Clang!

Thunk!

Smack!

The Penn State women's soccer team lost to defending national champion No.1 North Carolina 1-0 Friday in the Adidas College Classic in Spring, Texas, due in large part to a number of Lady Lions shots on goal ricocheting noisily off the goalposts and crossbar.

Yesterday, Penn State faced the team that shared the No.8 spot in the NSCAA rankings with them last week, and fared better, defeating the Aggies 2-1.

The scoring formula was familiar for the Lady Lions (6-2-1, 0-0-0) yesterday, as Christie Welsh and Heidi Drummond both notched their sixth goal of the season, and Stephanie Smith continued her stellar freshman campaign, adding two more assists to her team-leading total of eight.

"I had no complaints with anyone today," Penn State women's soccer coach Pat Farmer said following yesterday's win. "The first half was the best we've played against a pretty good opponent this year."

Emily Oleksiuk had two saves and nearly her fifth shutout of the season, but a penalty kick by midfielder Heather Wiebe in the 85th minute put the Aggies (5-3-0) on the board.

Friday, Penn State fought tooth-and-nail with the Tar Heels (7-1-0), who were somewhat agitated coming off their first defeat of the season to Clemson earlier in the week.

The Lady Lions defeated the Tar Heels last year in Chapel Hill before losing to them in the semifinals of the NCAA Women's College Cup, but Farmer said Friday's game was the best his team had played against Carolina in any of the three games.

"We definitely know we are able to play with them and beat them," said utility player extraordinare Bonnie Young.

Penn State took care of the former Friday, and very nearly the latter.

Both teams had several good scoring chances nullified by solid goalkeeping — Oleksiuk had seven saves for the Lady Lions while Kristen DePlatchett anchored the UNC net with six — but Carolina had better luck with the posts.

Raven McDonald tallied the game's only goal in the 37th minute, gathering a shot that deflected off the crossbar and putting it past Oleksiuk.

The Lady Lions generated a number of quality scoring opportunities in the second half, hitting the goalposts twice and the crossbar once.

Farmer said he was impressed with the way his team responded yesterday, coming out strong against the third top-ten opponent the Lady Lions have faced already this season.

"It (the UNC game) was such a difficult loss," he said, "but all the guys played a really good game today."

Young, who hails from Spring and had a number of fans in the seats this past weekend, agreed. "After the loss to UNC, I don't think anyone was really down, but it's good to get a win over the weekend," she said.

After going on the road for two consecutive weekend tournaments, the Lady Lions will return to the friendly confines of Jeffrey Field Tuesday against Cornell, before kicking off the Big Ten season with home matches against Indiana and Purdue next weekend.