With 9:38 left in the fourth quarter and Towson State leading the men's lacrosse team, 8-5, Coach Glenn Thiel took a chance which resulted in additional Towson goals and eventually a Penn State loss, 10-8.

Thiel called the referee over to the sidelines and requested that one of Towson's top scorers' sticks be checked.

The referees took a time out and checked the depth of the pocket. It was legal. Then they measured the length of the stick. It was too short. Towson's Rob Shek was given a three minute, unreleasable penalty, giving the Lions (4-3) a one-man advantage and a chance to close the three point gap.

"I knew when we called for that stick check that all we were really looking for was a rest," Thiel said. "I didn't have any reason to believe his stick was illegal, or anything else. As soon as it was declared illegal, I said to myself, 'That's either going to help us or it's going to kill us.' "

The penalty seemed like a godsend as players and fans exploded into cheers, but Penn State's Pete Makover was penalized shortly thereafter for slashing, evening the number of men on the field. Towson's Glenn Smith capitalized on the opportunity and scored, increasing the lead, 9-5.

"We had a nice break on the three minute penalty, which was against us," Towson State Coach Carl Runk said. "Unfortunately for Penn State, it worked for us and we were able to punch in a couple of goals. That was the cushion that really helped us out."

Towson's Tony Millon got his hat trick on the next goal, upping the score to 10-5. The Lions were desperate for five points and the three minute penalty had expired.

"We threw the ball away three times on that extra man play, the first three passes we couldn't even catch," Thiel said. "It was like we were in the ozone layer or something."

With 4:19 left in the game, Penn State's Joel Brous stole a Towson pass and took off running for the goal. He found himself one-on-one against the Tigers' goalie and placed the shot in just past David Linthicum's shoulder. Hope was still alive as a timeout was called and Lions were reminding each other that plenty of time remained.

The teams broke from their huddles and took to the field. The Lions worked the ball in front of the Towson net until Greg Guarton found Paul Fisher, who took a shot through the legs of teammates and opponents. The shot was good and the Lions had closed the gap to three, with 3:57 left.

"We got a second wind and we were able to go pretty strong at the end of the game," Thiel said. "But we didn't control the pace of the game in the third quarter and we just let it get away from us and gave them too much of a cushion."

The lions continued to try to diminish the cushion and with 2:48 remaining, Chris Lehman broke around the right side of the goal and squeezed through the crease to punch in Penn State's final goal of the game. For the remaining time, the Lions took numerous desperation shots, but couldn't find the net.

"If you don't score ten goals in a game you're not going to win the game, it's plain and simple," defenseman Mark Dardaris said. "When a defense can hold another team to about ten goals, then we should be able to score at least ten goals. We had a lot of chances, but they had a lot of chances, too."