BALTIMORE, MD – The 12^th-ranked Penn State men's lacrosse team needed less than four minutes to score twice and jump to a 2-0 lead against Johns Hopkins Saturday afternoon at Homewood Field.  The Nittany Lions would need more than 42 minutes to add two more as the host Blue Jays used a 13-1 run that bridged the first and third quarters to fuel a 13-6 victory that improved their record to 2-2 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten.  Penn State slips to 1-3 overall and in the Big Ten.
 
The Nittany Lions' early two-goal lead was gone by the end of the first quarter as a Cole Williams unassisted goal at the 9:04 mark ignited a quarter-ending four-goal run that also included strikes from Jack Keogh, Joey Epstein and Connor DeSimone.
 
Penn State halted the run just under two minutes into the second quarter when Jack Kelly scored off a feed from TJ Malone after Malone grabbed the rebound off a Josh Kirson save and found Kelly on the crease for quick-stick goal from close range.
 
From there, it was all Johns Hopkins for the next 28 minutes as the Blue Jays answered the Kelly goal with a nine-goal run that pushed the 4-3 lead to 13-3 at the end of the third quarter.
 
Back-to-back DeSimone goals on quick dodges from behind the goal came 10 minutes apart in the second quarter to give the Blue Jays a 6-3 lead at the half and set the stage for what proved to be the game-deciding quarter.
 
A Jacob Angelus goal for Johns Hopkins just 38 seconds in the third period ignited a quarter that saw the Blue Jays outscore the Nittany Lions 7-0, win 6-of-7 faceoffs and hold a commanding 18-0 advantage in shots.
 
Six different players scored for Johns Hopkins in the third quarter with the Angelus goal jump-starting the period and DeSimone's fourth of the day ending it with 88 seconds on the clock.  In between, the Blue Jays got two goals from Garrett Degnon and single goals from Williams, Epstein and Alexander Mabbett.    Five of the seven goals in the quarter were assisted with Epstein and long stick midfielder Connor Delaney picking up a pair of helpers in the quarter.
 
Penn State scored the final three goals of the game as Malone, Jackson Reynolds and Mac O'Keefe all tallied in the fourth quarter for the Nittany Lions.
 
After losing the first four faceoffs the game, the Blue Jays won 12 of the next 14, including 10-of-11 in the second and third quarters combined to maintain a decided possession advantage.  Junior Matt Narewski did most of the damage at the X for Johns Hopkins as he won 12-of-21 faceoffs and had five ground balls in the win.
 
DeSimone paced the Blue Jays offensively as he scored a career-high four goals and added one assist.  Epstein (2g, 2a), Williams (2g), Degnon (2g), Keogh (1g, 1a) and Delaney (2a) added multi-point games for Johns Hopkins, which also got six saves from Kirson and held advantages in shots (46-22), ground balls (28-25) and faceoffs (13-9).
 
Malone had a hand in four of Penn State's six goals on the day as he had two goals and two assists, while O'Keefe had two goals on the day.  Senior goalie Colby Kneese had 13 saves for the Nittany Lions.
                                                                                                                                                                                                            
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Saturday, March 20 when the Blue Jays welcome Rutgers to Baltimore.  Faceoff from Homewood Field is set for 1 pm.
 
Notes:  The last time Johns Hopkins held a team shotless for an entire quarter was on March 2, 2012, when the Blue Jays held Princeton without a shot in the second quarter of a 10-8 victory • Degnon extended his team-best goal-scoring streak to 10 games • Epstein is now just two points shy of 100 for his career (65g, 33a) • The Blue Jays are now 10-3 all-time against Penn State and 5-1 all-time in games played on March 13 • The win was the first for head coach Peter Milliman at Homewood Field • The six goals Penn State scored were its fewest since falling 8-6 to Maryland in the 2017 Big Ten Semifinals.