Talk about being under fire while you’re on the job. Over 75 shots on goal were fired in the direction of Penn State goalie J.J. Pearl during the men’s lacrosse team’s 16-8 thrashing by Towson State.
The Lions had their typical shotgun start. At first it seemed as if it were going to be a close match, with the Lions scoring two quick goals. Then Towson started scored and the Lions lost their momentum.
The ball spent most of the final three quarters circling the Penn State goal. Pearl was under constant fire, and was receiving little help from his defense, who seemed noticeably tired. Suprisingly enough, only 16 of these shots found their way past Pearl.
“We played not to lose,” Pearl said, “we didn’t play to win, and that’s why they beat us.”
Coach Glenn Thiel said that his team just had a bad day. Pearl himself said that he was feeling flat going into the game.
“When your goalie has an off day, then basically so does the rest of the team,” Thiel said.
Pearl said that he had a personal vendetta against Towson State. He chose Penn State over Towson out of high school. He said that both schools were pulling him pretty hard, but he met Thiel at a lacrosse camp, and basically thought that Penn State was closer to the type of shcool that he wanted to attend.
Until this year Pearl fought daily for his job as starting goalie with Jamie Morse, who is now an attackman. Pearl said that his new job security has improved his performance.
“I can concentrate a lot better now, and it allows me to do some new things that I couldn’t do before,” Pearl said.
Pearl said that now he has become confident with his starting position, and he is playing up to the level that he feels that he was at before.
Pearl has been playing in goal since he first took an interest in lacrosse in his fourth grade gym class.
“Basically nobody else wanted to stand there and take the heat, and I was willing,” he said. “I didn’t have the speed some of the others had, but what I lacked in speed, I made up for in cordination.”
He said that he has a true love for the sport, and plans to continue his play in a box league or something of the sort after graduation.
“It’s the only true American sport,” he said. “There’s a lot of deep tradition involved, and I like being a part of that.”
Pearl has set a goal for he and his team to make it to the NCAA tournament this season, a feat that no Penn State team has ever accomplished. To do that the Lions cannot lose another game. They have a game Saturday at Hobart.
“Lacrosse to Hobart is like football is to Penn State,” he said, “They are having a lacrosse festival and there will be well over 10,000 people on hand. It’s kind of intimidating, but I’m confident that we’ll be able to shut that out and play the game.”