Penn State holds off late rally from Army

Nittany Lions to face Duke in NCAA Tournament semis

Leading by five goals early in the second half, it appeared Penn State men’s lacrosse was going to cruise to victory in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament quarterfinal against Army.

Attackman TJ Malone and the offense were clicking on all cylinders, while defender Jack Posey and his unit had the Army attackmen out of sync.

However, Nittany Lions coach Jeff Tambroni knew full well the Black Knights were going to continue battling, and that certainly proved true.

Malone scored four goals as fifth-seeded Penn State built a big lead then held off a strong Army rally to escape with a 10-9 win before an enthusiastic crowd of 13,354 at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

Army had the ball with a chance to tie the score on the game’s final possession and got a golden opportunity when Penn State defender Sam Sweeney was called for cross-checking. That gave the Black Knights an extra-man opportunity with 23.6 seconds remaining.

Midfielder Jacob Morin attempted to split a double-team but tripped and lost the ball while falling to the ground. There was a wild scramble for the ground ball and players on the Penn State bench charged onto the field as the final horn sounded.

However, the same instant Morin emerged from the pileup with the ball, he fired a shot past unsuspecting goalkeeper Jack Fracyon. It was a bang-bang play and the officials needed to use replay review to determine that Morin had not released the ball before time expired.

“I knew we had to get a shot off quick, so I tried to split them and come over the top. It didn’t work out. I ended up on the ground and just tried my best to come up with the ball and get a shot off as quick as possible,” Morin said.

Fracyon, an Annapolis resident, admitted he was on pins and needles while waiting for lead official Brian Abbott to review the final play. Abbott emerged from under the hood and signaled the goal was no good, prompting the Penn State players to charge onto the field a second time in celebration.

Fracyon finished with 11 saves for Penn State (11-4), which advances to the Final Four for just the second time in program history. Malone is one of four current players who were members of the first team to accomplish the feat in 2019.

Penn State will meet top-seeded Duke Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Tambroni said the graduate students and seniors set making the final weekend of May as the goal going into the season. The Nittany Lions were coming off two straight losing seasons, including a disastrous 3-11 campaign in 2022.

“This was a full-time commitment these guys made from the day last season ended until now,” Tambroni said. “The message down in the locker room was don’t take it for granted. Make the most of it because it’s a phenomenal opportunity and one these guys will remember for a lifetime.”

Malone, who missed all of last season with an injury, remembers well the magical 2019 season when Penn State went 16-2 before falling to Yale in the NCAA semifinals. The

Haverford School product figured there would be plenty more trips to the Final Four in his future.

“It was a bunch of All-Americans who made it look so easy. I thought I was going to be there every year since,” Malone said. “We didn’t know what to expect after two losing seasons. We just put our heads down and worked and worked. Nobody believed in us, but we believed in our locker room.”

Malone’s fourth goal gave Penn State an 8-3 lead at the 13:40 mark of the third quarter. It capped an 8-1 run that gave the Nittany Lions a commanding lead.

That impression was largely because of Army’s offensive struggles.

“Credit to Penn State, which has a tremendous goalie and tremendous defense. On our part, we were really struggling to string a couple passes together,” Army coach Joe Alberici said. “Fundamentally, we were not at our finest in the first half. We became pretty singular in our offense and that’s a tough way to beat a good goalie.”

When freshman Gunnar Fellows found the back of the net with 7:42 left in the third quarter, it broke a scoreless drought of more than 33 minutes for Army. That started a 6-2 run that got the Black Knights back into the game.

“I would say 90% of it was Army. They forced the tempo and were really tough in their individual matchups both offensively and defensively,” Tambroni said. “I give Jack and the defense a lot of credit because they continued to keep belief in our team with their consistent play.”

Morin scored off a wicked left-handed crank shot from the wing 46 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut Penn State’s lead to 9-7. An unassisted goal off a sidearm crank shot by attackman Kevin Winkoff briefly stemmed the momentum and gave Penn State a 10-7 lead midway through the final frame.

However, Fellows scored his team-high third goal less than a minute later, and sophomore attackman Finn McCullough made it 10-9 with 3:41 to go. Penn State won the ensuing possession and was able to take valuable time off the clock, but a save by goalie Knox Dent with just under a minute left gave Army one last chance.

“I’m incredibly proud of the effort they put forward today. Today, I wouldn’t call that our best [performance] right away, but they still just grinded away and found a way to put themselves in position to win. That’s representing the jersey,” said Alberici, who noted his squad outshot Penn State 29-13 in the second half.

Penn State’s defense suffered a blow when Posey, the unit’s leader, went down with a leg injury after getting caught up in the back of the cage.

Tambroni credited Sweeney, an Edgewater resident who normally plays long-stick midfield, with moving to close defense and capably replacing Posey.

“You could tell it took the wind out of our team’s sails. Jack’s an emotional leader, a leader by example and just a terrific young man. I thought our defense did a really good job of figuring out ways to make up for his loss,” Tambroni said.

Midfielder Jake Morin added three assists for Penn State, the regular season champions of the Big Ten Conference.

Jacob Morin (no relation) scored two goals, while fellow midfielder Bailey O’Connor totaled a goal and two assists for Army (13-4), which was seeking its third appearance in the semifinals and first since 1984.