until the next goal was scored. Unfortunately for Penn State, for some ridiculous reason, this play was not reviewable. The referees bolted off the field and the Duke celebration continued on the field with nothing more than a brief chat between two refs to confirm the goal.

In real-time, you can see how that would have been missed by the refs working the game. But in the year 2023 with the number of cameras available covering almost any sporting event in today’s world, the inability to go to a replay review to confirm this game-deciding play is just bizarre on so many levels.

Maybe Duke would have gone on to win this game anyway. Maybe Penn State should have taken advantage of a few other opportunities, like getting a shot off with a man advantage in the final minutes of the game. Or maybe, just maybe, the NCAA needs to take five minutes out of their offseason schedule and decide that this scenario should never be possible ever again.

It’s an easy fix. It’s a common-sense fix. And that means it is far more likely the NCAA won’t fix it anytime soon.

Sadly, the ridiculous nature of the lack of instant replay in this situation will overshadow the effort by Penn State’s lacrosse program, which was on the verge of a major upset and a first-ever trip to the NCAA championship game. Penn State lacrosse has come on strongly in recent years and it may not be about to fade any time too soon. But on Saturday, it was done no favors by the lack of foresight from the NCAA rules. It’s tough enough going head-to-head with one of the top programs in the sport. It’s even tougher when the NCAA doesn’t have in place sensible instant replay rules.

Duke will take on the winner of the Notre Dame-Virginia semifinal game in Monday afternoon’s national championship game.

Penn State’s Mac O’Keefe is the new Division 1 lacrosse all-time scoring leader

It was an absolutely perfect senior day for Mac O’Keefe, who set a new Division 1 scoring record and kept on going against Michigan.

Senior day for the Penn State lacrosse team could not have been much better. Not only did the Nittany Lions top the Michigan Wolverines in overtime, but they did so with star Mac O’Keefe etching his name in the NCAA record books. O’Keefe became the Division 1 all-time scoring leader with his 213th career goal, but he went on to score four more times to bring his career total to 217. His 217th goal was the game-winner in overtime.

O’Keefe needed just one goal in the game to tie the Division 1 all-time record previously held by Duke’s Justin Guterding. O’Keefe wasted little time moving his name alongside the former Blue Devil with the record-tying goal coming just two minutes into the game. Five minutes later, O’Keefe moved into first place on the all-time career goal list.

New Penn State men’s basketball coach Micah Shrewsberry was among the many sending congratulations to the new scoring record holder.

O’Keefe may have been taking advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted to all student-athletes by the NCAA after the 2020 sports schedule was thrown for a loop in the pandemic, but it should be recognized O’Keefe has set the all-time scoring record in 11 fewer games than Guterding.

O’Keefe was firing on all cylinders from the start as he continued to pad the record throughout the game.

O’Keefe’s final goal of the game came down to the wire. After a big save at the other end of the field with just about a minute to play, O’Keefe rocketed one past the Michigan goalie in the final seconds of overtime.

But wait! There could very well be more goals on the way for the new record holder. Penn State’s lacrosse will be played next Saturday, April 24 at Ohio State. OKeefe recorded three goals for the Nittany Lions in their previous game against the Buckeyes, a 15-13 win on March 6. After that is the Big Ten tournament.

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Locked On Nittany Lions Podcast: Will Penn State play Virginia Tech?

Penn State has rescheduled two games lost in 2020, but the series with Virginia Tech has shown no signs of life.

Remember when Penn State was scheduled to play Virginia Tech for the first time in 2020? Then a global pandemic hit and threw some massive curveballs at the entire sports calendar. The Big Ten decided not to play football at all and eventually opted to come back with a conference-only schedule, so there was no chance to see Penn State make the originally scheduled trip to Blacksburg to face the Hokies in Lane Stadium.

Hope for seeing this series hit the field is looking pretty bleak at the moment. Penn State recently scheduled games against two other non-conference opponents from its original 2020 schedule with future games against Kent State and San Jose State worked into the future schedule, but the moment may have passed for Penn State and Virginia Tech to get a makeup game or series on the books.

