UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., February 29, 2004 - The Penn State men's lacrosse team (1-1, 0-0) fell to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1-1, 0-0) today in South Bend, Ind. 17-7. Junior Will Jones (Annapolis, Md./DeMatha) scored four points and four other Nittany Lions tallied goals. Notre Dame has now defeated Penn State in three of the last four meetings.

The Lions headed into the fourth quarter down 12-7. Fighting Irish goalkeeper Stewart Crosland shutout Penn State in the final period as he stopped 10 shots, finishing with 18 saves on the day. Notre Dame sealed the game as it added five more goals to win by a 17-7 margin.

Notre Dame opened the third quarter scoring three straight goals. Irish midfielder Matt Karweck scored a man-up goal 19 seconds into the period to give his team an 8-5 advantage. Notre Dame then scored two consecutive goals in an eight-second difference to take a 10-5 lead. Penn State scored its first goal of the second half when Jones found the back of the net on an unassisted goal at the 9:36 mark. Four minutes later he tallied his fourth goal of the day on an assist from Chris Gannet (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown). The Irish scored again late in the period to take a five-goal lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Three different Lions scored goals in the second period, which gave Penn State a 5-4 lead. Senior Greg Hale (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford-Bridgeton) scored a goal on an assist from Jones four minutes into the quarter. Irish midfielder Brian Giordano responded with an unassisted goal one minute later to break the tie and give Notre Dame a 4-3 lead. Sophomore John Eremus (Rosemont, Pa./The Haverford School) and senior Charlie Perry (Port Washington, N.Y./Port Washington) scored the next two Nittany Lion goals to gain the lead back, 5-4. The Fighting Irish made a late rally in the quarter scoring three consecutive goals, two of which from attackman Dan Berger, to gain a 7-5 halftime lead.

Both teams each scored twice in the first quarter. Sophomore Nate Whitaker (Great Falls, Va./Thomas Jefferson) continued his streak of scoring in every game he has played in when he notched an unassisted goal at the 11:15 mark. Jones followed with his first goal of the game eight minutes into the quarter.

Senior Josh LaGrow (Skaneateles, N.Y./Christian Brothers Academy) finished the day with nine saves while Mike Stoltz (Parkton, Md./Hereford) saw action in the fourth quarter, facing one shot.

Penn State will next be in action on Saturday, Mar. 6 when they travel to Connecticut to take on the Fairfield Stags in their third non-conference match-up. The Lions will then take on Providence at Johns Hopkins on Mar. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Baltimore, Md.

--LIONS-

GOAL - (ASSISTS): PSU 1st quarter-Nate Whitaker, Will Jones; 2nd quarter-Greg Hale - (Will Jones), John Eremus, Charlie Perry; 3rd quarter- Will Jones, Will Jones; 4th quarter- no scoring.

ND 1st quarter- Brian Hubschmann, Pat Walsh; 2nd quarter- Matt Karweck - (Brian Hubschmann), Brian Giordano, Dan Berger - (Matt Howell), Brian Hubschmann, Dan Berger - (Brian Hubschmann); 3rd quarter- Matt Karweck - (Pat Walsh), Dan Berger - (Matt Howell), Pat Walsh, Brian Giordano - (Brian Hubschmann), Matt Karweck - (Pat Walsh); 4th quarter- Matt Karweck - (Brian Giordano), Matt Howell - (Brian Giordano), Pat Walsh - (Matt Howell), Matt Howell - (Brian Hubschmann), Matt Howell - (Nick Petcoff)

SAVES: PSU, Josh LaGrow (59:52 minutes, 16 goals allowed, 9 saves), Mike Stoltz (0:08 minutes, 1 goal allowed, 0 saves)

ND: Stewart Crosland (60:00 minutes, 7 goals allowed, 18 saves)

GROUNDBALLS: PSU, 27: ND, 36

EMO: PSU, 2-4: ND, 6-7