NCAA Lacrosse Tournament 2019: PSU, Yale Win Sunday to Reach Men's Semifinals

The top-seeded Penn State Nittany Lions advanced to the semifinals of the 2019 NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship tournament with a victory Sunday over the No. 8 Loyola Greyhounds at Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut.

Joining Penn State in the penultimate round will be the No. 5 Yale Bulldogs, who defeated the No. 4 Penn Quakers in overtime in Sunday's second game, as well as the No. 2 Duke Blue Devils and No. 3 Virginia Cavaliers following their OT wins Saturday.

Let's check out all of the important tournament information following the drama-filled quarterfinals. That's followed by a recap of Sunday's action.

May 19 Quarterfinal Results

(1) Penn State 21, (8) Loyola 14

(5) Yale 19, (4) Penn 18 (OT)

May 25 Semifinal Bracket

(1) Penn State vs. (5) Yale

(2) Duke vs. (3) Virginia

Penn State 21, Loyola 14

Penn State erupted with nine goals in the second quarter to help turn a one-goal deficit following the first quarter into a seven-point halftime advantage, and the team never relinquished the lead.

Loyola did fight back by outscoring the Nittany Lions 7-3 in the third period, but the first-time NCAA tournament quarterfinalists pitched a shutout in the fourth to secure the semifinal berth.

Mac O'Keefe, the nation's leader in goals per game, was a dominant force once again for Penn State with nine goals on 16 shots.

Jack Kelly found the net four times for the Nittany Lions, while Grant Ament added a goal and eight assists.

Pat Spencer paced the Greyhounds by tallying six goals and five assists for a game-high 11 points. But the Penn State defense did well to limit Kevin Lindley, who entered the contest second to O'Keefe in average scoring, as he recorded a single goal on just three shots.

Yale 19, Penn 18 (OT)

Jack Tigh played the role of hero by sending Yale, the defending champs, into the semis with the game-winning goal 2:32 into the first overtime period to eliminate the Bulldogs' Ivy League rivals from Penn.

It was the second tally of the game for Tigh as part of a well-rounded Yale offensive effort. Jackson Morrill and Lucas Cotler netted four goals apiece, while John Daniggelis and Matt Gaudet added hat tricks.

Penn enjoyed similar across-the-board production. Tyler Dunn, Mitch Bartolo, Adam Goldner, Sean Lulley and Simon Mathias each scored three times in the quarterfinal. Goalie Reed Junkin made 14 saves, six more than Bulldogs counterpart Jack Starr, but it wasn't quite enough.

The extremely close nature of the game didn't come as a surprise. Penn needed triple overtime to defeat Yale at home in March, and the Quakers registered another one-goal win over the Bulldogs in the Ivy League Championship Game earlier this month.

The Bulldogs won the biggest meeting of them all, however, and now they advance to face off with Penn State, a team they defeated 14-13 back in February.