As R.E.M. says, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

The world must be over because the Nittany Lion lacrosse team finally did it.

After losing 33 straight games to the Naval Academy (the teams' last meeting was in 1961), the Lions (1-0) finally defeated the Midshipmen (0-1), 16-9 Saturday in Holuba Hall, ending Penn State's long, winless drought.

"It didn't really bother anybody," said junior midfielder Pete Makover. "The last time we played them was 30 years ago. It got us more determined to do something about it."

Leading the 18th-ranked Lions for his fourth straight year as starting goalie, J.J. Pearl, in allowing only nine goals, stopped 25 of 17th-ranked Navy's shots.

"He (Pearl) is definite All-American material," senior Kevin McGinley said. "He kept us in the game. He is definitely one of the best in the country."

The closest Navy ever got was 1-1 in the first period, but the Lions scored three straight goals to take a 4-1 lead and just kept on building.

It was a three-point back-and-forth rally for most of the game, until the Lions, led by two McGinley goals in fifty seconds, scored three goals in the fourth period to go up by six and put the game away.

"It was a pretty even game," said McGinley. "We went in thinking it would be up or down the whole game."

The Lions' late-in-the-period attacks resulted in three different goals in the last 10 seconds of three different periods. Leading the late attacks were Makover, who scored with seven seconds left in the first period and midfielder McGinley, who scored with nine seconds left in the second period and five seconds left in the third period.

"It's always a good time to score," Makover said. "Just finishing off the quarters (with a goal) gets the team psyched up going into the huddles."

Scoring leaders for the Lions were McGinley with five points (four goals, one assist) and junior attacker Chris Lehman with four points (two goals, two assists).

The Lions play three games over the break (a scrimmage against Chesapeake Lacrosse Club on March 8 and regular season games against Drexel on March 11 and Villanova on March 14), all of which are on the road. They return home on March 21 to play Vermont in Holuba.