Playing five straight one-goal games is enough to wear a team down physically.

Losing three of those nailbiters and a chance at a NCAA tournament bid is enough to wear a team down emotionally.

And while the No. 19 Penn State men's lacrosse team went through such a stretch before yesterday's 10-6 loss to No. 10 Bucknell, coach Glenn Thiel and his players aren't about to use those excuses as an explanation for losing.

"They just ate us alive in the midfield," Thiel said. "I guess I just didn't have them ready to go. But we have to regroup and I have to get them ready for another tough one against a good Rutgers team."

The Bucknell (9-3, 5-0 Patriot League) victory was the first time the Bison beat the Nittany Lions (4-6, 0-4 ECAC) since 1996.

The Bison stormed out to an early 4-1 lead, spearheaded by sophomore attacker Kelly Hogue's hat trick. The stunning start prompted Thiel to remove senior goalie with sophomore netminder Chris Garrity just over four minutes into the game.

"Coach went to me really early in the game so it was kind of a surprise," Garrity said. "But that's my job and I was ready to go."

Penn State junior Will Driscoll netted his second goal minutes later to cut the Bison lead to two. Senior attacker Tim Emmick then scored his fifth goal of the season to trim the Bucknell lead to 4-3 with just over two minutes left in the first quarter.

Driscoll tied the game at 4-4 after picking up a rebound in front of the Bucknell goal two minutes into the second period.

But Hogue responded one minute later to put the Bison back up, 5-4. It didn't take long however for the Nittany Lions to answer as sophomore attacker Luke Oglesby tickled the twine minutes later for his seventh goal of the year, tying the game at 5-5.

Sophomore attacker Dennis Geraghty gave the Bison a 6-5 lead though at the half by putting home his 36th goal of the year.

Despite the proficient scoring both teams displayed in the first half, the third period went by without any scoring.

Emmick broke the drought early in the fourth quarter to knot the game up again at 6-6.

But unfortunately for the Nittany Lions, that would be their last goal while the Bison would tack on four more.

Geraghty took advantage of a Penn State defensive breakdown and beat Garrity to give the Bison the lead for good at 7-6 with 11:06 left in the game. Freshman attacker Wes Fetchet made it an 8-6 contest three minutes later and sophomore midfielder John Terracciano ended any hopes of a Penn State comeback, making the game 9-6 with four and a half minutes left.

Just for good measure, Hogue ripped home his fifth of the day to cap the scoring and the Bison victory.

The Nittany Lions can't hang their heads long over this one. Penn State will next take on another Top 20 foe in Rutgers Saturday in New Jersey.

"We're going to go into these last three games with a lot of pride because you play to win," Garrity said. "Nothing changes. We still have to work hard."