The saves that the Nittany Lions couldn't get allowed the Mountain Hawks to get back in the game when it should have been a blowout by the Lions. The 16-10 final yesterday in Holuba Hall showed Lehigh's ability to come back and a weakness in Penn State's ability to put a team away.

From the first face-off, Penn State came out shooting. The game plan was to be aggressive and shut Lehigh down early. Two quick goals by midfielder Eric Wood and attacker Don Mayerhofer started that plan in motion.

But the plan soon hit a small rut. Penn State goalie Kevin Keenan came out of the net to play the ball and was trapped out of position. When Lehigh came up with the ball after a scramble, a quick pass to the front of the net turned into an instant goal for the Hawks, making the score 2-1.

That same play later led to Lehigh's second goal, to make the score 4-2 in Penn State's favor.

"Overall we played good solid team defense," said midfielder Ted Holmes, who had two goals in the game. "Unfortunately, the goals they did score were our mistakes."

The Lions' mistakes started to add up in the second quarter. After ending the first quarter with a 6-2 lead, the Lions' offense took a breather. Lehigh scored about five minutes into the quarter after Penn State had a multitude of scoring opportunities.

Penn State midfielder Will Driscoll finally put one in about four minutes later to make the score 7-3. The Hawks and Lions traded goals, then Lehigh went on a four-goal scoring run that lasted into the third quarter.

The 8-8 tie gave new life to a shaky Lehigh team.

"We really haven't started to click as team yet, but that little spurt was a sign of what we can do," Lehigh coach John McCloskey said. "That situation was where we started to come together, we just couldn't do it for four quarters."

That showed less than a minute after the Hawks tied the game. Holmes put in the goal to break the stalemate, and the Lions didn't look back until they stood with a comfortable 15-8 lead. The two teams traded goals and ended the game at 16-10.

Penn State's six-goal victory margin was not at all indicative of the team's scoring opportunities. As Thiel said, the players were shooting without concentrating on the shot, which lead to missed opportunities.

"We were trying to score too fast and too many times," he said. "We had too many guys dodging and shooting instead of dodging and trying to score."

But even when the offense was in a slump, the players had no doubts about the victory.

"They're a good team, but we bounced right back and didn't get too nervous when the game got close," Holmes said. "We knew we weren't out of it and as long as we kept them on their heels, we weren't in any trouble."