They saved their best for last.

It is often a good strategy, but it was not enough this time.

The No. 13 Penn State men's lacrosse team (3-2, 0-1 ECAC) rallied for two goals in a 30-second span in the fourth quarter on Saturday, but could not get any closer, falling to No. 16 Cornell, 11-9.

A Penn State lacrosse player tries to escape a pursuing Virginia player. Penn State was beaten by Cornell 11-9 over the weekend.

The Nittany Lions fell behind early 2-0, and it was an uphill climb from there against the Big Red (4-1).

"We did not look sharp," midfielder Rob Booth said. "We were really flat."

Something the Big Red took advantage of. They scored three goals in each of the first two quarters for a 6-3 halftime lead.

The Big Red got to all the loose balls, forcing the Lions to play Big Red lacrosse.

"Their game was patience," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "We are an up-tempo team and the downside is when they are controlling the ball, it puts pressure on our defense."

There was also heavy pressure on goalie Chris Garrity. Garrity faced 17 shots in the first half, but kept the Lions in the game, with 14 total saves.

The third quarter began promisingly for the Lions as midfielder Sean Droogan scored early to cut Big Red's lead to 6-4. That was answered by three straight Cornell goals, mainly thanks to its ability to get to every groundball and control each face-off.

"Cornell was all over the ground balls," Perry said. "The face-offs killed us."

Despite winning only 9 of 23 face-offs, Cornell won all of the big ones in the latter stages of the game.

"We did not get the face-offs late," Thiel said. "We did not get them when you have to get them."

The Big Red's ability to control the face-off allowed them to continue forcing the Lions to chase them all around their defense zone. When the Lions managed to get control of the ball, it did not bounce their way.

"Four times (I can think of), we just dropped the ball," Thiel said. "Our upperclassmen must improve their game."

They responded, as co-captains Will Driscoll and Droogan scored in the third, and Perry scored early in the fourth. Trailing 11-7 in the fourth quarter, the Lions scored twice in thirty seconds for an 11-9 game and some hope. However, Big Red ran out the clock handing the Lions a bitter 11-9 defeat.

"We overlooked Cornell," Perry said. "It was pretty pathetic."

Even the comeback the Lions mounted at the end did not sit well.

"We were lucky to be close," Thiel said. "They did what we did the first three games."

In the end Cornell did nothing special except play good sound lacrosse, and force the Lions to play its game, which was better on this day.