Legacy Game: Ethan Long, Jack Fracyon Star in Penn State's Comeback Win

A team accustomed to turning things around saved perhaps its best 180 for Sunday night.

Penn State, winner of just three games a season ago, won the Big Ten’s regular season championship this spring. In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the fifth-seeded Nittany Lions found themselves down by six early against visiting Princeton — a quarterfinalist last year on a hot streak after winning the Ivy League tournament as the No. 4 seed.

The tide started to turn when Penn State settled full time into a zone at the end of the second quarter, limiting Princeton and buying some time for the offense to come alive. That’s just what happened, and with Jack Fracyon tying a program postseason record with 16 saves, Penn State is advancing to the quarters after a 13-12 win.

Ethan Long entered the game with 11 goals on the season but scored five on seven shots against the Tigers.

“In games like this, you’re going to have to find somebody out there …  who stands up to create his own legacy,” Penn State head coach Jeff Tambroni said on the ESPN broadcast. “He was just terrific and opportunistic tonight.”

Princeton (8-7) started fast, building a 7-1 lead. Coulter Mackesy scored four times in that run and finished with six goals, setting the Tigers’ single-season record. The energy began to shift in Panzer Stadium when Long kickstarted a stretch in which Penn State scored 11 of the next 13 goals.

The biggest portion of that 11-2 run came at the onset of the third quarter with the Nittany Lions down 9-6. Penn State shut out Princeton in the third quarter and scored six straight, counting Jeb Brenfleck’s goal with 12:38 left in the fourth quarter.

That was the last Penn State goal for more than eight minutes. Mackesy’s sixth goal made it 12-10, then Jake Stevens scored 23 seconds later to make it 12-11. Alexander Vardaro netted the equalizer with 6:08 left.

Credit Kevin Winkoff with the game-winner for Penn State. He dodged, found an inch of space and ripped a righty laser past Michael Gianforcaro with 4:16 remaining. Fracyon sealed the win on Princeton’s final possession, saving a shot by Vardaro.

The under-the-radar Nittany Lions draw Army in the quarterfinals at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

“We just put our head down when nobody was looking, and it’s worked out,” Long said.