Penn State

Penn State moved quickly Tuesday night to respond to a Sports Illustrated story that appeared to paint an unflattering portrait of the university's medical operation as it applies to football. The article is mentioned on the cover of this week's issue of the magazine with the headline "Do Athletics Still Have Too Much Power at Penn State?" It is expected to be released online Wednesday morning. A statement issued by Penn State said: "To characterize the medical care Penn State provides our student-athletes as anything other than the highest quality is erroneous.

Penn State linebackers Gerald Hodges and Michael Mauti signed contracts with Minnesota, the Vikings said Tuesday. Hodges, a Paulsboro graduate who will play one of the outside spots, was taken in the fourth round. Mauti, who plays in the middle, was a seventh-round pick. Chuck Muncie , 60, a Pro Bowl running back with both the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, died of heart failure Monday at his Los Angeles-area home. Muncie played 41/2 seasons in New Orleans before being traded in 1980 to San Diego, where he finished his nine-year NFL career.

Penn State linebackers Gerald Hodges and Michael Mauti have signed contracts with Minnesota, the Vikings said Tuesday. Hodges, a Paulsboro graduate who will play one of the outside spots, was picked in the fourth round. Mauti, whose position is in the middle, was a seventh-round selection. Also signing was defensive tackle Everett Dawkins, a seventh-round pick out of Florida State. Muncie dies. Chuck Muncie, 60, a Pro Bowl running back with both the New Orleans Saints and San Diego Chargers, died of heart failure Monday at his Los Angeles-area home.

Rugby teams from local colleges gathered in Rittenhouse Square on Tuesday, closing off parts of 18th and Walnut Streets to promote the 2013 USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship at PPL Park in Chester on June 1 and 2. Players from Temple, St. Joseph's, Delaware and Penn explained proper tackling, ball movement, how scrums work, and some of the rules governing the game. "Basically, it's a demonstration to get people acquainted to what rugby is," said Hawks junior wing Eric Jackman, a graduate of St. Joseph's Prep.

Junior attacker Mackenzie Cyr notched her second straight six-point game, and sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick recorded four goals and two assists to lead the seventh-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team to a 12-9 home victory against No. 8 Massachusetts in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions (14-6), who improved to 9-0 at home and 7-2 when hosting an NCAA tournament game, won consecutive NCAA tournament games for the first time since 1999 and advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight year.

Pennsylvania State University geoscientist Terry Engelder spent most of his career toiling in obscurity, studying fracture behavior of rocks known as black shales. Even among geologists, he says, it was kind of a boring topic, and he was often slotted to present his papers on the last day of professional conferences. "Not only was it the last day, but it was in the afternoon of the last day," he said. But then, Engelder and Gary G. Lash, a colleague from New York, discovered natural gas in the Marcellus Shale.

Gerald Hodges' football career has been about adapting, persevering, and producing. And now it will be about adjusting - to the NFL. The Penn State linebacker and former all-South Jersey performer from Paulsboro was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round, the 120th player chosen. "It's a blessing when my name was called, and now I get a chance to put a franchise on my helmet," Hodges said by phone. The 6-foot-1, 243-pounder began his college career as a safety but moved to linebacker.

Penn State, seeded eighth, watched a four-goal halftime lead disappear under a barrage of Yale scoring as the Nittany Lions lost, 10-7, in the first round of the NCAA Division I men's lacrosse tournament on Saturday in State College, Pa. Penn State (12-4), playing its first-ever NCAA tournament game, led by 5-1 before Yale (11-4) went on a 9-1 run in the second half. After the Bulldogs took a 1-0 lead, the Nittany Lions reeled off five straight goals, including tallies by Jenkintown's Jack Forster and Downingtown's Shane Sturgis.

Caroline Bunting and Nina Corcoran each had two goals and two assists, but the visiting Penn women were defeated by Virginia, 12-6, Friday in the first round of the NCAA Division I women's lacrosse tournament at Multi-Sport Field in Washington. Casey Bocklet scored four goals for Virginia, which improved to 10-9 and will face Georgetown in the second round on Sunday. The Quakers ended their season with an 11-6 record. In another first-round game, the Penn State women beat Canisius, 14-13, and advanced to the second round at 1 p.m. Sunday against Massachusetts, which beat Connecticut, 14-10.

Penn State picked up its eighth verbal commitment to the freshman Class of 2014 on Friday when Marcus Allen, a safety from Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Md., accepted the Nittany Lions' scholarship offer, several recruiting websites reported. With Allen's commitment, the Nittany Lions are now more than halfway to their 2014 scholarship limit of 15 as mandated by last July's NCAA sanctions. The 6-foot-2, 188-pound Allen, who is ranked four stars by Scout and 247 Sports and three stars by Rivals, is the first safety to accept an offer for next year from coach Bill O'Brien.