UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. —  The 10th-ranked Penn State men's lacrosse team (3-1) outscored Navy 5-1 in the second half en route to a 13-7 victory over the visiting Mids (3-1) Saturday afternoon at Panzer Stadium in University Park, Pa. The loss was Navy's first of the 2025 campaign.
"It came down to Penn State making more plays than us when they needed to," said sixth-year Navy head coach Joe Amplo. "We fought and we played hard, but it wasn't enough to beat a talented team like Penn State. I thought some of the ticky-tack fouls hurt our flow and we needed to be able to tilt the field. We played too much defense, particularly in the second half.
"I thought
Dan Daly had his best game of the year and our second midfield really stepped up today. I also thought
Colin Shadowens came in in the second half and scrapped at the 'x' for us."
The opening period featured a back-and-forth joust between the two programs, as Penn State struck first with a Liam Matthews extra-man goal at the 9:39 mark. Navy answered less than a minute later when second-line midfielder
Jack Nichtern (Jr / Massapequa Park, N.Y.) went high on Nittany Lions All-American goalkeeper Jack Fracyon from the right elbow and leveled the game.
Penn State pulled ahead once again when Jack Aimone scored the first of his 3 extra-man goals of the contest. The Mids answered 48 seconds later when
Mac Haley (Jr / A / Shady Side, Md.) fed
Roman LaRocco (Sr / M / Mt. Airy, Md.) whose shot got past the ankles of Fracyon to knot the game at 2 apiece.
Kyle Lehman and Luke Walstrum worked beautifully together, as Walstrum found a cutting Lehman in front of the crease to make it 3-2. But once again, Navy answered. This time it was
Evan Conway (Sr / M / Charleston, S.C.), who punched in his first of 3 goals on the day to pull Navy even heading into the second quarter.
Conway gave Navy its lone lead of the game (4-3 / 11:33, 2Qtr) when he wrapped around the right side of the goal and punched in his second goal of the contest.
Matt Traynor sparked a 4-0 run by the Nittany Lions that featured the third and fourth extra-man goals on the day by Penn State, including Aimone's second and third.
Navy was not ready to bow out, as rookie
Jack Ponzio (M / Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) spun around his defender and fired off a 15-yard goal, followed by Conway's third goal of the game to trim the deficit to just one (7-6) with 1:44 remaining.
William Goers (Fr / A / Chester, Md.) was remarkable on that second possession, splitting a double team and using a swim move to give him time and space to get the ball to Conway.
Penn State won the ensuing faceoff and wasted little time in adding an insurance goal going into break thanks to a Walstrum wrap-around goal.
The name of the game in the second half was possession and Navy had very little of it. Penn State won all 4 draws in the third frame and it outshot Navy 19-7. The Nittany Lions scored a pair of goals to go up by 4 (10-6) before
Jack Flaherty (Jr / M / Massapequa, N.Y.) went low to low, near post on Fracyon to narrow the gap to 3 (10-7) at the end of the quarter.
The Flaherty goal would be Navy's last, however, as the Nittany Lion defense held the Mids scoreless in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Penn State scored 3 goals to secure the 13-7 victory. Penn State outshot Navy 12-5 in the fourth and split the faceoffs with 2 apiece.
Five different players scored goals for Navy, including Conway who produced his first-career hat trick. Meanwhile
Henry Tolker (Sr / A / Catonsville, Md.) saw his 15-game point-scoring streak come to an end. Ironically, the last time he did not score a goal or deal out an assist was against Penn State a year ago in Annapolis.
The faceoffs were split evenly with both teams winning 12 draws. It was a solid day for the Mids, as Penn State came into the game winning better than 60 percent of its draws, including 65 percent by Colby Baldwin. Baldwin went on to win just 11 of the 21 draws he took in the contest. Navy, meanwhile, won 10 of the 16 faceoffs in the opening half, but went just 2-for-8 in the second half.
Zach Hayashi (So / FO / North Potomac, Md.) won 8 of the 14 draws he took in the opening half, while
Colin Shadowens (Jr / Severna Park, Md.) went 3 for 9 and
Joey Bucci (So / West Chester, Pa.) was 1 for 1.Â
Dan Daly (Jr / Wayne, N.J.) was phenomenal in goal for the Mids where he closed out the game with a career-high 19 saves. It ties as the second-most saves in the Joe Amplo era (2020-present) and the most since Pat Ryan made 23 stops at Loyola on April 7, 2023. Daly gave up just 8 even-strength goals on the afternoon as Penn State scored 5 extra-man goals on 8 opportunities. Remarkably, Navy entered the contest having been penalized a combined 7 times in its first-3 contests, but was flagged 8 times in Saturday's game against the Nittany Lions.
Seven players accounted for Penn State's 13 goals with Aimone leading the way with 3, while Lehman, Traynor, Walstrum and Matthews closed out the day with 2 apiece. Walstrum added 3 assists for a team-leading 5-point performance, while Traynor had 2 assists to go along with his 2 goals.
The Nittany Lions' defense was fierce, pressuring Navy on both ends. Penn State finished the game with 15 caused turnovers, including 4 by Kevin Parnham and 3 by Alex Ross. Fracyon, meanwhile, made just 6 saves while allowing the 7 Navy goals.
The Midshipmen return to action next Saturday when they open Patriot League play at home against Boston University. Faceoff is slated for 12-noon at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium with Joe Miller calling the action on ESPN+ and 1430 AM / 99.9 FM WNAV.
Single-game tickets may be purchased by stopping by the Navy Ticket Office at Ricketts Hall, by calling 1-800-US4-NAVY, via the internet at www.navysports.com or at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium on game day. Ticket prices for home games are $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under, while groups of 20 or more will be offered a discounted ticket (in advance only, contact
Jordan Albright at 410-293-8791 / grouptickets@usna.edu). Additionally there is a $10 charge (credit card only) to park at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium for all games.
### Go Navy ###