With co-point leader Pete Makover absent from Saturday's game to attend his sister's wedding, one would have thought No. 11 Penn State would struggle against an always-tough University of Maryland-Baltimore County squad.

Guess again. Freshman Mike Busza simply took Makover's place and scored three goals, including the gamewinner 32 seconds into sudden-death overtime as the Lion express kept on rolling toward a possible NCAA tournament bid with a 12-11 victory.

In a game that seemed to have an ebb and flow to it, the Retrievers (8-2), led by Jamie Batley (four goals, one assist) and attacker Steve Marohl (one goal, four assists), overcame a 6-4 halftime deficit to take an 11-10 lead with 3:34 left in the game.

Seriously threatened for the first time this season, Penn State (6-0) evened the score when, off a turnover, attacker Chris Lehman ran the length of the field and hit goalie Bob Bailey low with 44 seconds left.

"Lehman made a great play at the end," Coach Glenn Thiel said. "We did what we wanted to do but they're a good team."

After goalie J.J. Pearl made three saves in the last minute, including a stick save with five seconds left, the game moved into overtime.

UMBC had won its only OT game of the season -- a triple-overtime affair against Ohio State. Again, it didn't matter as Penn State immediately won the faceoff to start the extra period.

The Lions were patient as they worked the ball around the perimeter. Midfielder Kevin McGinley finally spotted a wide-open Busza. The freshman fired a low shot which, thanks to screens in front, Bailey couldn't find. It ended up in the back of the net.

"The team made it easy for me to come in," Busza said. "I had a one-on-one. I beat my guy and threw in a prayer. I'm just glad nobody blocked it."

UMBC recovered in the second half because of penalties and a revised offensive strategy, Thiel said.

"They slowed it up quite a bit," he said. "They wanted to get certain matchups. We missed a couple of chances early. Penalties hurt too. We didn't capitalize on the extra man which could have given us a cushion."

With two minutes left, McGinley still felt that his team would prevail.

"(Losing) crossed my mind," he said. "But with two minutes left, that was plenty of time."

Despite giving up 11 goals, Pearl was outstanding, making six of his 14 saves in the last three minutes to send the game into overtime. UMBC's Bailey also came through with 17 saves.

"He played very well," Thiel said. "They get a lot of closed-end shots. He made like five bang-bang saves. There were maybe one or two that got by him that I thought he should have gotten."

If nothing else, the Lions learned an important lesson about preparation.

"The kids now know that they have to be ready to play at all times," Thiel said.

The Lions continue their productive attack. McGinley, Lehman and Jamie Morse each scored two goals while attackman Mike Rolewicz chipped in a goal and two assists. Lehman continues to be Penn State's leading scorer (12 goals, 10 assists) with 22 points while McGinley leads the team in goals with 14.