For 43 minutes and 43 seconds of the 60 minutes in the Penn State men's lacrosse team's first Eastern College Athletic Conference match of the year on Saturday, the Nittany Lions led No. 6 Georgetown.

But when it mattered most, Penn State (2-3) couldn't hold on.

The Hoyas (2-1) took advantage of the Lions' lapse with 1:40 remaining in the first half and tied the game at five after trailing 5-2.

With 6:27 remaining in the game, a one-minute Penn State blunder allowed Georgetown to break an 8-8 tie, at which the game was knotted for 3:30. When the final horn sounded, the Hoyas walked away with a hard-fought 10-8 victory.

And the Lions swallowed one of their most frustrating losses this season. Not because they played a terrible game, and not because they should have done something differently, but because they played the best lacrosse they have all season and the scoreboard didn't show it.

"I think we came out as a team and we played hard," midfielder Mike Jacober said. "I don't think there is much else I can ask for. I think that's it."

Penn State trailed the Hoyas in groundballs, 26-17; faceoffs, 18-4; shots, 34-25; and penalties, 9-4. Still, the Lions persevered and kept the game tight with aggressive defense and a constant attack on Georgetown's goal.

Sophomore attacker Nate Whitaker tallied two goals to extend his scoring streak to 19 games and picked up one assist. Midfielder Will Cutler also tallied two goals and an assist on the afternoon.

The Hoyas scored the first goal of the game, but the Lions responded with three. After Georgetown cut the Lions' first quarter lead to one, Penn State answered with two goals to put itself on top at 5-2.

But the Lions were scoreless for the remainder of the half, while the Hoyas went on a three-goal scoring rally and tied the game at five.

"We're upset about the last two minutes of the half, but we told them to forget about it," Penn State men's lacrosse assistant coach Lars Tiffany said. "They played 28 great minutes of the half, so we told them to focus on that, and it seemed like they paid attention because they came out and played a good third quarter."

Georgetown regained the lead on a man-up goal just six minutes into the second half.

Two and a half minutes later, Jacober responded with an unassisted goal to tie the game at six. With 19 seconds left in the third quarter, attacker Charlie Perry scored to put the Lions up by one.

The intensity of Perry's go-ahead goal carried into the final quarter when Whitaker scored at the 14:22 mark to make the score 8-6. From then on, it was all Georgetown as the Hoyas scored the next four goals. The winning goal came at the 6:27 mark, which put the Hoyas up 9-8. Just a minute later, Georgetown added another goal and the Lions were held scoreless with 5:38 left in the game.

Penn State came off a 10-6 loss at Fairfield March 6 and an 11-4 win over Providence on Wednesday before its match with Georgetown.