On Sunday, the Penn State women's soccer team looked sharp, fast and dominant at home, while the Penn State football team looked sluggish against a tough road opponent.

Last night, the No. 4 Lady Lions resembled the latter team more than the former.

Penn State, who ran up 11 fouls and a yellow card, couldn't overcome its slow start and a hat trick by Maryland's Sara Gustafson, and succumbed to the No.23 Terrapins 3-1 in College Park.

"They started very fast," said Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer of the Terps. "We did not have a good warmup, and it was a tough first five minutes."

Gustafson netted two of her three goals in those opening minutes, and closed out her scoring with a long run to the net at 87:03, effectively putting the game out of reach for the Lady Lions (1-1, 0-0).

Penn State's Christie Welsh tallied her first goal of the year, but the Lady Lions could not capitalize on a number of other chances, said Farmer, who gave due credit to Maryland goalie Riki-Ann Serrins, whose 13 saves literally saved the day for the Terps.

With the victory, Maryland (2-0, 0-0) avenged a 3-2 loss to Penn State in the 2nd round of last year's NCAA tournament.

"The loss today was more of a mental loss than a physical loss," said Penn State reserve goalkeeper Megan Smart after last night's game, who admitted the Lady Lions had a number of excellent chances, but she added, "It's a luck thing -- it's gonna go your way or it's not gonna go your way."

It didn't go Penn State's way last night, in part because of a marked change in tempo from the George Mason game.

"They put a lot of pressure on us in the midfield," said Farmer. "We weren't playing fast enough. I think we got lulled to sleep by George Mason."

Farmer added that Welsh, midfielder Joanna Lohman, and defender Luanne Strom turned in solid performances for the Lady Lions, but he also mentioned a few things Penn State will have to work on as they get set to take on Pittsburgh and Connecticut this weekend.

"We need to work on speed of play, getting the midfielders involved. Other than Lohman I don't think we're very dynamic in the midfield."

If it sounds like Farmer is laying down a challenge to his team, he just might be. But one thing is certain: If the Lady Lions are going to accomplish their lofty goals this season, they will have to play better than they did in College Park.