Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/797655
T he game may not have counted, but there was a positive takeaway when the Penn State men's lacrosse team faced Navy in a January exhibition con- test. The Nittany Lions' performance instilled a feeling of optimism in Jeff Tambroni. The seventh-year Penn State coach came away from that game feeling good about his team's chemistry and hopeful that the consistency of its ef- fort would carry over into the regular sea- son. "I thought the en- ergy and readiness of our team is just at a level I'm not sure I've seen in the presea- son," Tambroni said prior to Penn State's regular-season opener last month against Robert Mor- ris. "I think we've been excited to play in certain games because of the name on the opposing team's jersey, but the excitement and confidence coming across from this group is something I have not seen from this team in the last number of years, if ever." So far, Tambroni's preseason assess- ment has proven to be prophetic. The Nittany Lions won their first five games and are off to their best start since 1992. Following an 15-11 win over Robert Morris in the opener, they used their high-scoring attack to rip Hobart (21-15), Cornell (20-10) and Villanova (17-12) on consecutive weekends. They then edged eighth- ranked Penn, 14-13, on March 4 at Holuba Hall and as of this writing were up to fifth place in the Inside Lacrosse and USILA polls. Penn State went into the season boasting a wealth of experience, but the breakout star of the first month was a newcomer: freshman attackman Mac O'Keefe. Through five games, O'Keefe was averaging 5.0 goals per game to lead the nation. In the victory over Villanova on Feb. 25, O'Keefe provided nearly half of Penn State's scoring, finishing with eight goals on 11 shots. It was the third- highest single-game scoring total in school history and the highest by a Penn State freshman, breaking a record that O'Keefe had set three weeks ear- lier with seven goals against Robert Morris. "He makes it look so easy," Tambroni said following the victory over the Wildcats. "I know how hard he works to put himself in that position, so he is reaping a lot of rewards for his work ethic." O'Keefe's work habits began taking shape years ago at his home in Syosset, N.Y., where he would spend hours in the backyard, flinging shots at a prac- tice net. A lot of those shots ended up bouncing off the wooden fence behind the net, and a few ended up even farther afield. As O'Keefe told Inside Lacrosse recently, "I've broken a few of the neighbors' windows shooting over the years." But he got plenty of guidance from his father, Brian O'Keefe, who had played the sport himself, first at Fair- leigh Dickinson and later as a member of the National Lacrosse League's New York Saints and Anaheim Storm. After a growth spurt in high school – he now stands 6-foot-0, 180 pounds – O'Keefe developed into a major scor- ing threat, leading Nassau County with 63 goals in 2015 and helping Syosset claim the Long Island Class A championship. He has continued his fast rise in his debut season at Penn State, winning Big series of the regular season, a two-game set at Michigan, the Nittany Lions ap- peared to have an excellent chance to make the tournament for the first time in the program's history. It's a milestone that Goodwin is eager to help Penn State achieve. He played his final home game March 4 against Wis- consin, and now that the postseason has nearly arrived, he's looking to add a ban- ner to the rafters at Pegula Ice Arena. "It'll be very tough to leave this place," he said, "but it'll be a lot easier to leave this place if we're leaving it after going to the NCAA tournament." ■ ON THE ATTACK Newcomer Mac O'Keefe paces the high-scoring PSU laxers | O'KEEFE VARSITY VIEWS MEN'S ICE HOCKEY Lions rout Wisconsin to earn series split Senior David Goodwin tied a ca- reer-high with four points on two goals and two assists, as Penn State shut out Wisconsin, 6-0, on senior night March 4 at Pegula Ice Arena. Goodwin helped give the 11th- ranked Nittany Lions a ;rst-period lead that they would not relinquish, beating Badgers goalie Matt Jurusik on the far blocker side to put Penn State up 2-0. He also scored one of the Lions' three third-period goals. Freshman Peyton Jones tied a ca- reer-high with 36 saves and earned his second shutout of the season to improve to 19-7-2 on the year. In improving to 21-9-2 overall and 10-7-1 in Big Ten action, the Nittany Lions bounced back from a 7-4 loss to the 16th-ranked Badg- ers the night before. The Lions fought back from a two-goal de;cit in the second pe- riod of the series opener, tying the score, 3-3, on Andrew Sturtz's 21st goal of the season. But Wisconsin scored four of the game's last ;ve goals, including an empty-netter by Ryan Wagner with just under two minutes to play. ■