Two years ago during this game, Ament had his right leg propped up on a scooter — the result of a foot injury he sustained in practice a couple days earlier. The Wildcats erased a five-goal fourth quarter deficit that year and won in overtime.
Last year, Ament had 10 points in a 17-7 win. This year, he had to settle for eight (three goals, five assists) in a contest that was more of the same. Less than a minute after Buller’s goal, O’Keefe threaded a pass through the Wildcat defense that redshirt-senior attackman Dylan Foulds converted with a quick stick. Face-off specialist Gerard Arceri (21-for-32) won the next draw and ran right down the middle to make the score 8-4.
While the Wildcats scored the first two goals of the second half, including an impressive swim dodge and rifle of a shot by Keeghan Khan (three goals), the Nittany Lions seemed to have every answer. Ament dodged from the wing then looked up top to O’Keefe, who rocketed home a low shot to put them up 13-7.
While Ament and O’Keefe (four goals, three assists) rightfully drew the lion’s share of the attention, what makes Penn State’s offense so dangerous is that it has many more weapons to pair with the prolific duo.
Junior midfielder Jack Kelly had four goals. Foulds notched a hat-trick.
“I think we're going to need to rely on our senior leadership this year in tough situations, but I also think they are going to step back at times and allow other people to shine and I thought that's what happened today,” Tambroni said.
Senior defenseman and captain Nick Cardile scored a man-down goal in transition with 6:41 to play in the fourth. The stands behind the Penn State bench erupted. The Villanvoa faithful began to shuffle out. Ament capped off the afternoon when he delivered a behind-the-back assist to Foulds on a fast break.
“Obviously, we get a lot of the attention, but in my opinion, we have nine All-Americans on the offense,” Ament said. “We've got a lot of talent, and it's really fun when everybody gets in the scoring column. Defense starts dancing. Offense starts dancing. It’s a lot of fun to be apart of.”
After the game Ament stood still again, but for a different reason. He spent over 15 minutes signing autographs and posing for pictures.
“What’s up No. 1, how are we doing?” he asked one fan in a white PSU football jersey.
“Were you guys chilly in the stands or were you ok?” he questioned another group.
“Some of those passes were unbelievable,” a dad told him, unable to contain his enthusiasm.
“The guys on the end of them were pretty great, too,” Ament added.
His last assist came well after the final horn sounded.
“Excuse me, sir,” he called out to dad in a gray Villanova beanie.
Ament tossed back his pen.