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Penn State Men's Lacrosse Scores Big Win in NCAA Tournament

The Nittany Lions return to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight year.
Mark Wogenrich|
The Penn State Nittany Lion mascot cheers before a Big Ten wrestling match vs. the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Penn State Nittany Lion mascot cheers before a Big Ten wrestling match vs. the Ohio State Buckeyes. | Dan Rainville / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Penn State men's lacrosse team returned to the NCAA quarterfinals for the third time in four years, defeating Army West Point 10-6 in the first round of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Tournament. The Nittany Lions will face either top-seeded Princeton or Marist, which play Sunday in a first-round game in New Jersey.

The seventh-ranked Nittany Lions will meet the Princeton-Marist winner in the NCAA quarterfinals Dec. 17 at Delaware Stadium in Newark. The game, whose start time is TBA, will be broadcast on ESPNU.

Penn State has won first-round tournament games in consecutive seasons and advanced to back-to-back quarterfinals for the first time in program history. Penn State improved its record to 10-5 on the season, its third double-digit wins campaign in the past four years and sixth under head coach Jeff Tambroni.

Hunter Aquino led Penn State to the victory over Army West Point with a three-goal performance. The Easton, Pennsylvania, native recorded his sixth hat trick of the season. Aquino scored two of his goals in the first period, lifting the Nittany Lions to a 3-1 lead, and completed the hat trick with a third-period goal.

Aquino, who recorded an assist for a four-point game, was named MVP of the Big Ten Men's Lacrosse Tournament, in which the Nittany Lions upset top-seeded Johns Hopkins for the title.

Redshirt freshman midfielder Andrew Beard scored twice for his fourth multi-goal game of the season and first since April 17. Senior midfielder Michael Faraone also scored two goals, his seventh multi-goal game of the season. Kyle Lehman scored his 25th goal of the season in the fourth quarter.

Defensively, Penn State forced 13 Army turnovers and held the Black Knights to just 18 shots on goal. Penn State held Army to less than half of its average scoring output. The Black Knights entered the game with the nation's 12th-ranked scoring offense, averaging 13 goals per game.

Freshman goaltender Preston Hawkins made 12 saves for the Nittany Lions to help secure the victory.

In his 16th season as Penn State's head coach, Tambroni seeks to lead the team back to the NCAA Final Four for the fourth time. The Nittany Lions qualified last season and in 2023, when they lost to Duke in a controversial NCAA semifinal.

The NCAA Tournament victory over Army West Point was Tamboni's 249th of his career. He ranks sixth among active NCAA men's lacrosse coaches in wins. He also has a career winning percentage of 65.3 percent.

Three Nittany Lions were named to the USA Lacrosse All-America Team, including senior defenseman Alex Ross to the second team. Senior short-stick defensive midfielder Jon King earned third-team honors, and sophomore faceoff Reid Gills earned honorable mention.

North Carolina, Duke and Johns Hopkins won their first-round games Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals with Penn State. Four more games are scheduled for Sunday, including the Princeton-Marist contest that will determine Penn State's quarterfinal-round opponent.

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Mark Wogenrich
MARK WOGENRICH

Mark Wogenrich is the editor and publisher of Penn State on SI, the site for Nittany Lions sports on the Sports Illustrated network. He has covered Penn State sports for more than two decades across three coaching staffs, three Rose Bowls and one College Football Playoff appearance.

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