The Lions defense came out hustling for ground balls, forcing turnovers and beating Bucknell (5-7, 3-3 Patriot League) to every ball that went out of bounds to retain possession.
For 38 minutes in its match against Bucknell last night, Penn State (5-5, 0-2 ECAC) held the nation's leading goal- and point-scorer, Chris Cara, to just one goal. Greg Gurenlian handled the majority of the faceoffs for the Lions and came away with the ball on almost every attempt.
The offense was constantly on attack as the Lions outshot Bucknell 44-23.
"To be honest with you I had no idea we'd come out like that," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "We came out with a lot of energy and a lot of aggression."
Penn State's offense exploded as the Lions scored the game's first seven goals. It wasn't until 2:52 remaining in the half when the Bison scored their first goal of the game.
Attacker Eremus was all over the field as he scored the third and fourth goals of the game. He seemed to be the go-to man for the Lions as he fired shots from the first whistle to the final horn.
Heading into last night's game, the Lions were most concerned with defending Cara.
Penn State midfielder Matt O' Malley hardly got a breather as he guarded Cara for the majority of the game. Cara did finish with three goals, two of which came in Penn State's scrappy fourth quarter when O' Malley was out of the game.
"Matt did a great job guarding the top scorer in the country," Tiffany said. "He never beat Matt clean."
The Bison went on a 4-0 run in the final quarter and tightened the gap to 11-7 with just less than five minutes to play. The Lions sealed the victory as attacker Whitaker scored his second goal of the game with the assist from attacker Will Cutler, who also scored.
"It's nice when you can be positive as a coach and after the effort at St. Mary's, we can stay positive," Penn State assistant coach Lars Tiffany said. "It's been positive this week because of how well we did last week.
The win against Bucknell marks the first time all season the Lions have won consecutive games as well as their first win at home. The victory against the in-state rival also boosted Penn State's record to .500. But more significant is the fact that the Lions played 60 minutes of Penn-State-style, smash mouth lacrosse, which Tiffany has been emphasizing all season.
"To me if you play that hard and you play that well, you don't have to worry about the score," Tiffany said. "So that's what's big for me, how exciting it is to see our guys flying around, diving for loose balls and the goals happen."
