Monday, March 16, 1998

Laxers top Hoyas in final minute thriller

By ANDREW KREBS
Collegian Sports Writer

His teammates and coaches call Penn State senior midfielder Adam Pitarra "Wild Thing."

"Sometimes my shot, nobody knows where it's going," Pitarra said with a smile.

It was the smile of a hero.

With the game knotted at 13 and the seconds rapidly disappearing from the clock during yesterday's men's lacrosse game between No. 5 Georgetown and No. 18 Penn State, "Wild Thing" launched the perfect shot.

Lion midfielder Todd Korte attempts to outrun a Georgetown defender during yesterday's game against the Hoyas. Korte scored three goals in the Lions' 14-13 win. (Collegian Photo/Shawn Knapp - click for full size image)

From five yards out, Pitarra rocketed the ball past Georgetown goalie Brian Hole and into the upper left corner to give Penn State a 14-13 lead with 37 seconds remaining in the game.

"The defenseman slid out to cover me," Pitarra said of his shot. "I just rolled past him and hit it."

The Hoyas had the chance to even the score in the closing seconds, but Penn State goalie Kevin Keenan deflected a Georgetown shot to push the Lions' record to 2-2 on the young season. Georgetown dropped to 2-1.

"We ran well today," Penn State coach Glenn Thiel said after the game. "Last year they beat us 18-6. We were with them the whole first half, but then things got away from us."

This time around, the Lions and the Hoyas stayed even throughout the entire game. Georgetown opened with a goal on its first offensive possession, but Penn State attacker Todd Korte answered soon after to tie the game at 2. It was the first of three goals for Korte.

And so it went.

At the end of the first quarter it was 4-4. At halftime, it was 7-7. At the end of the third, Georgetown led 10-9.

"I knew it was going to be a real dogfight," Georgetown coach Dave Urick said. "It was their first home game and they had taken a few lumps earlier in the season."

Penn State's lumps came earlier in the week on the road against No. 2 Maryland. After trouncing Villanova 11-4 on March 7, the Lions were buried 14-6 by a talented Terrapin squad on Wednesday. Many on the Penn State team said things could've been different.

"Against Maryland, we had plenty of opportunities," Korte said. "It should have been much closer."

But it wasn't much closer, and it took yesterday's win to restore the Lions' confidence.

"I knew we needed (a win)," said Keenan, who had nine saves against Georgetown. "We lost to Maryland and we were down coming home. It was time to separate the men from the boys."

The Lions will get another chance to separate the men from the boys on Saturday when they travel to New Jersey to play No. 4 Princeton, the defending NCAA champion.