With snow on the ground Saturday morning, Lafayette coach Bill Lawson wasn't sure if or should his squad should make the trip to Penn State to play the men's lacrosse team.

But he did and for one period, it was a wise choice. But soon, behind a balanced attack and a dominant defense, the Lions made the Leopards wish the weather had canceled the contest, claiming a 15-8 win at Jeffrey Field.

Lafayette (1-3) opened the game strong, when senior midfielder Kevin Cardinal fired a stinging shot at PSU goalie Jamie Morse. Morse deflected the shot, but it went back to Cardinal who put away the second chance.

Then, however, Penn State (4-3) shook off the effects of the bitter cold weather and hit its stride -- in a big way.

Lions' sophomore midfielder Chris Marcus took a long pass in transition from the defense and cut toward the goal -- 1-1 only 18 seconds after the Leopards took the lead.

Then Marcus got the ball back, took it across the goal and -- 2-1 just 27 seconds later. A scant 49 seconds after that, junior midfielder Greg Guarton was right in front of goal at point-blank range -- 3-1 and the Lions were well in control.

"If you look at it, Penn State had a better protoplasm on the field than we did," Lawson said. "We're limited; we knew we were going to be. We did show some signs and thought we played well at the beginning. We hoped to sustain it, but it was a tough go."

In the second quarter, Penn State thoroughly opened the game up, scoring four times and seizing an 8-2 halftime advantage. Strikes from sophomore midfielder Pete Makover (two goals), senior attacker Ted Peddy and junior middie Scott Bailer created the big lead.

In that decisive second quarter, PSU's defense limited Lafayette to only three shots and twarted all of the visitor's offensive efforts. Defenseman Paul Gilhool said the team's aggressiveness was a large key in only allowing the Leopards four goals in three quarters. By that time, Penn State had a 13-4 advantage.

"We were able to outrun them, we faced off well and we got off to a pretty good start," Coach Glenn Thiel said. "It was a good game for us.

"I was pleased with the first three quarters. We were down where we wanted them. We didn't shoot well. If we ever shot well, we'd have 25 goals, (but) we sure got to the goal enough.

"Things just seemed to fall for us today," Makover added.

Makover, Peddy and Bailer each notched hat tricks. Marcus and Guarton scored two goals apiece and senior midfielder Jim Laverty and sophomore attacker Chris Lehman each dished in one goal.

Lafayette's scoring was led and dominated by senior attacker/midfielder Ken Stiller. On the day, he had five goals and was a threat every time he touched the ball.

"No. 30 (Stiller) is a scorer and we don't have a scorer like that," Thiel said. He knows where the goal is and he has a feel for it. We have kids who can make the great plays, but can't finish them. (Along with senior attacker Jamie Murray), they gave us some trouble."