PSU roundup: Men’s soccer falls in PKs in Big Ten final; O’Keefe breaks NCAA LAX goals record, and more

Penn State football held a spring practice event on Saturday, open to first-year students and a select group of media, in place of the annual Blue-White Game. But football was far from the sport in action this weekend.

With every fall sport except football getting its 2020 season pushed until this spring, there was a lot going on, as several of those teams are now competing in their postseasons.

Here are the highlights of the weekend (Note: Look for the results of Penn State women’s volleyball’s NCAA regional semifinal game Sunday night in a separate story on CentreDaily.com and Tuesday’s print and eEditions):

Penn State men’s soccer falls in PKs in Big Ten final

No. 14 Penn State men’s soccer lost a heart-breaker on Saturday, falling in penalty kicks to No. 3 Indiana in the Big Ten Championship.

After a slow start to the game offensively, the Nittany Lions found their grove with about 20 minutes left in the game. The equalizer came in the 82nd minute from sophomore Liam Butts, assisted by Seth Kuhn. Redshirt junior Pierre Reedy attempted to put the Nittany Lions ahead with a shot at 85 minutes, but was denied by Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Roman Celentano.

After two scoreless overtime periods, the Hoosiers were victorious on penalty kicks, 3-2, to claim their third consecutive tournament title and fourth overall.

“I was so impressed with our team’s performance today in an outstanding Big Ten Championship match,” Penn State head coach Jeff Cook said in a statement. “The team showed great character, quality and fought back to take control of the game in the second half, and I thought fully deserved a better result today.”

The NIttany Lions’ record now stands at 8-1-2, 6-1-1 , as they await their fate in the NCAA Tournament.

Men’s LAX’s O’Keefe breaks NCAA goals record

Penn State senior lacrosse star Mac O’Keefe had a pretty good day on Friday.

Not only did he score with just three seconds left in the extra period to deliver the Nittany Lions the 14-13 overtime win over Michigan at Panzer Stadium, he also became the NCAA’s all-time leader in career goals with 216.

With six goals in Friday’s contest, O’Keefe surpassed the previous record of 213, held by Duke’s Justin Guterding (2015-18). O’Keefe also got to 213 in 11 less games. O’Keefe extended his goal streak to 41 consecutive games, the most among active players.

T.J. Malone tied his career high with seven points, including four goals. Canyon Birch added two goals, while Dylan Foulds had a goal and three assists. Dan Reaume contributed a goal and an assist, and Jack Kelly and Mark Sickler each added an assist. Aleric Fyock recorded eight saves in the second half and OT for the win.

The Nittany Lions move to 3-6 on the season, and will finish up the regular season at 4 p.m. April 24 at Ohio State. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Clayton earns All-America honors for men’s gymnastics

Senior Parker Clayton closed out his collegiate career this weekend by earning his first All-America honor at the 2021 National Collegiate Championships held at Minnesota’s Maturi Pavilion.

Clayton qualified for the final round on rings with a 14.133 on Friday and then scored a 14.0 in the final. He had been poised to win his first All-America honor in 2020, before the season was canceled.

Several other Nittany Lions came close to earning All-America honors, but finished just outside the top eight. Senior Jack Baldwin tied for eighth in the pommel horse with a score of 13.4, but was kept off the podium due to tiebreaker criteria. Freshman Matt Cormier tied for ninth on floor with a score of 14.566, and freshman Michael Jaroh earned 10th place on the parallel bars with a score of 13.766.

Men’s golf win 6th straight Rutherford Intercollegiate

Penn State men’s golf won its sixth consecutive Rutherford Intercollegiate this weekend at the Blue Course (even, 852).

Sophomore Patrick Sheehan finished second with a 208, including a 5-under 66 in the final round.

Penn State field hockey falls to Ohio State in OT

Despite rallying from a two-goal deficit to tie the game, Penn State wasn’t able to fend off Ohio State, falling 3-2 in its regular season finale on Saturday at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.

The Buckeyes took the early lead, connecting on two first-half penalty strokes. Penn State got on the board at the 11:45 mark with an unassisted goal from freshman Sophia Gladieux. Bree Bednarski knocked in a wide shot from Gladieux with just four minutes remaining in the game to tie things up.

Ohio State’s deciding goal came 1:13 into the extra stanza, on a high shot from Sarah Charley.

Nittany Lion goalie Brie Barraco had eight saves in the loss, as Penn State closed out its regular season with a 7-6 record overall, and 5-2 in the Big Ten.

Penn State baseball swept at home by Nebraska in 3-game series

Penn State baseball was unable to claim a victory in its three-game series with Nebraska over the weekend at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park.

The Nittany Lions surrendered 25 runs over the course of three games, while only accumulating seven runs of their own and lost 8-2, 11-2 and 5-3. They were only able to maintain a lead once throughout the series.

With the three losses, they now sit at 8-16 on the season and will look to bounce back next weekend when they travel to Ohio State for a three-game series with the Buckeyes starting at 6 p.m. Friday.

Women’s LAX falls in top-20 clash

No. 13 Penn State women’s lacrosse fell 13-11 to No. 20 Johns Hopkins on Sunday.

Kristin O’Neill scored three unassisted goals for the Nittany Lions, while Maria Auth also had three goals (one assist from O’Neil). Olivia Dirks added two unassisted goals.

Penn State is now 4-8 overall and 4-8 in the Big Ten.

Track & field competes at Big Ten invite

Penn State track & field competed Thursday and Friday at the Husker Big Ten Invitational in Texas.

Junior Yasmin Brooks won the women’s 100-meter hurdles final with a time of 13.52, while Victoria Tachinski earned a second-place finish in the women’s 800m run, recording a time of 2:09.08.

Penn State swept the top three spots in men’s javelin with Mark Porter (72.13m), Chris Fredericks( 68.74m) and Kevin Bartosh (65.03m). Madison Smith recorded the Big Ten’s fifth best throw of the season in the women’s javelin with a mark of 49.58m, and Breana Gambrell set a new outdoor PR in the triple jump with a fourth-place distance of 12.43m.

Katie Jones was third in pole vault with a top jump of 4.04m, and Hailey Zurich as fifth with 3.94m. Noah Swaby, a day after setting a program record in decathlon shot put, set another PR with a 46.60m throw decathlon discus throw. He also set a new PR with his 7517 overall decathlon score.

Men’s tennis falls to Michigan, tops Michigan State

Penn State men’s tennis fell 4-1 to No. 30 Michigan on Friday, then beat Michigan State 6-1 on Sunday.

Miko Eala got the lone win for the Nittany Lions against the Wolverines, defeating Patrick Maloney (6-4, 6-2).

Winning for the Nittany Lions against the Spartans on Senior Day in doubles were: Christian Lakoseljac/Bora Sengul (PSU) def. #47 Nick Williams/Kazuki Matsuno (MSU) 6-12 and Tim Ruetzel/Eala (PSU) def. Drew Keene/Jarreau Campbell (MSU) 6-23.

Penn State’s singles winners were: Lakoseljac (PSU) def. Carson Gates (MSU) 4-6, 6-1, 6-12; Sengul (PSU) def. Williams (MSU) 6-3, 6-23.; Eala (PSU) def. Josh Mukherjee (MSU) 6-1, 6-24; Ruetzel (PSU) def. Anthony Pero (MSU) 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 5 and Christos Antonopoulos (PSU) def. Graydon Lair (MSU) 6-2, 6-2.

Penn State women’s tennis was swept 6-0 by No. 10 Ohio State on Saturday.

This story was originally published April 18, 2021 at 4:42 PM.