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 [ Monday, April 24, 2006 ] PSU attackman scores winning goal in overtime
By Jon Blau
Collegian Staff Writer
For most of the game, senior attacker Nate Whitaker would shoot and then find a pose -- pounding his stick to the ground, bending his knees or putting his hands over his head, all in frustration. His gloves were soaked through as the No. 13 Penn State men's lacrosse team entered the overtime period tied at 7 with Rutgers. Whitaker had no goals to show for his dampened stick, as the Nittany Lions had trouble getting the ball inside to their top scorer on a rainy afternoon. |
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"We hadn't had a feed in there all game," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "We had to get it in there." That would change, though, as junior attacker Brian Boyle eyed Whitaker with time winding down in the first overtime. A blink later and the Lions (7-4, 5-1 ECAC) were 8-7 winners Saturday against the Scarlet Knights (5-5, 2-3), as Whitaker scored with 12 seconds remaining in the period. It was a moment that wiped away all of the disappointment from Wednesday's 11-10 loss to Bucknell. The goal gave Penn State five wins out of its last six games and the Lions remained on top of the ECAC. "That's what we needed, we had to win," Thiel said. "We kind of know what is in front of us. We know what the route is." After Saturday's games, No. 5 Georgetown defeated No. 8 Massachusetts to reach 4-1 in the conference, while dropping the Minutemen to 3-2. The Lions can win the ECAC title with a win against the Hoyas on May 6. The road was set in an instant. Whitaker tried to explain events leading up to the rush of charging Penn State players coming towards him in celebration. "I didn't know that I had the accuracy when I shot it," Whitaker said. "The whip of my stick just pulled the ball down to the corner." "So it was by accident?" junior midfielder Gil Pearsall asked. "It was pretty much by accident," Whitaker, the Lions top scorer agreed. Mark down Pearsall for two goals, one assist and a wisecrack on the day. After sitting out the first five games of the season with a knee injury, Pearsall has started five straight games, registering at least one point in each. His three-point performance Saturday helped propel the Lions to victory. After Rutgers took a 4-1 lead in the second quarter, Pearsall capped a four-goal rally that put Penn State back up 5-4 with 7:38 remaining in the third quarter. Add senior midfielder Greg Gurenlian's complete ownership of the faceoff circle, 16 wins on 19 draws, plus 14 groundballs as a bonus, and the Lions locked up prized possessions. "The whole game was to defend our ECAC title, and we came out and did that," Pearsall said. "It was a hard-fought game for both sides and we pulled it out." In what was a slow and strategic game that Thiel simply described as "Penn State-Rutgers," a trophy capped the Lions victory against the Scarlet Knights in what is referred as "The Friendship Cup." After the game there was a team photo, in which Whitaker sat in the center with the golden bowl as it collected water. There was no frustration in Whitaker's voice after the game -- only a hint of indifference -- and a thought towards the bigger picture. "I don't know what that's about," Whitaker said of the Friendship Cup. "It's a great win, that's all that counts." | ||||
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