With their season in shambles, the Penn State men's lacrosse team came up big with the help of two underclassmen.

In a hard-fought game that featured 10 ties and multiple lead changes, the Nittany Lions (2-5, 1-2 ECAC) pulled off a win they desperately needed, beating the No. 6 Massachusetts Minutemen (7-1, 1-1) 11-10.

The stars of the game were sophomore Will Jones and freshman Nate Whitaker, who combined for eight goals to lead the Lions.

Jones scored a hat trick, netting two goals in the fourth period including the game-winner. With just 3:25 left in the game and the score tied at 10, Jones took his man one-on-one and came up with the deciding goal.

"It was huge, he just stepped up and took it upon himself to win the game for us," Whitaker said. "It was unassisted; Will got the ball, beat his man, and scored."

But the real breakout performance came from Whitaker, who bullied the minutemen with five goals and an assist to lead Penn State to its biggest victory of the season.

Senior captain Marshall Feldman, who had two goals and an assist himself, knew that Whitaker's emergence was bound to happen sooner or later.

"It was only a matter of time before Nate had a breakout game," Feldman said. "He's a skilled player, and just half-way through his freshman season, he's not playing like a freshman anymore."

The win was a huge one for the Lions, who have gone from a preseason No. 15 national ranking to being largely forgotten thanks to five losses by two goals or less.

For a team that had been coming so close throughout the season, it was a relief to finally get that big win.

Obviously, in a sport like lacrosse, it's never just one thing that can turn a season around, but face-offs had been a big issue for the coaching staff and the players. Whitaker pointed toward sophomore midfielder Mike Bailey, who was very successful in his role as face-off specialist against the Minutemen.

"We've had four different guys taking face-offs through the year, and Mike proved he was the man," Whitaker said. "He proved he's one of the top guys."

Feldman explained that when a player is able to consistently win face-offs, it makes everyone else's job easier.

"[Bailey] was just able to get in a rhythm, in a zone, and just kept beating their guys to the draw," Feldman said. "It's something that Coach [Glenn Thiel] has been stressing, and it takes the pressure off of our defense."

This victory should help Penn State jump back into the Top 20 of the USILA coaches poll, but the Lions know they still have a long way to go to reach their goal of the NCAA tournament.

"We're going to have to win a couple more games in a row to get ourselves back in the picture," Feldman said.

Still, it has to be a big sigh of relief for a team that had so much promise coming into the season.

"We always knew we had it in us to win big games," Whitaker said. "It was always just a matter of finishing in the fourth quarter. It felt really good to get a win."