AMHERST, Mass. — The No. 18 Penn State men’s lacrosse team scored the final three goals in a 7-5 win over No. 19 Massachusetts at Garber Field in the teams’ Colonial Athletic Association opener.

Jack Forster scored four goals and Kyle VanThof netted the game-winner to propel the Nittany Lions to victory in front of 1,023 fans.

A back-and-forth game that saw five ties and six lead changes had Penn State (3-3, 1-0 CAA) come out on top. UMass (3-4, 0-1 CAA) took a 5-4 lead late in the third quarter, but Forster tied the game before the quarter’s end. VanThof tallied a left-winged shot from Gavin Ahern with the timer on mid-way through the fourth period. Forster added insurance a few minutes later, again with the timer on, sealing the victory.

Junior Austin Kaut, who saved 25 shots in his freshman appearance in Amherst, had 16 saves and five goals against was a season best. Kaut moved into eighth on the Penn State career saves list and now has 432 total stops.

The Minutemen held a 39-32 advantage in shots, including a 26-15 margin in the second and third quarters combined. Penn State committed just nine turnovers, while Massachusetts had 11 turnovers. PSU was 0-for-3 on the man-up and UMass went 1-for-2.

Steven Bogert, JP Burnside, Michael Richards and Danny Henneghan each collected three ground balls for the Nittany Lions. Henneghan won 7-of-16 faceoffs including four of the final seven during Penn State’s winning run.