In today’s Locked On Nittany Lions podcast, we review the recent changes to the future Penn State football schedules and more. Other topics discussed in today’s podcast include:

Follow Locked On Nittany Lions on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Or, you can catch today’s episode below and listen in your browser.

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No. 19 Penn State falls to No. 3 Maryland as Mac O’Keefe nets No. 209

The Nittany Lions’ first-half struggles continued this weekend, but Mac O’Keefe edges closer to D-1 lacrosse history.

Mac O’Keefe scored three goals, bringing his career total to 209 goals, as No. 19 Penn State fell to No. 3 Maryland, 17-10 on Saturday. The Nittany Lions drop to 2-5 on the season, while the Terrapins are 7-0 for the first time since 2014.

O’Keefe has put himself in second place in the D-1 record books. He needs four more goals to surpass former Duke star Justin Guterding, who scored 212 goals in 75 career games. O’Keefe has played in 62 games.

Maryland’s defense had O’Keefe locked down in the first half, which proved costly in the second quarter as the Terrapins outscored the Nittany Lions 7-2. Maryland scored four consecutive goals in the final seven minutes of the first half. One of those goals came from Maryland’s Jared Bernhardt to make him the school’s all-time leading goal scorer. Bernhardt finished the game with five goals and three assists.

O’Keefe would find some answers in the second half, but it was too much to overcome after the Terrapins got out to an early lead.

One highlight to take away from this game was the promising talent Penn State has to come for the next few years. Freshman Mac Costin found the back of the net in the fourth quarter to get his first career goal as a Nittany Lion.

The Lions will take on No. 8 Rutgers this Saturday at Pinzer Stadium. The Scarlet Knights are coming off a big win over No. 14 Ohio State.

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Penn State Men’s Lacrosse earns three Big Ten weekly honors

Penn State Men’s Lacrosse defeats No. 17 Johns Hopkins, Tambroni gets 200th career win

Penn State men’s lacrosse head coach Jeff Tambroni scored his 200th career win as the Nittany Lions pulled an upset of No. 17 Johns Hopkins.

It wasn’t pretty for the Nittany Lions, but despite 22 turnovers, the men’s lacrosse team got a much-needed victory over No. 17 Johns Hopkins on Sunday afternoon. Jeff Tambroni celebrated a little extra today after clinching his 200th career win as head coach.

Penn State goalie Colby Kneese led the way with 15 saves on the day. Kneese has struggled to start the season, but he was a key part of Penn State’s 11-8 win on Sunday.

Penn State attackman Mac O’Keefe had his best outing of the season with four goals and an assist. Late in the first quarter, O’Keefe tied the game at three with this incredible low-to-high shot at the top of the offensive zone.

O’Keefe is closing on unprecedented history for Penn State. Not only is he the all-time goals leader for the University, he’s just seven goals shy of breaking the NCAA Division I record for career goals.

Penn State has struggled to find success in the second-half of games this season and the third quarter felt like it could be deja vu all over again. The Nittany Lions held a 7-4 lead going into the half, just to see that lead evaporate early in the fourth quarter.

The Nittany Lions played like a desperate team and it paid off. Kneese was a major contributor to them staying in the game as he made save after save when it mattered most.

Penn State dominated faceoffs from start to finish. Gerard Arceri and Jake Glatz combined to win 78% (18 out of 23) of the faceoffs against Johns Hopkins. The shots for each team were pretty much even, but due to Penn State’s 22 turnovers, Hopkins got extra possessions making it an even more impressive outing from Kneese.

The Nittany Lions are now 2-4 on the early season and have one of their biggest tests coming up when they face No. 3 Maryland this Saturday. The Terrapins are 6-0 and coming off an impressive 13-9 win over No. 5 Rutgers.

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Mac O’Keefe scores 200th career goal in Penn State men’s lacrosse loss to Michigan