With time running down in sudden death, Loyola's Karen Ravn picked up a loose ball deep in her offensive end and fired a shot into the goal. With that score, the Lady Greyhounds upset the women's lacrosse team, 6-5, last night at Holuba Hall.

Ravn's goal ended a low-scoring affair that saw both teams take up lots of time setting up their offenses. The defending national champion Lady Lions dropped to 2-1 on the season, while Loyola remained unbeaten after two games.

"It was obviously just sloppy," Coach Julie Williams said. "We could never take control and when we did it was just in spurts."

With Loyola eating up as much as 12 minutes per possession, Penn State had trouble organizing its offense. Yet it still almost eked out the win. After the Lady Greyhounds stormed back from a 3-1 second half deficit to forge a 4-3 lead, the home team looked for some dramatics. It came in the form of junior forward Megan smith.

With just 42 seconds left in regulation, Smith suddenly ran from behind the goal and fired it in. With that it seemed as if Penn State had the momentum heading into overtime.

Lacrosse ties are settled by two three-minute periods followed by sudden death, if necessary. All ties are settled in sudden death.

After co-captain Diane Whipple scored her second goal of the game 2:36 into the first extra period, it looked as if Penn State would survive.

"It was real hectic," Smith said. "I felt after we scored the first goal in overtime, we were really in control -- I thought we had it in the bag."

However, Williams said, "I was never sure at any point. The whole game, we had such inconsistent play. Tonight, we would drop the ball, control it, and then drop it again, I never felt calm."

After Whipple's goal, Loyola's Colleen Anderson put in the equalizer with just 1:46 remaining in the second OT. All of this action set up Ravn's heroics in a sudden death that Smith described was like "ping pong."

Heading into the game, Penn State knew the Lady Greyhounds would try to slow the game down and work for a good shot. Because of this, the team could never really get its offense running and it spent most of the game on defense.

"It was very boring," co-captain and defender Tracy Mass. "They were (trying) to lull us to sleep. But on their plays they were so spread out, we could see what they were doing."

Penn State's goalkeeper Kay Young recorded 12 saves to keep the Lady Lions in the game. On attack, Smith scored twice and assisted on Whipple's overtime goal. Karen Brown also was in the scoring column.

For Loyola, Ravn tallied two goals, as did Sabrina Gallagher. Kelly McGuigan scored in the first half to cut Penn State's lead to 2-1 at halftime.

"This is a big win for us," Loyola coach Diane Aikens said. "This was our first real test and the team worked their butts off. I'm really proud of them."

LADY LAX FAX: Loyola outshot Penn State 29-14 . . . Senior forward and co-captain Mary Ann Foley might return to action in tomorrow's game with Shippensburg. She has been out with a knee injury . . . Last season, the Lady Lions pulled out another low-scoring game with the Lady Greyhounds, 10-5.