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Cavaliers Close Out Season With 10-8 Loss To Penn State
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May 8, 2004
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. (www.gopsusports.com) – The Penn State men’s lacrosse team (6-7, 0-3) completed its season with a solid 10-8 win over the Virginia Cavaliers (5-8, 1-2) at Jeffrey Field. The win marks the sixth non-conference victory of the year for the Lions and the second win over Virginia in Nittany Lion men’s lacrosse history. Sophomore attackman Chris Gannett led the Lions in scoring with two goals and two assists.
Virginia tacked on the first goal of the game when attackman Matt Ward scored on an assist from Foster Gilbert. The Lions responded four minutes later on a goal from freshman Gil Pearsall to tie the score at 1-1. John Christmas notched his lone goal of the day for the Cavaliers when he scored on a hard shot from the top of the crease. Sophomore attackman Nate Whitaker then evened the score once again when he scored a on an assist from junior Will Culter. Whitaker finished the season carrying a 27-game scoring streak having tallied at least one point in every game he has played in as a Nittany Lion.
Penn State pulled ahead in the second quarter at the 9:55 mark when senior Greg Hale scored an extra-man goal on an assist from Whitaker. Cutler put the Lions up by two goals when he tallied an unassisted goal that he fired from the top of the zone. The Cavaliers scored their first goal of the quarter when Matt Poskay connected with a one-timer from Joe Yevoli. Gannett scored the Lions’ second extra-man goal of the game with ten seconds remaining in the quarter to put the Penn State up 5-3 at halftime.
Patrick Heim started the scoring in the third quarter when he notched an extra-man goal to give Penn State a 6-3 lead. Virginia answered back one minute later when Yevoli bounced a shot into the back of the net to cut the Nittany Lion lead to two goals. Ward then scored two straight goals on assists from Gilbert as the Cavaliers tied the game at 6-6. The Lions took the lead at the end of the third quarter when midfielder Mike Jacober and Whitaker both netted goals to give the Lions an 8-6 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
Virginia tallied two goals in 30 seconds in the fourth quarter to tie the game again at 8-8. Justin Mullen scored and Yevoli notched Virginia’s only extra-man goal. The Cavaliers then committed twocrucial penalties, which led to extra-man goals from Heim and Gannett to seal the Penn State victory, 10-8.
Junior goalkeeper Josh LaGrow played all 60:00 minutes making a career high 19 saves. Virginia goalkeeper Tillman Johnson also played the entire match finishing with 11 saves.
GOAL – (ASSISTS): PSU 1st quarter-Gil Pearsall – (Mike Jacober), Nate Whitaker – (Will Cutler); 2nd quarter-Greg Hale – (Nate Whitaker) Will Cutler, Chris Gannett); 3rd quarter-Mike Jacober – (Will Jones), Nate Whitaker; 4th quarter-Patrick Heim – (Chris Gannett), Chris Gannett – (Will Jones).
UVA 1st quarter-Matt Ward – (Foster Gilbert, John Christmas – (Foster Gilbert); 2nd quarter-Matt Poskay – (Joe Yevoli); 3rd quarter-Joe Yevoli, Matt Ward – (Foster Gilbert), Matt Ward – (Foster Gilbert); 4th quarter-Justin Mullen – (Matt Ward), Joe Yevoli – (Matt Poskay)
SAVES: PSU, Josh LaGrow (60:00 minutes, 8 goals allowed, 19 saves)
UVA: Tillman Johnson (60:00 minutes, 10 goals allowed, 11 saves)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU, 47: UVA, 26
EMO: PSU, 5-8: UVA, 1-4