Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1499919
4 0 J U N E / J U L Y 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M T he Penn State men's lacrosse team had been waiting four years to get back to the Final Four. It could wait a few more minutes. The Nittany Lions had been clinging to a one-goal lead against Army West Point in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament and were trying desperately to finish off the resilient Black Knights. They had seemingly succeeded. With the ball trapped in a scrum in front of the Penn State net, the clock hit zero and players began pouring onto the field from the sideline to celebrate. The excitement died down, however, when officials decided they wanted to look at a replay of the final seconds. Army had managed to fire off one last shot, and it had found the back of the net. Had the Black Knights beaten the clock? They had not. The replay showed that Army's shot was a split second too late. Penn State had its victory, a 10-9 win on May 21 in Annapolis, Md., in which it sur- vived a 17-shot barrage from the Black Knights in the fourth quarter. The Lions (11-4) were headed to the Fi- nal Four for only the second time in school history, with top-ranked Duke awaiting them in the semifinal round at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on May 27. Graduate attackman TJ Malone led the way for Penn State with 4 goals against Army. On the opposite end of the field, sophomore goalie Jack Fracyon allowed the fewest goals ever by a Nittany Lion netminder in an NCAA Tournament game. Malone had been at PSU for its previous trip to the Final Four in 2019. The Nit- tany Lions were led that year by some of the greatest players in program history, including Grant Ament, a three-time All- American and the Big Ten career points leader, and Mac O'Keefe, the most prolific goal scorer in NCAA history. "Unbelievable guys, they made it look so easy," Malone told reporters after the Army game. "I thought I was going to be there every year since. But life happens. You have ups and downs." For Penn State, the downs included a 4-7 finish in 2021 and a 3-11 showing in an injury-plagued 2022 season. Given those struggles, it wasn't surprising that the Lions were unranked heading into the 2023 campaign or that they were picked to finish fifth in the six-team Big Ten in the preseason coaches' poll. Once the season began, however, it was clear that PSU had been underestimated. The Lions boasted a balanced offense, with Malone, graduate attackmen Jack Traynor and Kevin Winkoff, and sopho- more midfielder Matt Traynor all topping 20 goals on the season. They also had a stellar goalie in Fracyon, and they used those assets to put together one of the best seasons in school history. During the nonconference season, Penn State pulled off wins over No. 7 Yale, No. 10 Penn and No. 3 Cornell in a 15-day span. They went on to finish 4-1 in confer- ence play to capture the Big Ten regular- season title. While they fell 17-15 to surg- ing Michigan in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, they rebounded with a 13-12 victory over Princeton in the first round of the NCAA tourney. Sophomore midfielder Ethan Long erupted for 5 goals in the win over the Ti- gers, but throughout the season, PSU's hallmark has been its balance. Heading into the matchup against the Blue Dev- ils, the Nittany Lions' top scorer, Malone, was tied for 65th in the country with an average of 2.20 goals per game. Yet as a OLYMPIC SPORTS Penn State celebrated a Big Ten championship after clinching a share of the league's regular-season title with a 14-5 victory over Rutgers on April 21. PHOTO BY MARK SELDERS/PENN STATE ATHLETICS Worth The Wait Penn State's bounce-back men's lacrosse season includes a Big Ten title and a Final Four appearance M AT T H E R B | M A T T. H E R B @ O N 3 . C O M