Mac O’Keefe, who scored 24 goals in his first four
collegiate games, leads the Nittany Lions’ incredible freshman class.
GOLDEN BOYS
Mac O’Keefe’s scoring acumen does not come as a surprise to those who watched him with the gold medal-winning U.S. under-19 team last summer. O’Keefe scored 11 goals with four assists in six games at the Federation of International Lacrosse U19 World Championship. He’s not the only U19 player making headlines. Some others:
JARED BERNHARDT (MARYLAND) Scored a buzzer-beater at the end of the first half of Terps’ season-opening win over Navy, providing momentum for a 15- 12 victory.
AUSTIN SIMS (PRINCETON) U.S. U19 co-captain scored a career-high six goals in the Tigers’ blistering 18-7 win over then-No. 3 Johns Hopkins on March 3.
MICHAEL SOWERS (PRINCETON) Dished five assists in his first collegiate game, followed by consecutive Ivy League Rookie of the Week nods.
TYLER DUNN (PENN)
The Quakers entire starting attack is comprised of U19 players, including Alex Roesner and Simon Mathias. Dunn scored three goals in Penn’s 11- 10 upset of Virginia on Feb. 25.
DOX AITKEN (VIRGINIA)
Scored four goals in his first collegiate game, a 16-15 win at Loyola in which U19 teammate Ryan Conrad netted the game-winning goal. Aitken led the Cavaliers with 19 goals through six games.
“Hopefully, this will be a year we take the step forward that we haven’t been able to take the last couple years,” Tambroni said. At the quarter pole of the season, it sure looked like that would be the case. The parts were in place: A bona fide faceoff man providing ample possessions; initiators in Ament and Aponte tossing to O’Keefe, even in tight spaces; and, by all accounts, a goalie in Kneese, a 5-foot-10, 173-pound righty rookie from Highland Park, Texas, playing beyond his years.
Even in one of the tougher outings of his early career, Kneese successfully directed a game-clinching defensive stop in the final 20 seconds in the key win against Penn, in which the Lions rallied from a 7-3 second-quarter deficit.
O’Keefe has been the biggest 30 US LACROSSE MAGAZINE April 2017
revelation, demonstrating uncanny ability to get his hands free in phone booth-type small spaces and a shooting range from 15 yards
“From about 15 and in, he’s lights out,” Ament said. “I’ve never seen a [freshman] class like them,” Aponte said, also making sure to mention starting defenseman TJ Connellan and Nick McEvoy, a freshman short-stick defensive midfielder. “It’s awesome to see. It makes my job a lot easier as a captain. And we got a great group of upperclassmen too. You don’t have to rely on the freshmen stepping up. You don’t even know what grade anyone is on the field, which is awesome.” The plan is to maintain those blurred lines, and continue to walk off the field happy. USL
PATRICK STEVENS CONTRIBUTED TO THIS STORY.
USlacrosse.org
©MARK SELDERS (MO); ©JOHN STROHSACKER (JB, DA); ©KEVIN P. TUCKER (AS, MS); ©PENN (TD)
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