NORTH BETHESDA, Md. ¨C March 13, 2007 ¨C The Penn State Nittany Lion lacrosse team, under the guidance of veteran head coach Glenn Thiel, rode the hot scoring of a freshman to down Colgate 7-4 in a game played at Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda, Md. The win was Penn State¡¯s first of the year after four straight close losses to begin the season.

Freshman midfielder Brian Shea (Gaithersburg, Md.) scored three of Penn State¡¯s seven goals to spark Penn State to the victory. The Nittany Lions once again got off to a fast start, bolting out to a big early lead. But this time, Penn State¡¯s defense stood firm and the Lions grabbed the win.

Shea got the game¡¯s first goal less than three minutes in with an unassisted score at the 12:19 mark. Senior Pat Heim (Wayne, Pa.), continuing his solid early season start, scored the first period¡¯s only other goal, unassisted at the 6:39 mark. With the Lion defense and goalie Drew Adams (Springfield, Pa.) shutting out Colgate in the first period, Penn State continued to build its early lead in the second stanza.

Freshman Chris Hogan (Wyckoff, N.J.) took an assist from Heim and found the back of the net less than thirty seconds into the second period and Shea scored his second goal five minutes after that to give Penn State a 4-0 lead. The Nittany Lions would maintain that lead until Colgate¡¯s Brandon Corp scored twice, once at the 5:53 mark and once at the 3:55 mark, to cut the Lion lead to 4-2. Then, with just 1:47 to play in the half, Colgate¡¯s Nick Monastero scored a man-up goal and a one-time large lead was down to just one, 4-3, at intermission.

Shea had an answer early in the third, however, scoring his third goal just over two minutes into the quarter to give the Nittany Lions a 5-3 lead. Corp countered once again for Colgate, scoring his third goal with 5:51 left in the third period. Neither team found the nets for the remainder of the third period and the Lions led 5-4 with just 15:00 left to play.

Erasing early season trends, Penn State¡¯s defense then stepped up, shutting down Colgate¡¯s attack and setting up two Penn State middies for game-icing goals. Bubba Scott (Rockville, Md.) scored at the 7:25 mark and Matt Radecic (Mission Hills, Kan.) posted the game¡¯s final score with 3:12 left to play, helping push Penn State on to an important 7-4 victory.

Penn State out-shot Colgate 28-20 while the teams were an even 33-33 in ground balls. Penn State¡¯s face-off set, continuing to improve, won 10 of 15 resets behind the work of junior Devin Madden (Kensington, Md.). Madden was a graduate of Georgetown Prep and was playing in front of his hometown fans and former classmates. Lion goalie Drew Adams had seven saves in the contest, allowing only four goals. Colgate keeper Brian Cain had nine saves in the loss.

Penn State is now 1-4 on the year while Colgate is 4-2. Penn State will visit Stony Brook on Saturday, March 17, for a 1 p.m. game.

GAME SUMMARY: Penn State 7, Colgate 4

SCORING (Goal-Assist):
1st: PSU 12:19 (Shea), PSU 6:39 (Heim)
2nd: PSU 14:33 (Hogan, Heim), PSU 9:29 (Shea), COL 5:53 (Corp), COL 3:55 (Corp, Lalli), COL 1:47 (Monastero, Colleluori)
3rd: PSU 12:42 (Shea), COL 5:51 (Corp)
4th: PSU 7:25 (Scott), PSU 3:12 (Radecic)

GROUNDBALLS: PSU 33, COL 33 ¨C EMO: PSU 0-1, COL 1-1
SHOTS (SH-SOG): PSU 28-16, COL 20-11
FACE-OFFS: PSU 10-15, COL 5-15
GOALIE SUMMARY: PSU (Drew Adams 60:00, 7 SV, 4 GA), COL (Brian Cain 60:00 9 SV, 7 GA)

SCORE BY QUARTERS: 1 2 3 4 F PENN STATE 2 2 1 2 7 COLGATE 0 3 1 0 4 

RECORDS: Penn State 1-4, Colgate 4-2
UP NEXT FOR PSU: Penn State at Stony Brook, Saturday, March 17, 1 p.m.