Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1519242
M A Y 2 0 2 4 17 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M FIVE YEARS AGO, 2019 The Nittany Lion lacrosse team won the Big Ten Tournament in dramatic fashion, squandering a two-goal lead in the final minute of the championship game against Johns Hopkins before re- grouping in overtime. The Blue Jays scored two goals in 11 seconds to tie the score, 17-17. They seemed to have all the momentum heading into the extra period, but for- ward Mac O'Keefe wasn't going to let a rare title shot slip away. The nation's leading scorer at 3.86 goals per game, O'Keefe fired a low shot past Johns Hopkins goalkeeper Ryan Darby just 25 seconds into overtime to give PSU an 18-17 victory and its first Big Ten Tour- nament crown. "It's one thing to build momentum going into overtime and then to win it," coach Jeff Tambroni said. "But to give up a two-goal lead with a minute left to play, it's a tough way to go into it." The resourcefulness they showed in Piscataway, N.J., carried over into the NCAA Tournament. Making only the fifth appearance at NCAAs in their his- tory, the Lions thumped the University of Maryland Baltimore County, 25-10, and Loyola (Md.), 21-14, en route to the final four. There, in Philadelphia, the joyride came to an end, with Yale prevailing 21- 17 in the semifinals to end the winningest season in program history at 16-2. 10 YEARS AGO, 2014 The Penn State track and field teams both enjoyed a big finish to the confer- ence season. The women took first place at the Big Ten Outdoor Champion- ships, with Kiah Seymour winning the 400-meter hurdles, Mahagony Jones capturing the title in the 200-meter race, and those two star sprinters team- ing up with Dynasty McGee and Tichina Rhodes to win the 4x400 relay. On the men's side, shot putter Darrell Hill took home Big Ten Field Athlete of the Year and Athlete of the Champi- onships honors. His winning throw of 67 feet, 6 inches was second-best in program history and helped PSU finish sixth as a team. "We fought well all weekend," said PSU track mentor Beth Alford-Sulli- van, who was named Big Ten Women's Coach of the Year. "The senior class of ladies was outstanding. They fueled our passion with great performances. I'm proud of the win, my staff and our total program." Also in the news was coach Rob Coo- per's baseball team. During a 4-2 loss to Michigan State on May 16, the Lions ended both the fourth and eighth in- nings with triple plays. Only two other teams in major-college or professional baseball history had ever turned two tri- ple plays in the same game — Gonzaga in 2006 and the Minnesota Twins in 1990. "I wish I could tell you we practiced it or it's something that we have in our back pocket," Cooper said. "But really, it's just pretty cool." 25 YEARS AGO, 1999 The Penn State softball team hadn't been to a conference tournament since 1991, its final year of Atlantic 10 mem- bership. But in 1999, their third season under coach Robin Petrini, the Nittany Lions went 34-20 overall and 15-9 in conference play and qualified for the Big Ten tourney for the first time. The third-seeded Lions opened the tournament with a 2-1 loss to Minnesota in which the Gophers spoiled a strong effort by pitcher Jaci Kalp, scoring the only runs they would need on a first-in- ning home run and a run-scoring single in the top of the fifth. "You get to this level and there are not going to be a lot of runs scored," Pe- trini said. "I thought it was a very clean game, but they just came up with one more run than we did." There weren't a lot of runs scored the next day, either; Penn State edged Iowa, 1-0, to set up a showdown with tourna- ment host Michigan. Unlike the previ- ous games, the clash with U-M featured plenty of scoring, all of it by the Wolver- ines. They romped to an 11-0 victory in five innings, ending Penn State's season. While their final game was a disap- pointment, the Nittany Lions compiled their first winning record (35-21) since 1990 and set the stage for an even better showing in 2000 when they reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time. — Matt Herb This Month In Penn State Athletics History Attackman Mac O'Keefe was the nation's leading scorer during the 2019 season, finishing with 78 goals. PHOTO BY JOHN PATISHNOCK