It takes more than heart and hustle to win.

As the members of the women's lacrosse team learned yesterday against Delaware, none of that matters if their heads aren't in the game.

The Lions made the necessary mental adjustments in the second half, and stepped up their offensive attack, to pull ahead for a 6-5 victory over the Blue Hens at Holuba Hall.

"We beat ourselves in the first half," Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Weinberg said. "But the good thing was we played with heart. We played hard for 60 minutes. We just didn't play smart for 60 minutes. That was the difference."

The Penn State offense struggled in the first half. Delaware came into the game with a defensive strategy that kept pressure on the Lions' ball handlers, and Penn State responded with sloppy passes and costly turnovers.

"I think the constant pressure got us really frustrated," freshman attacker Katie Jeschke said. "We weren't relaxing and playing our game. Sometimes we weren't moving as much as we could've, and that was easier for the defense."

At the same time, the Lion defense tried to make up for the mental mistakes that were keeping the offense from scoring.

"I think defensively we played a great game," Weinberg said. "In the first half, our defense was phenomenal. We just weren't seeing the rewards."

Delaware went on the board first at 16:07 with a goal by Kate O'Connell, but Penn State answered at 13:00 when Katy Heuisler fired a shot to the left of Delaware keeper Laurie Tortorelli.

The Lions then went ahead on Carey Bush's goal at 8:42, but Megan Fortunato tied the game for Delaware going into the half.

"I don't think we took as many shots as we should have at first," Bush said of her team's offensive efforts in the first half. "As the game went on, we got more opportunities."

Penn State started the second half with a goal by Molly Ford at 24:43, putting the Lions ahead, 3-2. Katrina Metz tied the score for the Blue Hens at 21:13, but Delaware began to experience some frustrating problems of its own.

Colleen O'Hara scored for Penn State at 17:19, and a Delaware foul at 12:20 set Bush up with a free shot that she converted to make the score 5-3.

"We started to feel more pressure defensively, and then we fouled a few times," Delaware coach Denise Wescott said. "If you give a good team an eight meter shot, they're going to make it."

Despite the defensive problems, the Delaware offense kept the pressure on. Corrinne Shuck and Fortunato scored within two minutes of each other, tying the game with about five minutes to go.

However, Jeschke stepped up a minute later to score a goal that sealed the victory for Penn State.

Bringing the ball on her stick side, Jeschke aimed and shot into the left corner of the goal.

"It's just something that always happens between me and Colleen (O'Hara)," Jeschke said. "Her girl dropped a double, and I just cut in."

The goal gave the Lions the win, but it didn't necessarily convince Weinberg that her team performed to its potential on the offensive end.

"The attack could have stepped up a little more in the first half, and a little more in the second too," Weinberg said. "We need to score more than we scored. Six goals is not enough."