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The Daily Collegian's Coverage of Penn State's Loss to Yale

May. 14, 2013

Riding a four goal lead at halftime, eighth-seeded Penn State looked as if it would cruise to the program's first ever NCAA Tournament victory, but Yale wasn’t finished yet.

The Bulldogs came out firing in the second half, scoring nine goals in the final two quarters to advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament after defeating the Nittany Lions, 10-7 on May 11.

Penn State posted arguably the best season in program history, going undefeated in regular season conference play with 12 wins, a number that has never been reached by the program before. The Lions' impressive regular season earned the school’s third ever NCAA Tournament berth and the first since 2005. With the loss today, the Lions move to 0-3 in NCAA Tournament play.

Yale jumped on the board first when Harry Kucharczyk scored an unassisted goal with 11:40 left to play in the first quarter to take a 1-0 lead. Kucharczyk’s goal would turn out to be the Bulldogs only tally of the half.

After nearly eight scoreless minutes, Jack Forster put Penn State on the board going unassisted toward the goal and extending his point streak to 29 games. Less than 30 seconds later, Shane Sturgis gave Penn State the 2-1 lead on an extra man opportunity after a faceoff violation by Yale’s Dylan Levings, who was 0-for-4 on faceoffs in the first quarter.

Penn State would carry the momentum through the remainder of the first quarter riding five saves from goalkeeper Austin Kaut. The Lions entered halftime on a 5-0 run with goals from Gavin Ahern, Nick Dolik and TJ Sanders that all came with more than nine minutes left in the second quarter. Even with the four-goal advantage and the momentum in its favor, Penn State would be held scoreless until midway through the third quarter.

After being shutout for 27 minutes, Yale answered in the second half as JW McGovern gave the Bulldogs life by scoring in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Penn State would come back with a goal from Drew Roper off an assist from Kyle VanThor to extend the Lions lead to 6-3.

The Lions have traditionally struggled in the second half, and the troubles were prevalent today as Yale broke down the Penn State defense in the second half going on a 6-0 scoring run.

In a last chance attempt, Penn State pulled Kaut leaving an open net which would result in another Yale goal despite JP Burnside’s diving attempt to deflect Colin Flaherty’s shot that put the Bulldogs up 10-6 with 1:46 left to play.