The score was irrelevant.

The Nittany Lions opponent was dressed in their practice jerseys.

But the Penn State men's lacrosse team didn't take the exhibition match against Johns Hopkins lightly.

Rather it was a test to see how Penn State matched up with the No. 1 team in the country.

"I think [the game] was a great test for us this early on in the year," said attacker Charlie Perry, who had two goals on the afternoon.

"It's great for one of the top teams in the country to come in here and for us to use it as a measuring stick and see where we stand and what we have to work on."

The play throughout No. 17 Penn State's 9-5 loss to the Blue Jays didn't seem to set the two teams 16 spots apart in in the most recent national rankings.

For midfielder Will Jones and the rest of the Lions, getting to Johns Hopkins' level is a matter of cleaning up the sloppy play that comes with being just one game into preseason action.

"I don't feel like we are that far below [Johns Hopkins]," Jones said.

"I feel like any given day we can beat anyone. Just because they're No. 1 and we are No. 17 doesn't mean we are happy just hanging with them.

We were sloppier last week than this week and by the time the season comes around we'll be ready to go."

Johns Hopkins jumped on top of Penn State early when it scored 4:38 into the first period.

Penn State attacker Greg Hale responded just 36 seconds later to tie the game at one.

Jones' and Perry's unassisted goals to close out the half weren't enough to prevent the Blue Jays from slipping too far away at the end of the second quarter.

Although the Lions had a difficult time penetrating with last year's leading goal scorer, Nate Whitaker, nursing an injury.

Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel was pleased with the offensive performance overall.

Penn State opened the second half of the game trailing 7-3 with a man-up goal scored by attackman Chris Gannett with the assist coming from Gil Pearsall. It was the only man-up situation the Lions scored on out of three attempts.

The Blue Jays scored on two of their three extra man attempts during the game.

Thiel said that because the Lions were not in shape they played sloppily at times, turning the ball over and failing to clear it when it should have been cleared.

"We are not in good enough shape," he said.

"Every ground ball that is contested we push somebody, so we have to cut that out."

Despite the absences of captain Rob Bateman and Mike Jacober due to injuries, the defense pulled together and produced a solid effort.

"The defense is young, but they reacted well and the goalies did a good job," Thiel said. "[First year starter] Josh LaGrow played really solid. It's a tough situation where he hasn't had that much time and he just has to be confident and be big in the cage."