And the streak goes on.

In keeping with its trend of alternating wins and losses, the No. 9 Penn State women's lacrosse team fell to No. 5 Georgetown 19-9 yesterday at Washington, D.C.'s North Kehoe Field. They have yet to win or lose two straight games this season. The loss not only drops the Nittany Lions down to .500 for the seventh time this season, but it may have also ended their playoff hopes.

Penn State (7-7) came into its contest against Georgetown (11-3) looking for a big win, but instead it was handed its biggest loss of the season. The last time Penn State lost by 10 or more goals was almost exactly two years ago, a 23-11 spanking courtesy of the Hoyas.

"We didn't match their intensity and we fell apart," said a noticeably frustrated Suzanne Isidor, the Penn State women's lacrosse coach. "This was a big game and we just fell apart."

Early in the first half, with the Lions clinging to a 2-2 tie, the Hoyas broke the game open. After scoring the go-ahead goal, Georgetown never looked back, running the score up to 9-5 by the end of the half. Things never improved for Penn State as Georgetown netted 10 of the 15 goals scored in the second half.

"We dug ourselves in a hole early," Isidor said. "We were forced to take quick shots, and they were making us pay for it on the other end."

When your playoff aspirations are hanging in the balance, the last thing you want to do is lose to the No. 5 team in the country. Penn State, the only team ranked in the Top 10 that isn't at least four games over .500, now must win the final three games on its schedule to think playoffs. Even if the Lions were to finish 10-7, it will need other things beyond their control to earn an NCAA Tournament invitation. And since the American Lacrosse Conference is only in its second year of existence, Penn State cannot fall back on an automatic bid if it finished undefeated in conference play.

For such a scenario to play out, Penn State would first have to find a way to win two games in a row. To post consecutive wins, the Lions will need to find the intensity they had earlier in the season when they came within a goal of upsetting both No. 1 Loyola and No. 2 Maryland.

Though Penn State's struggle to win back-to-back games is something that warrants concern, the Lions must also look to the fact that after defeating opponents by at least five goals, Penn State has lost its next game by an average of 4.8 goals.

If the Lions' current win-loss streak holds true against Ohio this Friday, Penn State will have to up the ante to avoid a blowout this Sunday at the hands of No. 10 Ohio State -- a game that may decide the American Lacrosse Conference championship.

"If it takes something special for us to get up against Ohio State, then there's something wrong," Isidor said.