TJ Malone walked hills and valleys to get Penn State back to the NCAA lacrosse semifinals

When TJ Malone was in kindergarten, he picked up his first lacrosse stick and put on his first lacrosse helmet. The helmet was too big for his little head, so he quit.

That was the one time Malone allowed a roadblock to keep him from lacrosse.

In the 17 years since, Malone has experienced many highs and lows, but only once did he come close to ending his lacrosse career again. Malone’s hip and groin injuries, suffered in the 2021 and 2022 seasons, became his biggest obstacles since the too-big helmet. But even three surgeries on those injuries weren’t enough to keep Malone from the game he loves.

Thanks to his perseverance, Malone is at the top of his game, and, as a result, so is Penn State. The Nittany Lions are returning to Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday for their second appearance in the NCAA lacrosse semifinals. Fifth-seeded Penn State will take on top-seeded Duke at noon (ESPN2).

Malone is close to the top of the mountain, two wins away from a national championship. But after the valleys he walked, he isn’t satisfied with a glimpse of the peak.

A late bloomer, Malone almost missed out on a chance at Penn State.

Unlike most successful Division I athletes, Malone spent two years on the Haverford School’s junior varsity, patiently watching older players like current pro lacrosse player Grant Ament. Even after making varsity, Malone failed to attract the interest of scouts, and he went on college visits as a prospective nonathlete student.

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Ament was not happy to hear that Malone had committed to Amherst. A star at Penn State, Ament thought Malone would make the perfect Nittany Lion. So he started whispering in Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni’s ear.

Tambroni already had a long-standing relationship with Haverford School and its former coach John Nostrant, so he trusted Nostrant’s judgment more than Malone’s impressive senior stats. He decided to give him a look, and Ament got his wish.

“I don’t think Tambroni would have called me if it hadn’t been for Grant being in his ear,” Malone said with a laugh.

As Ament predicted, Malone was the perfect ingredient for a growing Penn State program. He burst onto the college scene, scoring 30 goals as a freshman on a team that had numerous stars competing for playing time, helping the Lions to their first Final Four.

In a COVID-19-shortened sophomore season, Malone scored more than two goals per game and emerged as one of the top players in the country.

But in his third season, Malone began to deal with injuries. At first, it was thought to be a pulled groin muscle, so he played through it. The pain continued, and the different diagnoses did as well, until it reached a point when Malone was told he would never play lacrosse again.

That’s when Malone hit his lowest. While he showed the world a brave face, with Ament he dropped the facade and confessed his fears.

Ament knew where he was coming from. He’d had five surgeries himself and had shared his struggles at a team retreat. Malone had been taken aback — he always saw Ament as unstoppable — and his first reaction was to give him a hug and say he wished he had done more for him.

Malone didn’t need a hug. He needed a kick. Ament refused to let him entertain the idea of quitting.

“If you want my opinion, that’s not happening,” Ament said he told him. “Because he owed it to himself at that point.”

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Said Malone: “That was extremely needed, even though it was hard in the moment to hear. That’s what really kept me going was that if someone like Grant sees this in me, I should keep going. Because if I don’t, then I’ll let him down and also let myself down.”

Malone eventually found doctors with a more optimistic prognosis. Knowing what was wrong helped, but the battle was far from over. In all, he has undergone three surgeries for a torn adductor and a torn labrum.

The hardest challenge came far away from the field. Malone scored an internship in investment banking with the Cowen Group in New York City. He worked long hours, sometimes leaving after midnight, but still had to get up and do physical therapy in the morning. He realized that if he could succeed at that (and he did, earning a job offer), hitting the field would be a breeze.

The first thing Nostrant noticed about Malone as a middle schooler was his fearlessness. And when Malone returned to Penn State for his final season, that was on full display.

At his first practice back, he was supposed to avoid contact. But he felt good and asked to be cleared immediately. That scary step ended up launching a career-best season.

In 15 games, Malone has scored 33 goals. More importantly, he’s had 32 assists, showing he’s no longer just a scorer but a playmaker at attack as well. An unknown coming into the season, his success has launched Penn State’s.

But a second trip to the national semifinals isn’t quite enough. Tambroni always preaches that the team should leave things better than it found it. Malone and the five other players who were on the 2019 Final Four team wondered how to do that when they started with a high.

The answer is to take it one step further and make it to the national championship.

Whatever, the outcome, Malone will make sure everyone savors every second because he knows how quickly it can be taken.

“I never knew if I was going to be in this position again,” Malone said. “And I hope I can inspire other people to do the same thing … because at the end of the day, we’re still playing the game of lacrosse that we love.”