Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel should've seen it coming.

Hobart coach B.J. O'Hara sure did.

"I've been coming down here with Hobart teams for the past 30 years as a player and now a coach and I can't remember too many games that have been more than one-goal contests," O'Hara said. "Obviously, this one was no different."

So for the fourth game in a row, the No. 19 Nittany Lions battled an opponent to a tightly contested contest.

But after losing two one-goal games in a row, Penn State finally came out on top.

Spearheaded by huge performances by midfielder Marshall Feldman and attacker Will Driscoll, the Nittany Lions (4-4, 0-3 ECAC) edged the No. 20 Statesmen (4-2, 4-1 Patriot League) 12-11 Saturday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.

"Hobart is a lacrosse school, and that's the sport they put their money and attention into," Thiel said. "So if you look at it that way, this is a really big win for us."

Hobart attacker John Bogosian got the Statesmen on the board two minutes into the game after netting an extra man goal.

But Penn State attacker Luke Oglesby responded five minutes later to knot the score at 1-1.

Will Driscoll netted the first of his five goals 26 seconds later to give the Nittany Lions their first lead of the day at 2-1.

But Hobart scored three straight goals in the next minute and a half to give the Statesmen a 4-2 lead with just under six minutes left in the first quarter.

The Nittany Lions finally responded after a much needed timeout with 1:15 left to play in the quarter when Ted Holmes beat Hobart goalie Mike Borsz to cut the Statesmen lead to 4-3.

"We recognized that they were playing a zone so we called our 'Ninja' play and our guys recognized the openings and we took advantage," Thiel said.

The Lions' momentum carried into the second period as Feldman ripped home three goals and Holmes tacked on his second to give Penn State a 7-4 lead.

But Hobart's Jamie Breslin and Eric Burns each nailed late goals to cut the Nittany Lions lead to 7-6 at halftime.

Penn State stormed out of the gates after the half to take a four-goal lead after Tim Emmick beat Borsz while Driscoll tacked on his second and third goals of the game.

Just when the Nittany Lions seamed to have things under control, the Statesmen came roaring back. Breslin netted his second goal of the game with 57 seconds left in the third quarter to trim Penn State's lead to 10-7.

Bogosian tickled the twine twice early in the fourth period to get the Statesmen within one.

But Driscoll knocked home his last two goals of the day to extend the Penn State lead to 12-9.

Hobart charged back though when Jason Ouellet scored an extra man goal with 2:55 remaining in the game.

Statesmen attacker Kris Shore made things interesting after netting a goal with a minute and a half left to cut the Penn State lead to 12-11.

But the Lions were able to gain possession and ran out the last minute to earn a much-needed victory.

"In the last two games, we just struggled to get some momentum and we didn't play with enough heart," Driscoll said. "Hopefully this win will get us back on a winning streak and will carry us through the rest of the season."