While injuries and a lack of practice time as a complete unit were problems for the Penn State men's lacrosse team heading into its game with No. 17 Ohio State Saturday, confidence was not.

"We all knew we could win the game," Penn State attacker Nate Whitaker said. "It didn't matter that they were ranked ahead of us. We knew we had the talent. We knew we were coached well enough to beat [Ohio State]."

That confidence, along with coaching, made the difference in the No. 22 Nittany Lions (1-0) 9-7 win over the Buckeyes (0-1). Despite getting down 3-0, the Lions fought back and tied the score heading into the second period. Again, the Buckeyes scored three straight goals in the second, and Penn State went into the half behind, 6-3. But the confidence never wavered.

"Coach [Glenn Thiel] was telling us one team will go on a run; then the momentum will change and go the other direction," Whitaker said. "We were just like, 'They scored the first three, we score the next three.' They score three. We just decided to score the next five."

Down by three, the Penn State coaching staff made the necessary adjustments. Offensively, the Lions were slow and out of sync. In the second half, they were much more organized and aggressive, scoring the next five goals to take an 8-6 lead.

"Coach Thiel said our offense was standing around too much," midfielder Patrick Heim said. "We weren't running as hard as we do in practice. You don't run hard, it makes it easier for the defenders to cover you."

Penn State came out running hard right from the whistle in the second half. Heim scored just 47 seconds into the second frame on the first shot of the half. The Lions never looked back, scoring two more in the third and three more in the final period.

Defensively, assistant coach Guy Van Arsdale changed the scheme. In the first half, Penn State was forcing the Buckeyes to dodge down the side of the field, and Ohio State was getting a lot of scoring opportunities, capitalizing on six of them. In the second half, the Lions reversed their strategy to force Ohio State to dodge down the middle, and it worked. Penn State shut down the Ohio State attack for the rest of the game. Penn State goaltender Josh LaGrow, after giving up three goals on the first three shots in the first period, allowed only one goal in the second half while the Lions netted six.

"Our six-on-six defense was great today," Heim said. "Danny Saltsman played a hell of a game. Josh LaGrow towards the end of the game stepped it up."

Getting relatively healthy before the game did a lot for the Lions' confidence. Early in the week, Thiel was not sure how many players he would have available due to all the injuries his team suffered in the preseason.

As the week progressed, more and more players were feeling better, and come game time, the Lions were close to full-strength.

"We were starting to question ourselves," Heim said regarding the injuries. "Then everybody started coming back. We came into this game with all the confidence in the world."

Attacker Brian Boyle, defenseman Matt Mulqueen and goaltender Chris Courteau did not dress for the game. Boyle may be back Saturday as the Lions take on his former team, Notre Dame.

Mulqueen and Courteau are expected to be out at least a few more weeks.