UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., April 20, 2004 - The Penn State men's lacrosse team (5-5, 0-2) earned its second straight victory as they defeated Bucknell, 12-7, tonight at Jeffrey Field. Sophomore attackman John Eremus (Rosemont, Pa.) led the Nittany Lions with three goals while freshman attackman Gil Pearsall (Carthage, N.Y.) finished with two goals and one assist.

The Lions shutout Bucknell in the first quarter, 5-0, as the Bison were only able to tally four shots in the opening 15 minutes. Penn State found the scoreboard first as midfielder Elliott Jones (Potomac, Md.) scored on a quick pass from Patrick Heim (Wayne, Pa.). At the 8:06 mark Pearsall found the back of the net on an unassisted goal to put the Lions up 2-0. Eremus scored his first goal of the game on a pass from defenseman Jesse Tarr (Media, Pa.) at the midfield line right after the Lions had finished killing their first penalty. Eremus scored again one minute later, unassisted, for his second goal of the game to give the Lions a 4-0 lead. Will Cutler notched the final goal of the first quarter on a hard shot at the top of the zone from Mike Jacober (Providence, R.I.) as the Lions led 5-0.

The defense for the Nittany Lions continued to play strong as they only allowed one Bucknell goal in the second quarter. Attackman Greg Hale (Pittsford, N.Y.) scored the first goal of the quarter on Jacober's second assist of the game to give the Lions a 6-0 advantage. Seven seconds later, midfielder Greg Gurenlian won the ensuing face-off and drove down the length of the field to score his first goal of the game. The Bison were able to find the scoreboard and interrupt the Penn State rally as midfielder John Salvesen scored an unassisted goal off a Nittany Lion turnover. The Lions responded with a goal from attackman Nate Whitaker who now has increased his scoring streak to 24 games. The first half ended with Penn State leading 8-1.

Bucknell opened the scoring in the third quarter when Salvesen notched his second goal of the game on an assist from midfielder Patrick O'Hearn. Pearsall scored his second goal of the game at the 9:46 mark on an impressive fake-out in front of the crease to give the Lions a 9-2 lead. The Bison capitalized on another Nittany Lion turnover as attackman Chris Cara found an open net for his first goal. Eremus completed his hat-trick four minutes later as he scored on an assist from Will Jones (Annapolis, Md.) while being illegally checked. Jones then ended the third quarter with an extra-man goal with four seconds remaining to give the Lions an 11-3 lead.

Bucknell wasn't finished as they opened the fourth quarter with four consecutive goals. Cara scored two straight to give him a hat-trick on the night while attackmen Patrick Christensen and Brian Gargan also tallied goals to cut the Penn State lead to 11-7. Whitaker sealed the victory for the Lions while he notched his second goal on an assist from Cutler at the 3:38 mark in the quarter to make the final score 13-7.

Junior goalkeeper Josh LaGrow (Skaneateles, N.Y.) played 48:00 minutes and made five saves while senior Mike Stoltz (Parkton, Md.) saw 15:00 minutes of action. Bucknell goal keeper Matt Baran played all 60 minutes making 14 saves on the night. Penn State will host Rutgers in its final ECAC match of the year on Saturday, Apr. 24 at 12:00 p.m. The Lions will then return to the road on Friday, Apr. 30 when they battle Villanova at 7:00 p.m.

GOAL - (ASSISTS):
PSU
1st quarter: Elliott Jones - (Patrick Heim), Gil Pearsall, John Eremus - (Jesse Tarr), John Eremus, Will Cutler -(Mike Jacober)
2nd quarter: Greg Hale - (Mike Jacober), Greg Gurenlian, Nate Whitaker - (Gil Pearsall)
3rd quarter: Gil Pearsall, John Eremus - (Will Jones), Will Jones
4th quarter: Nate Whitaker -(Will Cutler).

BU
1st quarter: no scoring
2nd quarter: John Salvesen
3rd quarter: John Salvesen - (Patrick O'Hearn), Chris Cara - (Steve Case)
4th quarter: Chris Cara - (Patrick Christensen), Chris Cara - (Wes Fetchet), Patrick Christensen - (Wes Fetchet), Brian Gargan.

SAVES:
PSU:
Josh LaGrow (48:00 minutes, 4 goals allowed, 5 saves)
Mike Stoltz (12:00 minutes, 3 goals allowed, 0 saves)

BU:
Matt Baran (60:00 minutes, 12 goals allowed, 14 saves)

GROUNDBALLS:
PSU, 49: BU, 29
EMO: PSU, 1-5: BU, 2-6