In a tune-up for traditional power Towson State on Wednesday, the men's lacrosse team easily defeated Drexel, 16-8, yesterday at Holuba Hall.

With that victory, the Lions improve to 3-2 on the season while the Dragons fall to 1-2.

"I figured going in we would have the advantage," Coach Glenn Thiel said.

"They really have too many horses for us. They really are an outstanding team," Drexel coach Randy Voight said. "I think they are going to move up in the rankings."

The Lions thoroughly dominated the play offensively, pelting 60 shots on the Drexel goaltender. Senior midfielder Jim Laverty led the team with four goals, while Chris Markus scored three times. Scott Bailer, Rob Strasburg, Paul Makover and Ted Peddy all scored twice while Paul Fisher added one.

Throughout the game, the Lions used their midfield to create numerous offensive chances.

"We moved the ball well," attacker Joel Brous said. "The middies did a good job of getting the ball up to us. They ran the offense today."

"The midfield are the finishers," Thiel added.

The Lions got on the board quickly when midfielders Laverty and Makover opened the scoring. The barrage continued in the period when Laverty scored at the 7:07 mark followed up by Markus's first goal at the 6:13 mark.

Makover got his second goal when he followed up a Mike Quinn shot, plucking it out of the air and scoring in one motion. But Drexel regrouped and made a slight comeback with John Colt scoring the next two goals to close out the first period with Penn State leading 5-3.

The Lions were in no mood to allow Drexel in the game and scored seven seconds into the second quarter. Bailer took the draw, ran down the field and passed to Peddy, who made no mistake.

Then the rout was on.

Laverty scored from close range, Fisher put one in with a hard shot on the ground, Marcus eluded the right side of the defense before slamming the ball in.

From then on, Penn State went to add five more goals, and went into halftime with a very comfortable 14-6 advantage.

In the second half, Thiel substitituted freely and used several different combinations. In that half, both teams slowed the pace down and used the situations to set up the offense.

Drexel attacker Jeff Giza led the Dragons with four goals. Colt, apart from his two scores, assisted on three goals.

So with the Lions preparing for Towson, yesterday's result was the right step for the team to take.

"It was about as mistake-free as you can get," Brous said.