Box Score CHARLOTTE, N.C. – On the final day of the Crown Lacrosse Classic, the Jacksonville University men's lacrosse team fought arguably the best team in the tournament – and nation – in a 24-11 loss at the hands of No. 4 Penn State, Sunday afternoon.
With a hand in the first two goals of the game, an unassisted mark just 38 seconds in and a helper to graduate student
Kieran Byrnes with 12:31 showing, sophomore
Jack Dolan sparked the Dolphins' offense en route to his third-straight game with five or more points. Dolan finished the day with three goals and two assists.
The Dolphins scored twice more in the first, as freshman
Bo BowHunter dished a pass to junior
Dwayne Mattushik with 4:22 on the clock before Dolan closed out the quarter with his second unassisted goal of the game with 41 seconds remaining. However, a pair of six-goal runs by the NIttany Lions in the first half put the game out of reach as Penn State took a 17-6 lead at halftime.
Jacksonville matched Penn State goal-for-goal in the third quarter, as senior captain and 2019 MLL draftee
Eric Applegate notched the Dolphins' first goal of the second half at 11:13, thanks to a Dolan helper, before he handed out his own assist to Mattushik 35 seconds later with 10:38 on the clock.
Penn State tacked on three more goals in the final quarter, but the Dolphins closed things out with back-to-back tallies from freshman
Brendan McKenna (5:42) and Mattushik (2:40) before the final whistle.
Junior
Hunter Sells and freshman
Matt Sageder split time between the crease, as Sells finished with seven saves and Sageder recorded three.
Defensively, freshman
Zack Deaken picked up a team-high five ground balls and caused a pair of Nittany Lion turnovers, while redshirt-sophomore
Tommy Barnhorst (4 GBs, 3 CTs) and freshman
Jordan Young (3 GBs, 2 CTs) combined for seven ground balls and five caused turnovers.
For Penn State, Grant Ament recorded a game-high 10 points (2 goals, 8 assists), while Colby Kneese (5 saves), Trevor Scollins (1 save), and Dylan Sulzbach (1 save) combined for the win in the crease.
The Dolphins open Southern Conference action next Saturday, March 16 at Bellarmine with opening faceoff set for noon.
