PHILADELPHIA – If it’s overtime and Penn State needs an 18th goal, the Nittany Lions turn to Mac O’Keefe.

The senior attackman, who last year deposited the overtime game-winner in an 18-17 win over Johns Hopkins for Penn State’s first Big Ten championship, was back at it as the No. 2 Nittany Lions traveled to No. 9 Penn on Saturday afternoon.

O’Keefe’s low missile 1:12 into overtime ended the back-and-forth game with Penn State taking an 18-17 win over Penn to improve to 4-1 and bounce back from its lone loss of the month. It’s the second year in a row that the Nittany Lions also defeated Penn by a goal.

“It was definitely an exciting game,” O’Keefe said. “It was similar to last year. It was back and forth, a lot of momentum shifts. Luckily we were able to come out on top with some key plays from Colby Kneese, and our defense really set us up for victory.”

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O’Keefe continues to add to his Penn State goal scoring record. He led the team in scoring with four goals and an assist against Penn. Jack Traynor, a sophomore from just outside Philadelphia, had a career-high four goals, and Grant Ament had two goals and two assists.

“As the year goes on, it’s typical that you build chemistry with your guys,” O’Keefe said. “I’ve been with [Dylan] Foulds and Grant for a while now, so I think we’re building off of that and then we’re getting other guys involved like TJ Malone and Jack Traynor – he had a hell of a day back here in Philly. When we get other guys involved, it’s pretty hard to guard us.”

Colby Kneese made 18 saves for Penn State. Jack Kelly had two goals and one huge assist to O’Keefe after stealing the outlet pass from Penn goalie Patrick Burkinshaw in overtime. Burkinshaw saved Kelly’s initial shot, but Kelly hustled back to retrieve his long outlet toward midfield.

“They outletted the ball and Jack made a nice play to get it back and drew the defense in, and I was able to get free,” O’Keefe said. “To be honest, I closed my eyes and the rest is history.”

Penn fell to 1-2 with its second tough-luck loss of the season. The Quakers have played three top-10 teams already. They lost their season opener when Maryland rallied in the fourth quarter for a 17-15 win and defeated Duke a week ago. Penn led Penn State 11-10 going into the fourth quarter, then had to rally with a pair of man-up goals in the final minute to force overtime.

The Quakers fired off 56 shots Saturday.

“It comes down to a lot of little things,” Penn coach Mike Murphy said. “They shot the ball a lot better than we did. That was one of the big takeaways. We put a lot of pressure on the cage and their goalie made a lot of nice saves and we hit a bunch of pipes. They found a way to make a play at the end there.”

The Quakers played their second straight game without first-team All-American midfielder Sam Handley, their second-leading returning scorer from a year ago, who continues to recover from a spleen injury. Handley is week-to-week without an exact timeline for a return.

“We haven’t missed a beat,” Murphy said. “Sam is extremely talented obviously, but we haven’t thought much about it or talked much about it. We just keep playing. We have a lot of good offensive players. Our attack is very good.”

Dylan Gergar scored five goals, Sean Lulley had two goals and six assists, and Jack Schultz had three goals for Penn. Adam Goldner recorded his 100th career goal in the loss. Burkinshaw finished with 11 saves.

“They’re a great team,” O’Keefe said. “A lot of one-goal games for them. They shouldn’t be hanging their heads. They’re definitely going to be seeing a successful future.”

Penn State sees success ahead for itself as well. The Nittany Lions bounced back from a hard-fought 12-10 loss to Yale.

“We had a tough week coming off the Yale game,” Penn State coach Jeff Tambroni said. “I thought there was a little hangover from that loss. We had our moments of doubt a little bit earlier in the week. So it was great to see our guys come out with so much energy today and so much confidence. That game could have gone either way. I was proud of the way our guys bounced back after giving up two goals at the end.”

Almost exactly like it did in last year’s Big Ten title win over Hopkins, Penn State surrendered two late goals to allow the game to go into overtime before O’Keefe provided the game-winner. The Nittany Lions were a man down due to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Traynor.

“It’s big for sure,” O’Keefe said. “The biggest one for me was the Big Ten last year. Being in Philly, with all the fans here, it’s a great environment and we couldn’t be happier right now.

Penn State would like nothing more than to return to Philadelphia in three months for the final four at Lincoln Financial Field. The Nittany Lions feel like they have some unfinished business after last year’s historic run to the NCAA semifinals, but they are focusing on the improvements needed for this year’s group.

“I know we have a lot of talent in that locker room,” Tambroni said. “It’s about creating more chemistry. Today was a huge step for us. In the last two weeks, I know we lost one, but we played against two really good teams and our chemistry has gotten a lot better.

“When we came into the year, most of our guys were coming back off of last year’s team and we thought it was just going to be plug and play. Every year is different. You have different leaders and different freshmen. Working on our team chemistry and the success of that chemistry was important. I’m just starting to see our guys commit to each other compassionately. That’s been our biggest stride.”

Tambroni is starting to see the progress necessary to make a deep run. He is kicking himself for not emphasizing the chemistry piece more at the start of the season, but he’s watching it develop now.

“The Xs and Os, that stuff comes over time,” he said. “If you’re not willing to buy into each other and create that chemistry on and off the field, then the potential never gets reached. That’s what our guys are going for now, and it’s fun to watch.”

Goals by Kelly and Traynor gave Penn State a 2-0 lead 1:11 into the game. Penn responded with four straight goals by four different players in a show of the way the game would go. Penn State answered with a five-goal run for a 7-4 lead, the largest either team would have in the tight game. A goal by Ament gave Penn State an 8-6 lead at halftime despite Penn holding a 12-4 advantage in faceoffs.

“We have a lot of confidence in Gerry [Arceri],” O’Keefe said. “But when that’s not working, our offense – we were tested last week with Yale and they did a great job. That was probably the worst game we played in a while, so I think being able to learn from that and carrying those mistakes and learning from them for this game was huge for us.”

Kyle Gallagher continued to dominate faceoffs in the third quarter as Penn took the lead. Gallagher finished 26-for-39. Penn scored four of the final five goals in the quarter to stake itself to an 11-10 lead.

It didn’t last. The fourth quarter began with three straight goals from Penn State, including two from TJ Malone. Arceri also found some success at the X, most notably winning the overtime faceoff.

“We rely on Gerard so much and maybe sometimes take him for granted a little bit,” Tambroni said. “I thought he battled the last 10 minutes of the game really well. And that’s what it comes down to. When we needed him most, and we probably could have done a little better job on the wings of supporting him, but the offense today stepped up, and the defense against Yale stepped up, so it was good to see both sides could compete and play. Today we needed every possession against a talented Penn team.”

Penn State never trailed in the fourth quarter, but Penn did tie the game twice, including at 17-17 on Gergar’s fifth goal with 16 seconds left.

“I give our guys credit,” Murphy said. “We fought like crazy and took it to overtime.”

That’s when O’Keefe felt some déjà vu as he notched another game-winner for the Nittany Lions in overtime. He’s hoping it won’t be the last great feeling for Penn State in Philadelphia this year as they target Memorial Day weekend.

“We’re hoping we’ll be back,” O’Keefe said.