STATE COLLEGE, PA – The Penn State men's lacrosse team broke an 8-8 tie with three straight goals in the fourth quarter, including back-to-back tallies in a 28-second span late in the period, to pull away from visiting Johns Hopkins for an 11-8 win at rain-soaked Panzer Stadium Sunday afternoon.  The win improves Penn State's record to 2-4 overall and 2-4 in the Big Ten, while the Blue Jays slip to 2-4 overall and 2-4 in the league.
 
After Hopkins had tied the game at 8-8 on a Garrett Degnon goal with 12:52 to play, the Nittany Lions got a goal in transition three minutes later from Mac O'Keefe to ignite the deciding spree.  The 9-8 score held for more than five minutes before O'Keefe struck for an extra-man goal with 4:42 remaining and then Jack Traynor added an insurance goal shortly after what was a non-releasable penalty expired just under 30 seconds later.
 
In a game featuring five ties, the first quarter ended even at 3-3 with the Blue Jays' Jacob Angelus and O'Keefe both scoring twice in the frame, the Blue Jays led 1-0, trailed 2-1 and were up 3-2 before O'Keefe's second forced the deadlock at the end of the opening 15 minutes.
 
Johns Hopkins grabbed a short-lived 4-3 lead early in the second quarter when junior Joey Epstein picked the far post from the wing on extra-man; the goal was the 100^th point of his career.
 
Penn State scored the final four goals of the first half with all four coming in a five-minute span midway through the second quarter.  Dylan Foulds scored the second and fourth of those goals with TJ Malone and Traynor also scoring during the spree for the Nittany Lions, who led 7-4 at the half.

Johns Hopkins scored four of the first five goals of the second half to force the 8-8 tie early in the fourth quarter.  Degnon and Epstein scored early in the third quarter to pull the Blue Jays within one at 7-6 before Malone and Cole Williams traded goals in the final five minutes of the third quarter to make it 8-7 Penn State entering the final period.
 
Degnon got inside his defender from the wing to force the fifth and final tie of the game (8-8) at 12:52 mark, but it was the back-to-back O'Keefe goals that proved to the be the difference.
 
O'Keefe led Penn State with four goals and one assist, while Malone added two goals and two assists.  Colby Kneese was strong in goal for the Nittany Lions as he posted 15 saves and Gerard Arceri won 15-of-19 faceoffs to help fuel the win.
 
Johns Hopkins goal two goals apiece from Angelus, Williams, Epstein and Degnon and Keogh had two assists.  The Blue Jays held a slight advantage in ground balls (39-35) and the shots were even (39-39).
                                                
Johns Hopkins will return to action on Sunday, April 4 when the Blue Jays host Michigan.  Faceoff at Homewood Field is set for 12 pm with a live national television audience on ESPNU.