When Loyola of Maryland began two-a-day preseason practices, the first at 6:00 a.m., it had a game like this in mind.

The Lady Greyhounds had beaten Bucknell, 14-2, this past Saturday but beating the women's lacrosse team would be a tall order. After all, the Lady Lions won the national championship last year and had started this season winning their first two games. Furthermore the Lady Lions had never lost (4-0) to Loyola going into the game.

That was until last night at Holuba Hall.

When forward Karen Ravn scored at 58:58 in sudden death, the Lady Greyhounds had the victory 6-5, shocking the Lady Lions and sending the Loyola into a frenzy.

"It was the biggest win for us," Loyola coach Diane Aikens said. "We really had been playing well, the team worked their butts off."

"It is a great feeling," Ravn said.

"You never know what is going to happen on a given day," Coach Julie Williams said.

In the sudden death the Lady Greyhounds began pressuring from the outset. After Lady Lion goalie Kay Young made a save, Loyola got the ball again and this time they would not be denied. Ravn received a pass from Joy Bogusky made a move on her defender and put the shot past Young for the victory.

"We started practicing a 6 in the morning (in the preseason) and we know we could do it," Ravn said.

In the early going though the Lady Lions had got the lead on a goal by Diane Whipple and led 2-1 at halftime.

"We played sloppily, we didn't handle the ball real well," Aikens said.

In the first half, Aikens, in her second year, got to use her new defensive scheme.

"We have a strategy based around the goaltender, she is a major part of our clear," she said.

With the goalie at times bringing the ball out to midfield and beyond, the Lady Greyhounds controlled the ball and negated the Lady Lions' attack.

This strategy kept the game close until Loyola made its move in the second half. And after Sabrina Gallagher scored at 45:36, Loyola had its first lead.

"We were not intimidated by them," she said.

But Megan Smith countered and scored with 42 seconds left to tie the game at 4 to send it to overtime. Then in the overtime period Whipple scored and Penn State had regained the lead at 5-4. But the Lady Greyhounds would not die.

"We could not let (the goal) get to us," Gallagher said.

Loyola regained its composure and tied the game again on a Collen Anderson goal. Rvan followed that up with the game winner.

"We were psyched, we are kind of a sleeper," Aikens said. "We had nothing to lose.

"We have to take each game one at a time and each practice one at a time. The end result is a win. And a win is a win whether it is against Penn State or Bucknell."

Clearly last night's win meant much more to the Loyola players than just a win, however.