On Saturday at Yurcak Field in New Brunswick, N.J., the team Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel wanted to see all year finally showed.

In a display of total domination, the No. 18 Nittany Lions (4-6, 1-4 in the ECAC) pulverized No. 19 Rutgers 18-9 for their first ECAC win.

With the victory, Penn State assured itself control of the Friendship Cup for the fourth straight season.

"This was pretty impressive," Thiel said. "It's the kind of play we've been looking for all year. Everything went our way today. We were never really challenged."

Many times this season the Lions were forced to come back because of slow starts. Today such was not the case as Penn State came out with seven goals in the first quarter on 18 shots on goal.

The Lions kept the run going in the second quarter with two more goals to go up 9-3. Each team scored to make the score 10-4 before the Scarlet Knights began a comeback with three straight goals to cut the lead to three.

The Lions answered that comeback, scoring three straight goals of their own, and never let the Scarlet Knights back in the game.

"I thought they were really intimidated by the way we came out," Thiel said. "We just jumped on them so fast, and they never really got it together after that."

Penn State dominated in every aspect of the game. Offensively, the Lions bombarded goalie Chris Kenyon with 60 shots on goal, compared to 27 by Rutgers. \All three of the starting attackers had hat tricks. Senior Tim Emmick led all scorers with five goals, followed by junior Will Driscoll with four along with an assist. Sophomore Luke Oglesby added three goals and an assist and senior midfielder Randy Kleinman had a goal and three assists.

"We moved the ball really well," Emmick said. "I just managed to be open when they got me the ball and I got some good shots and finished."

Penn State also dominated when the ball was on the ground. The Lions picked up 41 ground balls to Rutgers 34, and won 20 of 31 face-offs.

According to Thiel, senior midfielder Kevin Haggerty, the Lions face off specialist, played his best game to date, picking up approximately 13 groundballs, and contributing an assist to the offensive attack.

"I definitely felt this was my best performance to date so far," Haggerty said. "It would be really nice for us seniors to go out playing like this."

The defense was also stellar. Rutgers attacker Keith Cromwell, the nation's leading scorer with 25 goals and 25 assists was held without a goal for the first time in his 52-game college career. Lion senior defenseman Jan Northrop was assigned to cover Cromwell, and allowed him just one assist on the day.

"I didn't feel like I played the game of my life or anything," Northrop said. "I just went out and shut him off, and he didn't really try that hard to get away from me, and he didn't get the ball much."

Unfortunately for the Lions, this breakout win comes long after it was needed. Penn State has already lost any chance at a tournament run.

"We can only play for the future," Haggerty said. "We can't cry over spilled milk. We just have to take this momentum and use it to try and win our last two games.

The Lions will try to make use out of their new momentum when they face Fairfield at home on Saturday at 2:30.