Coach Glenn Theil said he wishes Mike Jacober was a junior so he didn’t have to face tough adult decisions without his parents and brother.
For many Division I athletes, winning and losing seem like life and death. For Penn State midfielder Mike Jacober and the rest of his team, lacrosse has tragically been put into perspective.
After going to the NCAA tournament only two years before, the Nittany Lions were off to a slow 2-4 start upon yet another loss, this time to Fairfield on March 26.
But the biggest loss was yet to come. Jacober’s parents and younger brother died that morning when their single-engine plane crashed on the way to the game, killing a total of six people.
The catastrophe turned into a rallying cry that united the team around Jacober. After he returned to the team a little more than a week later, Penn State has gone on a seven-game winning streak to close out the regular season.
Last weekend, the Nittany Lions beat Georgetown in a must-win game to get into the tournament. Heading into Saturday’s first-round matchup with the Terrapin men’s lacrosse team, this game, like every game since the crash, has added meaning.
“Now every day in practice we just enjoy being together.
“Every game we win, it’s another week that we get to spend together with each other,” Jacober said. “We’ve playing inspired lacrosse right now. Every game we get out there, there’s a different enjoyment as opposed to the beginning of the year.”
Jacober’s family was flying from Naples, Fla., when their plane crashed around 2 p.m. near a construction site in Bellefonte, Pa., about 10 miles south of their destination just outside of State College, Pa.
Jacober’s parents, Jeff and Karen, and his 15-year-old brother, Eric, were killed instantly. Jeff Jacober was piloting the plane.
Meanwhile, Jacober was prepared for the game. His coaches noticed his family wasn’t at the game but didn’t think much of it. The Nittany Lions lost the game, 11-10, and Jacober didn’t record a goal or assist.
It wasn’t until later, when Jacober was at dinner with teammate Will Jones, that he received a call from state police. Coach Glenn Theil got the same call minutes later and rushed to the crash site, where he found Jacober. Theil took the senior captain to his home as family and friends traveled down to State College.
“It was really tough sitting in front of the coroner and the police,” Theil said.
“The next few days were very, very difficult,” Benjamin said. “We didn’t know what would happen or how we would react. But we knew we had to all rally around him.”
Jacober left the next day for his hometown of Providence, R.I., and the team and coaches arrived four days later to attend the funeral. They stayed with Jacober for the remainder of the week until their April 2 game against then-No. 13 Massachusetts — which they lost 18-8. Benjamin said the team was drained going into the game.
“The team’s been an incredible support network. It has just been a joy to be around 36 guys that are there pretty much no matter what,” Jacober said. “It was overwhelming to see the entire team travel with other friends of Penn State. I couldn’t have imagined that much support. I wasn’t expecting anything like that.”
Two days later, everything changed when Jacober returned to the team for practice. Since then, everyone has noticed a stark difference in the team’s emotion.
“He’s been a great leader to get the kids to play harder,” Theil said. “They figured if he can get through it, they can do it.”
“Having him back on the field was really a breath of fresh air and gave us confidence that we could work through that,” Benjamin said. “Knowing he’s out there with us gives us that much more energy. Mike [Jacober] said after Fairfield loss that when it comes down to it, that you have to want to win. There’s nothing else out there except for winning.”
The next day, Penn State followed their leader’s words and routed Mount St. Mary’s 14-5 to start the seven-game winning streak. The Nittany Lions knocked off Bucknell for their biggest win of the season up to that point. While the tragedy was still looming over them, winning in spite of it was the perfect remedy for the team — and for Jacober.
“It has definitely helped,” Jacober said. “At first it was just nice to get back and be with the team to get my mind off everything. Now its just pure enjoyment and we’ve won seven games in a row. We’ve never done something like this before, so it has certainly helped ease the pain.”
“The best thing that could have happened has happened to us. We haven’t lost,” Benjamin said. “With every win comes more and more confidence. With the win streak, he hasn’t had as much time to think about it. Obviously there isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t think about it, but it has helped him get through.”
The win streak reached its emotional pinnacle with a monumental overtime upset of then-No. 7 Georgetown, 13-12. The win tied the Nittany Lions for the Eastern College Athletic Conference title after starting the season at 2-6. Jacober scored his second goal since returning to the team and third of the year.
Perhaps even more meaningful was that the game fell on Jacober’s younger brother’s birthday and Mother’s Day.
“To do it on that day was really something special for the team and for Mike,” Benjamin said. “It was a really emotional day, and to get into the tournament because of it was just amazing.”
Entering this weekend’s game, Benjamin said Penn State couldn’t be more confident. After helping a fallen teammate deal with the death of those closest to him, and overcoming early season failure themselves, not even upsetting an equally torrid Terp team in an NCAA tournament game seems insurmountable.
After all, the Nittany Lions are a family now.
“We were all he had and he leaned on us to help him on and off the field. It helped the kids realize what it meant to be a team,” Theil said. “I tell them about this stuff but most of it goes in one ear and out the other. In this case, it took a tragedy like that to open people’s eyes and realize how much a team matters to somebody.”
