Lady laxers drop opener

By CRAIG KACKENMEISTER
Collegian Staff Writer

Coaches always want to start the season on the right foot, but Penn State women's lacrosse coach Julie Williams knew her squad would have a tough time taking that step in the season opener against No. 1 Maryland.

The No. 9 Lady Lions (0-1) found out what they need to do to take that first step after a 12-8 loss to the Terrapins (1-0) yesterday at Bigler Field.

Maryland, which was coming off a 15-12 victory over the U.S. National team last Friday, showed why it received the top ranking in the nation.

The Terrapins opened the game with great determination, scoring five goals in the first 10 minutes, which forced Williams to call a timeout to stop the bleeding.

"I said, 'Well, now are you ready to play? We got the nerves out of our system and now let's just go out and play,' " Williams said.

Her advice seemed to sink in.

The Lions came out of the timeout and scored four-straight goals to get back within striking distance. Senior midfielder Colleen O'Brien helped lead the charge by scoring two of her team-high three goals.

"Penn State played well for their opener," Maryland coach Cindy Timchal said. "They're going to be a great team and obviously Jen Johnson and Emily Mecham had great games."

Mecham scored two goals and notched an assist and Johnson scored a goal to help keep the Lions in the game.

Sophomore goaltender Megan Ames started her first collegiate game and kept the Lions alive by making 20 saves on 41 shots.

"She did a great job, she had a great fall," Mechem said. "She came in here ready to step up. It's hard coming in as a sophomore and your first game starting, so she did a great job."

Maryland's Jen Adams, Christie Jenkins and Kristin Sommar led the defending national champions to the victory.

Adams scored four goals -- two in each half -- and had an assist. Jenkins tallied three goals, two of which came in the opening 10 minutes of the first half.

Along with the scoring came solid defense from All-American goaltender Alex Kahoe. She recorded 17 saves on 27 shots and made some key saves on free positions.

"She's one of the best goalies in the country," Mechem said. "We knew coming in that we were going to have to make perfect shots to beat her. She came up with some big saves down at the end of the game."

The Lions will now have six days to recuperate until they take to the road for games against Georgetown March 8 and Vanderbilt March 10. Williams feels there were positives to take into the upcoming games.

"It's a key lesson to learn that when you are down by five early you can come back, especially against a Maryland team," she said.

"Against a team like Maryland that's a hard thing to do -- to change the momentum like that. Knowing we can do that is a big lesson we learned from this game."