Goal horn at HPSS gets stuck during Rutgers men's lax win over Penn State
PISCATAWAY -- The No. 10-ranked Rutgers men's lacrosse team defeated No. 11 Penn State, 11-8, on Sunday night at High Point Solutions Stadium in a critical Big Ten Conference clash.
With time winding down in the third quarter, Rutgers attacker Connor Vercruysse scored in transition right in front of the net off an assist from midfielder Austin Divitcos with 11 seconds to go in the frame which put the Scarlet Knights up 9-5.
Rutgers was rolling with momentum.
But, after Vercruysse scored, something just wasn't quite right. The goal horn, which is the noise of a train horn, wouldn't stop. Usually, after a Rutgers goal, the horn sounds for a few seconds and sometimes with a short pause in between. This time, the horn kept blowing and it blared throughout the stadium for about five minutes.
The game, which was shown live on BTN, was forced into a TV timeout. It couldn't continue with the horn still going.
When the horn finally stopped and play resumed, the crowd went wild. However, Penn State scored three straight goals, including one at the buzzer to end the third, to cut its deficit to 9-8.
While it was unique and one of the craziest things that's happened in a game for Scarlet Knights head coach Brian Brecht, he took advantage of the stoppage of play, although the Nittany Lions went on a run.
"It was basically an extended timeout," Brecht said with a smile. "We had a chance to keep the team focused on the gameplan. It was tough giving one up off a rebound in a scramble situation. It would have been nice going into the fourth quarter with that extra goal lead, but I'm proud of the guys tonight. ...The Big Ten's a bear."
Rutgers' Kieran Mullins scored with 3:13 left in the game to make 10-8 and then Christian Mazzone scored an empty-net goal with 2:08 to go to give the game's finally tally.
The operators didn't press the horn button.
Check out what Rutgers goalie Max Edelmann and Mazzone had to say about the horn.
Edelmann: "When it stopped and the crowd got going, that was probably one of the moments I've had here at Rutgers. It fired the whole team up."
Mazzone: "It was pretty funny at first, but then it got a little annoying. But, it was a great goal by Vercruysse -- he broke the horn. The crowd was awesome. It was a funny experience honestly."
Game Notes:
- Shots: Rutgers 44, Penn Sate 27
- Extra man chances: Rutgers 0-3, PSU 0-3
- Faceoffs won: Penn State 15-7...including 10-for-10 in second half
- Turnovers: Rutgers 12, PSU 14
- Caused turnovers: Rutgers 9, PSU 6
- Ground Balls: PSU 38, Rutgers 28
- Rutgers now leads the all-time series with Penn State 43-22 in the third most played series in Rutgers history, dating back to 1946.
- Toliver's goal was his first since the season opener.
- Mazzone extended his goal-scoring streak to 17 games, the longest of any midfielder in the nation. It was his fourth-straight multi-goal game, and ninth time in the last ten games he scored at least twice.
- Mullins had his fourth game this season with at least three goals.
- Heningburg leads the Big Ten in points (65) and assists (31).
- With two goals, Heningburg moves into sole possession of 6th all-time at Rutgers with 114.
- With two assists, Heningburg ties for 10th place all-time at RU with 86.Heningburg is the 4th player in Rutgers history to reach the 200-point milestone. He needs just two points to move into second place all-time at Rutgers.
- In Big Ten Conference games, Mullins leads the team with 14 goals and 21 points. That goal total leads all Big Ten players in conference games.
- Kyle Plessed the team with two caused turnovers.
- Joe Francisco led the team with six ground balls, tying his season-high.