STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - February 24, 2002 - The Penn State men's lacrosse team opened the 2002 season today as they defeated the Fightin' Irish of Notre Dame in overtime 10-9 at Moose Krause Field in South Bend, Ind.

In the overtime period Will Jones scored his third goal of the game completing the hat trick and giving the Lions the victory 10-9. This win gives Penn State a 1-0 record and breaks their two-game losing streak in season openers.

The Lions started out on top with two goals from senior captain Sean Droogan (Glen Head, NY.) and freshman Marc Young (Devon, Pa.) half way into the first quarter. Notre Dame answered right back with two goals of their own to tie the score at two. With zero seconds left on the clock however, freshman Jesse Tarr (Media, Pa.) ended the first quarter with a goal and the Lions on top 3-2.

The second quarter started out with the two teams trading goals. Will Jones (Washington, D.C.) scored Penn State's lone goal of the quarter at 6:26. The Irish then scored two late goals at the end of the quarter to give them the advantage at the half 5-4.

The Lions came out strong in the third quarter scoring all three goals of the quarter. Senior captain, Will Driscoll (Fairport, N.Y.) scored two goals to tie the score and then give Penn State the lead 6-5. Freshman Mike Jacober (Providence, R.I.) tallied the third goal to give the Lions a 7-5 advantage going into the last 15 minutes of the game.

Notre Dame scored early on a goal from Devin Ryan in the fourth quarter to cut the Lions lead to one. But, Penn State responded quickly as Will Jones scored his second goal of the day, and freshman Will Cutler (Vienna, Va.) scored his first goal of the season to give the Lions a 9-6 lead. The Irish did not give up as they scored three goals to finish the fourth quarter and tie the game at nine a piece. Dan Berger of the Irish scored his only goal of the game with seven seconds left to send it into overtime.

Chris Garrity made the start for the Lions in goal making nine saves and playing 61:29 minutes. The Lions had 32 shots on the day and contained ten face-offs.
Penn State will be on the road Mar. 2 as they travel to Connecticut to take on the Fairfield Stags. The Lions will then open up their home schedule when they take on Air Force on Mar. 4 and will start their ECAC conference play when they host Georgetown on Mar. 9 at University Park.

GOAL - (ASSISTS): PSU 1st quarter- Sean Droogan - (Will Jones), Marc Young, Jesse Tarr; 2nd quarter- Will Jones - (Rob Bateman); 3rd quarter- Will Driscoll - (Charlie Perry), Will Driscoll, Mike Jacober; 4th quarter- Will Jones, Will Cutler; OT- Will Jones. ND 1st quarter- Matt Howell, Devin Ryan; 2nd quarter- Matt Howell - (John Flandina), Kyle Frigon, Devin Ryan - (John Flandina); 4th quarter- Devin Ryan, Matt Malakoff, Matt Howell - (John Flandina), Dan Berger - (John Flandina)
SAVES: PSU, Chris Garrity (61:29 minutes, 9 goals allowed, 9 saves) ND, Stewart Crosland (61:29 minutes, 10 goals allowed, 18 saves)
GROUNDBALLS: PSU, 15: ND, 10
EMO: PSU, 0-1: ND, 0-4
FACE-OFFS: PSU, 10/23: ND 13/23