STATE COLLEGE, Pa.; April 22, 2007 ¨C The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team, under the guidance of veteran head coach Glenn Thiel, suffered a heart-breaking 8-7 double-overtime loss at Rutgers in ECAC action. The loss was yet another close call for Penn State, which has lost six games by two goals or less. Pat Heim (Wayne, Pa.) and Rob Forster (Jenkintown, Pa.) each had two goals for Penn State while goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) had 15 saves, including ten in the first half alone. The Scarlet Knights jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a furious start. Colin Checcio scored at 10:45 and at 6:32, sandwiching his two goals around a score from Justin Pennington at the 9:46 mark. In danger of losing touch with RU early, junior Bubba Scott (Rockville, Md.) put the Nittany Lions on the board with an unassisted goal at the 1:19 mark, cutting Rutgers¡¯ lead to 3-1 at the end of the first period. Scott¡¯s goal was a man-up goal, the first of five straight man-up goals to be scored in the game. After a scoreless start to the second period, Rutgers moved out to a 4-1 lead when Chris White scored off a Checcio assist to lead 4-1. RU held that lead until the half nearly ended, but Penn State senior Gil Pearsall (Carthage, N.Y.) kept Penn State close with an unassisted goal with just 0:22 left in the half, to cut RU¡¯s lead to 4-2 at intermission. Nittany Lion freshman Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) scored a man-up goal off an assist from Brian Boyle (Derry, N.H.) to inch Penn State closer, 4-3, with 13:57 left in the third period. But Rutgers¡¯ Mike Dugan scored the next two goals, one at 12:04 and one at 10:24, to put the Scarlet Knights back up 6-3. Penn State, however, answered back with two goals from Forster. Forster¡¯s first, off an assist from Matt Loy (Somerset, N.J.), came with just 1:03 left in the third period. His second game with only 0:26 remaining. His two goals had Penn State down 6-5 and ready to head to the fourth within striking distance. But RU¡¯s Checcio scored one more, with only 0:18 left in the third, to give the Knight¡¯s a 7-5 lead with just 15:00 of regulation to play. Penn State dominated the fourth period, however. Adams had three saves in shutting Rutgers out in the fourth period. Heim, then, tied the game up for Penn State with two unassisted goals. His first came with just 4:03 left to play, cutting Rutgers¡¯ lead to 7-6. His second came at the 1:57 mark, tying the game at 7-7 and sending the contest into extra time. Rutgers once again was stifled offensively in the first overtime period, not even getting a shot on goal. But RU goalie Bill Olin, who had 18 saves in the game, came up big with two of those saves in the first overtime period, helping send the game to a second four-minute stanza. This time, RU found the net, with Justin Pennington scoring the game-winner (unassisted) with 2:35 left in the second overtime. Penn State out shot Rutgers 45-39, but Olin¡¯s 18 saves proved to be the difference in the game. The Knights also won 12 of the game¡¯s 18 face-offs. Each team scored three man-up goals as well. Checcio led Rutgers with three goals and an assist. Penn State falls to 4-7 overall, 3-3 in the ECAC Lacrosse League. Rutgers moves to 5-5 overall, 3-2 in the loop. The Nittany Lions will close out the home portion of their schedule with a Saturday night game at Jeffrey Field. Penn State will face-off with visiting St. Joseph¡¯s on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 7, Rutgers 8 (2 OT) SCORING (Goal-Assist): GROUNDBALLS: PSU 26, RU 33 ¨C EMO: PSU 3-5, RU 3-7 SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 45-25, RU 39-23 FACE-OFFS: PSU 6-18, RU 12-18 GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU (Drew Adams 65:25, 8 GA, 15 SV), RU (Bill Olin 65:25, 7 GA, 18 SV) SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 1OT 2OT F PENN STATE 1 1 3 2 0 0 7 RUTGERS 3 1 3 0 0 1 8 RECORDS: Penn State 4-7, 3-3 ECAC; Rutgers 5-5, 3-2 ECAC UP NEXT FOR PSU: Penn State hosts St. Joseph¡¯s on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
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