The Penn State men's lacrosse team tallied two less shots, barely trailed No. 12 Denver in the faceoff and shot departments and broke even in clears and turnovers.

The stats put the two teams on an even playing field, if they didn't put Penn State on the shorter end. But Nittany Lion midfielder Will Cutler made all the difference. His five-goal performance put Penn State on top with an 11-10 victory over the Pioneers (3-2).

Cutler scored the first goal for Penn State (3-3), knotting the score 1-1 after the squad had been scoreless up until the 6:58 mark in the first quarter. In the meantime, he scored three more goals and notched his final and game-winning goal with 23 seconds left in the last quarter.

According to team captain Edmond Perry, Penn State not only generated the perfect offense to set Cutler up for a scoring opportunity, but the solid defensive effort complimented the team's overall cohesiveness. Goalkeeper Mike Stoltz rose to the occasion in just his second career start, as he defended the Pioneers' quality shots in the final minutes of play.

"[The atmosphere] was nuts because it was more like a relief because we've been in these close games before and haven't pulled out," Perry said.

Denver fired 13 of its 39 shots in the fourth quarter. Stoltz recorded five of his 15 saves in the last 15 minutes of play. In the end, aggressive play on both the offensive and defensive end separated the Lions from the Pioneers at the game's end.

Penn State took its first lead of the game early on in the third quarter and would not trail the Pioneers for the rest of the game.

Denver was not far behind, though, as it played catch-up with the Lions for the entire second half. After holding a 10-8 advantage as it neared the end of the fourth quarter, Penn State surrendered a two-goal rally by the Pioneers that tied the score at 10 with 1:37 left in the game.

"You never want to have doubt, but there are times when you're like, 'We don't want lose this,' " Perry said.

Deja vu flashed through the minds of the Lions after a fourth quarter 8-6 lead turned into a 10-8 loss to Georgetown last Saturday. The Hoyas tallied two goals in less than a minute with about 6:30 remaining to seal the win for Georgetown.

"We were just thinking about [the loss] because we have been harping on the fact that we have to win these close games," Perry said. "We worked hard this week and after Georgetown everyone had a sour taste in their mouth."

On Sunday, though, the Lions refused to let history repeat itself. With the game locked at 10, Penn State was most concerned with defending its goal. Anything more than that, let alone a go-ahead goal with 23 seconds remaining, would be stellar.

And Cutler's goal was just that.