CHARLOTTE – The No. 6 Penn State men's lacrosse team scored the first four goals of the game, and extended its lead to 10-2 early in the second quarter, en route to a 19-13 victory over No. 3 Cornell this evening at the Crown Lacrosse Classic, played at the Sportsplex at Matthews in Charlotte, N.C. The loss is the first of the season for the Big Red, as it slips to 3-1, while the Nittany Lions improve to 5-1.
 
The Crown Classic continues on Sunday as Cornell takes on No. 1 Towson at 1 p.m.
 
The Big Red had nine different players reach the scoring column, led by Jeff Teat's five points on two goals and three assists, while Jonathan Donville and John Piatelli finished with two goals and one assist apiece. Clarke Petterson also scored twice for Cornell with the team's only goals during PSU's decisive early run.
 
Defensively, Cornell caused 19 of Penn State's 20 turnovers on the evening and allowed the Nittany Lions to clear the ball successfully just 15 out of 21 times. Senior Fleet Wallace finished with five caused turnovers, just one off the school record, while Dom Doria and Brandon Salvatore registered four apiece. Salvatore also picked up a team-high six ground balls, while Wallace and Doria each had three.
 
Behind the defense, freshman goalie Chayse Ierlan came on in relief of Caelahn Bullen late in the first quarter and made 11 saves while allowing 13 goals.
 
For Penn State, Grant Ament orchestrated the offense with nine assists, while Mac O'Keefe, the leading scorer in the nation, finished with six goals and one helper.
 
PSU, the second-best offensive team in the nation, had plenty of chances thanks to Gerard Arceri's performance in the face-off circle. Arceri won 25-of-36 restarts and picked up 18 ground balls to give the Nittany Lions the lopsided advantage in possessions.
 
Penn State also held the advantage in shots (37-31) and ground balls (45-28).
 
Cornell went 3-of-4 on man-up chances while holding PSU to a 2-of-4 performance.
 
After a disastrous start saw the Big Red facing a 10-2 deficit at the 13:10 mark of the second quarter, Cornell scored four of the next six goals in the game, including two from Connor Fletcher, to make it a 12-7 contest with 11:09 to go in the third quarter.
 
Cornell eventually made it a three-goal game when Zach Ward opened the fourth quarter with a tally but PSU responded with tree unanswered to reclaim some momentum. Back-to-back goals from Donville and Teat late in the contest cut the Nittany Lion's lead to 17-13 with 4:22 to play, but that was as good as it would get and PSU got two late insurance goals to account for the 19-13 final.