Penn State entered the weekend slate against Michigan off the heels of two straight losses to Big Ten powerhouse Northwestern. Friday night, the Wolverines picked up a big win at Panzer and the Nittany Lions were suddenly faced with a losing streak.

In a highly competitive Big Ten season, Penn State needed to rebound fast. When ensued on Sunday afternoon was one of the best college lacrosse games of the early 2021 season. A matchup that so no team lead by more than a goal for the final 35 minutes ended, fittingly, in overtime.

Maria Auth scored her fifth goal of the game with 38 seconds left in the first overtime period, weaving through traffic, dropping the ball and picking it back up, and scoring to give Penn State a much-needed 13-12 win over Michigan. Auth led the Nittany Lions’ offense with five goals and three assists, while teammate Olivia Dirks had four goals and two assists.

The Nittany Lions almost had the game won in regulation, but Molly Garrett’s leaping buzzer-beater — one of seven goals on the day — knotted the score at 12-12.

Garrett helped Michigan jump out to a 4-0 lead in the game’s first 13 minutes, but it was quickly erased. Auth scored three out of four Penn State goals over nine minutes to tie the game at 4-4.

Dirks and Garrett traded goals throughout the next 10 minutes, through halftime, in what turned out to be a back-and-forth battle. Garrett’s dodging was tough for the Penn State defense to stop, allowing Michigan to stay in the game despite four yellow cards.

Dirks scored off an Auth assist with 4:32 left in regulation — what looked to be the game-winner. However, Michigan goalie Arielle Weissman stopped a Mary Muldoon shot with 1:22 left to give her team a final possession.

Penn State’s Erin Garvey stopped a free position shot with 14 seconds, but Michigan maintained possession with seconds left behind the cage. Caitlin Muir found the leaping Garrett for the game-tying goal with less than two seconds left to force overtime.

Auth scored her 18th goal of the season with 38 seconds left in overtime to seal the win. Weissman finished with 14 saves for Michigan, while Taylor Suplee had 13 for Penn State.