Laxers assault Army, jump back over .500

They may have lost the battle of the faceoffs.

They may have had more penalties.

When all was said and done, the Nittany Lions walked away from Michie Stadium knowing they defeated Army 19-11 and raised their record to above .500 (4-3) for the first time this season.

The No. 13 Lions were able to pounce on the Black Knights (4-4) by coming out strong in the third quarter, in which they outscored Army 10-1.

Penn State had seven unanswered goals to start the second half after a see-saw battle in the first. Army took the lead five times before halftime only to have the Lions answer back each time.

Penn State senior attacker Chris Killoren fired a six-goal offensive assault upon Army goalie Lou Kousouris, who allowed all 19 Lion goals and made only 9 saves.

"(Killoren) played a great game," said Lion midfielder David Washo. "He played aggressive and he was in the right place at the right time."

Killoren helped turn the sleeping Lions of the first half into a tenacious offensive threat in the second.

"He had a great game," said Penn State goalie Kevin Keenan. "He is a senior and he is really stepping it up this season."

Junior attackman Todd Kaiser also played well for the Lions. He took and gave the ball well as he tallied three goals and four assists.

"Todd is a great feeder," said freshman midfielder Randy Kleinman, who added a goal and an assist. "You always want to be more than one dimensional. You try to have an even distribution of goals and assists."

Senior midfielder Todd Korte netted three goals and sophomore attackman Don Mayerhofer scored twice for the Lions.

After the score was tied at 6 at the end of the second quarter, Penn State coach Glenn Thiel's halftime pep talk inspired the team to come out strong against the Knights' zone defense.

"He got people fired up," Keenan said. "We were hard core in the second half."

One reason the Lions were ineffective in the first half as opposed to the second was the team did not cut to the goal or work hard to get open, Washo said.

Freshman midfielder Eric Wood said it took some time for the team to adjust to the 2-2-2 match-up zone defense. However, once the team was able to get the first goal, it started a snowball reaction.

"I just think that we finally moved the ball a little bit better," he said. "I think that we got the ball into open seems and got the ball rolling ."

Although Keenan said it was good to come out strong in the second half, he said the team needs to play hard for all 60 minutes.

Washo also said strong defense and good goaltending from Keenan and backups Matt Vallone and Ian Kupferberg were crucial to the Lions' overcoming man-down situations and losing the face-off battle 20-11.

"Our defense responded very well. They've been our mainstay all season," Wood said. "They've played well for the entire season and we have finally put together an good offensive game for them."

Army was lead offensively by Dan Monahan, Charlie Pearson, Chad Hadlock and Jordan Gros who all scored twice for the Knights.

The victory was only the second time the Lions have defeated Army in 31 battles.