The college lacrosse season started in earnest Saturday, marking the long-awaited return of two All-American-caliber attackmen out of the Big Ten.

Penn State’s Grant Ament, who missed all of 2018 with a foot injury, scored three goals and doled out seven assists to lead the Nittany Lions to a 17-7 win over visiting Villanova at Holuba Hall.

Rutgers’ Adam Charalambides, who endured an even longer absence than Ament with back-to-back seasons sabotaged by ACL injuries, also looked sharp in his first game back, scoring four goals and adding an assist in the No. 14-ranked Scarlet Knights’ 14-8 victory over visiting Lafayette.

“I love this team,” Charalambides said afterward. “It just felt so good to compete with the guys again, to play the sport I love.”

In his first game action since 2016, Adam Charalambides led #RUMLax to a victory with a 4-goal performance. He breaks down how it felt to be back on the field in a Rutgers win: pic.twitter.com/9rWRQqPmwo

— Rutgers Men's LAX (@RUmlax) February 2, 2019

The dive is alive, and so is Adam Charalambides pic.twitter.com/mrr2kI9X7x

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 2, 2019

Ament’s career-high 10 points came on the same day that Penn State goalie Colby Kneese made a career-high 19 saves, as the Nittany Lions, ranked No. 11 in the Nike/US Lacrosse Division I Men’s Preseason Top 20, went on a six-goal run starting late in the second quarter to put the game out of reach.

Gerard Arceri won 14 of 16 faceoffs and scored a goal in the victory.

Can we get an Ament?

FINAL: @PennStateMLAX 17, @NovaLacrosse 7

Grant Ament with 3G, 7A in first game back after missing all of 2018 with a foot injury. Colby Kneese with 19 saves. pic.twitter.com/MJFF2CI3Jj

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 2, 2019

The teams combined to take 97 shots, perhaps a harbinger of things to come with the NCAA rolling out a new 80-second shot clock this season.

PHOTO BY JOHN STROHSACKER

Terps Attack, New Goalie Impressive in Opener

Maryland won its 26th straight season opener, as Logan Wisnauskas scored four goals to lead the No. 3-ranked Terps to an 11-6 victory over visiting Bucknell.

Maryland’s four attackmen — Jared Bernhardt (2g, 1a), Anthony DeMaio (2g, 1a) Louis Dubick (1g, 1a) and Wisnauskas (4g, 1a) — combined for 13 points. Swingman Bubba Fairman added an assist in the win.

Goalie Danny Dolan, who spent the last two seasons as an understudy to Dan Morris, made 11 saves in first career start for Maryland.

Bonnies Make D-I Debut

With much less hullaballoo, though no less satisfaction, than that which accompanied Utah’s Division I debut Friday, St. Bonaventure also commemorated the start of a new era Saturday.

“It’s been a long time coming.”

— @CoachMearns and @BonniesMLAX set to make their Division I debut today at High Point (11 a.m. ET) pic.twitter.com/WVjpfr3nQf

— US Lacrosse Magazine (@USLacrosseMag) February 2, 2019

The Bonnies fell 13-0 to visiting High Point in their opener.

Wagner Defeats Bellarmine in OT

Wagner made a winner out of Bill McCutcheon in his debut as a Division I head coach, edging Bellarmine 7-6 thanks to Spencer Kaufman’s game-winning goal with 1:17 remaining in overtime. McCutcheon was an assistant at Monmouth for five seasons before being tabbed by the Seahawks in October.

The Knights also have a first-year coach. Jim Mitchell, who had stints as an assistant coach at Bellarmine, Duke and Rutgers, was hired to take over the program last June.

Nike/US Lacrosse
Division I Men’s
Top 20 Scoreboard
Saturday, Feb. 2

No. 2 Duke 17 Furman 9
No. 3 Maryland 11, Bucknell 6
No. 11 Penn State 17, Villanova 7
No. 12 North Carolina 20, Mercer 9
No. 13 Lehigh 15, NJIT 8
No. 14 Rutgers 14, Lafayette 8
No. 15 Ohio State 12, Cleveland State 9

Other Scores

High Point 13, St. Bonaventure 0
Detroit Mercy 9, Jacksonville 8
Wagner 7, Bellarmine 6