The Nittany Lion victory is the second all-time against the Midshipmen

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - April 12, 2003 - The Penn State men's lacrosse team (4-5, 2-2) held Navy (4-6, 0-4) scoreless in the fourth quarter to secure its second ECAC victory of the season 5-4. The Nittany Lion victory snapped a ten game Navy winning streak and marked its second career victory against the Midshipmen in 39 meetings.

Defense was a major factor in the fourth quarter as both teams went scoreless in the final 15 minutes of play. Navy put the pressure on the Lions late in the quarter as they tried to make up a one-goal Penn State lead. With 45 seconds left in the game Navy attackman Ben Bailey ripped a shot from the left of the crease. Senior goal keeper Chris Garrity (St. Mary's/Annapolis, Md.) made a critical save to keep the Lions ahead by one goal. The Penn State defense played strong the rest of the way to seal the victory 5-4.

Sophomore Will Jones (DeMatha/Annapolis, Md.) opened the scoring in the third quarter with his unassisted goal at 13:23 in the quarter. Navy scored next on a goal from Midshipmen midfielder Greg Conklin who tallied his second goal of the day. Navy won the insuing face-off and scored 32 seconds later to cut the Nittany Lion lead to 5-3. The midshipmen notched another goal late in the quarter with 21 seconds left to cut the Lion advantage to 5-4 at the start of the fourth quarter.

The Lions played solid defense in the second quarter holding Navy scoreless. Junior Brian Mabry (Orchard Park/Orchard Park, N.Y.) scored the only goal in the second on an assist from senior Luke Ogelsby (Haverford School/Bryn Mawr, Pa.) directly after a Navy extra-man opportunity. Penn State took ten shots in the quarter at lead at halftime 4-1.

The Lions controlled the play in the opening 15 minutes scoring three goals. Senior Rob Booth (The Haverford School/Gladwyne, Pa.) and Marc Young (The Haverford School/Devon, Pa.) tallied two consecutive goals to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. Both teams notched a goal with under a minute left to play in the quarter. Freshman Nate Whitaker (Thomas Jefferson/Alexandria, Va.) scored with 42 seconds left in the period while Navy tacked on its first goal of the game from Greg Conklin at the 32-second mark in the quarter. Whitaker continues his scoring streak at nine games, scoring at least one point in every game this season.

Penn State will begin a three game road trip when they travel to Lewisburg, Pa. to take on Bucknell on Wednesday, April 16 at 7:30 p.m. The Lions will then take on Rutgers in New Brunswick, N.J. for its final ECAC match of the year on Saturday, April 19 at 3:00 p.m.

GOAL - (ASSISTS): PSU 1st quarter-Rob Booth, Marc Young - (Rob Bateman), Nate Whitaker. 2nd quarter-Brian Mabry - (Luke Ogelsby); 3rd quarter-Will Jones; 4th quarter-None. Navy 1st quarter-Greg Conklin; 2nd quarter-None; 3rd quarter-Greg Conklin - (Joe Bossi), Ben Bailey - (Jon Birsner), Joe Bossi - (Graham Gill; 4th quarter-None.

SAVES: PSU, Chris Garrity (60:00 minutes, 4 goals allowed, 7 saves) Navy, Seth DiNola (60:00 minutes, 5 goals allowed, 21 saves)