Lady laxers show desire but come up empty

The Penn State women's lacrosse team put the finishing touches on a rough weekend yesterday, stumbling 11-10 against No. 3 Virginia at Holuba Hall.

Saturday at Holuba, the team was upended 8-6 by No. 10 William and Mary. The two losses put the No. 8 Lady Lions' record at an even 3-3.

"Much better," Williams said. "I said in the huddle after the game that we can fix catching and throwing, we can't fix heart."

Williams said her team played without emotion Saturday against the Tribe. William and Mary held the Lions to a season-low offensive output, never trailing in the game as it beat Penn State for the fourth time in 19 games.

The Lions were down 11-8 when they received goals from sophomore Christine Kenney and junior Emily Mechem with 7:44 and 6:35 to play, respectively.

After a Virginia timeout, the Cavaliers came out more aggressively and dominated control of the ball. Penn State senior goalkeeper Lauren Retzlaff stood strong in the net, preventing Virginia from putting the game away, but the Lions struggled to regain possession.

With about 15 seconds on the clock, Penn State finally grabbed the ball. The team frantically attempted to make its way upfield, but the clock ultimately denied the Lions a clean shot as time ran out.

"I feel pretty lucky to be walking out of here with a win and not having to go into overtime," Cavalier coach Julie Myers said.

Williams said she wishes her team would play an entire game as hard as it played in the latter stages of yesterday's loss. She said her players told her after the game that if they would have had another three seconds they could have scored a tying goal.

"I think that they just have incredible spirit within them," Williams said, "it just takes them too long to get started. Sometimes they just need a little kick in the pants to get going."

The Penn State coach provided just that in the second half against Virginia. After Cavalier midfielder Samm Taylor scored her team's third goal in less than three minutes to put her team up 10-6, Williams called a timeout. During the break, she hollered at her players in an effort to keep them in the game.

"I was full of frustration and anger," she said.

Williams's players took the hint. The Lions picked up their intensity, outscoring Virginia 4-1 in the last 20 minutes of action. They also forced a second yellow card on Cavalier All-American Kara Ariza, resulting in her ejection. Ariza had burnt Penn State for three goals earlier in the game.

However, the effort proved too little too late, as Virginia held on for the win.

Mechem said her team has to take what it can from the rough weekend and learn from it.

"We just have to remember how we felt," Mechem said, "remember what kind of effort we came up with today to compete at this level."