Penn State Men’s Lacrosse Wallops Rutgers 18-6 in Big Ten Tournament Semifinal Game

Nary a week ago, Penn State escaped with a narrow 14-13 win over #20 Rutgers to end the regular season. The win required the Lions to overcome a late deficit, stealing the victory in the final moments of the game.

No such drama would be needed in the semifinal rematch.

The Lions cruised their way to a 18-6 victory over the Scarlet Knights in a game that wasn’t in doubt after the first 15 minutes.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Lions were up 3-2. From then until the end of the third quarter, Penn State would go 12-2, slamming the door on the upset-minded Knights.

With 10 minutes to go, the reserves came on the field, but the Lions still went 3-2 on the quarter to put the finishing touches on Rutgers’ season. The Knights’ only chance at the NCAA tournament was the Big Ten champion autobid, and so we won’t be seeing RU the rest of this season.

In the process of the game, Grant Ament recorded seven points, putting him at 95 on the season, a Big Ten single season record. Mac O’Keefe also tallied three goals, putting him at 54 on the season, breaking the single season Penn State record he himself set in 2017 with 51 goals. This was also the first Big Ten Tournament victory for the program.

The Lions, now 13-1, will look to win their first Big Ten Tournament championship when they take on #16 Johns Hopkins Saturday at 7 PM. JHU upset archrival #5 Maryland 12-7 in the other semifinal game, upsetting the Terps for the second time in less than a week. The championship game will be aired on BTN, and you can bet that BSD will have another open thread as we watch our team go for history.

Congrats, LAX bros, and let’s keep it going!