PSU’s Men’s Lacrosse Downs Princeton in NCAA First Round 13-12

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: May 14, 2023

Photos by Jeff Shomo

Penn State to face Army on May 21 in quarterfinal match at noon

Courtesy of GoPSU Athletics

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The fifth-seeded Penn State men’s lacrosse team squeaked past Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 13-12 victory on Sunday night. With the win, the Nittany Lions will make their second NCAA quarterfinal appearance.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Princeton opened the scoring with a goal by Sean Cameron with 12:27 remaining in the first quarter.
The Tigers added another goal with 10:02 left in the quarter to take a 2-0 lead.
Penn State scored their first goal of the game with 7:04 remaining in the first quarter to tighten the Princeton lead to 2-1.
The Tigers then scored five unanswered goals to take a 7-1 lead with 9:20 remaining in the first half.
The Nittany Lions responded with three straight goals from Ethan Long, Mark Sickler, and TJ Malone to cut the Princeton lead to 7-4.
Princeton didn’t go away as Alex Vardaro found the back of the net with 4:12 remaining in the half to take a four-goal lead.
Ethan Long fired back with his third goal of the game with 3:42 remaining in the half to tighten the Princeton lead to 8-5.
Jack Traynor followed with his first goal of the game coming with 1:40 remaining in the half to cut the Tiger lead to 8-6.
Princeton scored one more goal in the closing minute of the half to take a 9-6 lead.
Penn State opened the second half with a goal by Kevin Winkoff with 7:23 remaining in the third quarter to narrow the Princeton lead to 9-7.
Ethan Long soon followed with his fourth goal of the game with 6:49 remaining in the quarter to cut the Tigers lead to 9-8.
Penn State fired its third goal of the second half off the stick of Matt Traynor with 5:16 left in the third quarter to tie the game up at 9-9.
Ethan Long tacked on his fifth goal of the game coming with 2:37 remaining in the third quarter to give Penn State its first lead of the game with the score being 10-9.
TJ Malone scored his 100th career goal with 1:52 remaining in the quarter to cap all the scoring in the quarter and to give Penn State an 11-9 lead.
Jeb Brenfleck added onto the 10-2 scoring run for Penn State with 12:38 remaining in the fourth quarter to put the Nittany Lions ahead 12-9.
Princeton broke the scoring drought with 7:24remaining in the quarter off a goal by Coulter Mackesy to cut the Penn State lead to 12-10.
The Tigers cut the Penn State lead to one with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter off a goal by Jake Stevens.
Princeton then tied the game up at 12-12with 6:08 remaining in regulation off a goal by Vardaro.
Winkoff fired back for Penn State to give the Nittany Lions a 13-12 lead with 4:16 left in the fourth quarter.