The yells from both benches grew louder as the Penn State women's lacrosse team joined Loyola back on the field following a Nittany Lions timeout.

Just minutes earlier, Penn State had tied the game at 8, but the Greyhounds responded with two goals and just 4:02 remained in the game.

The question for the Lions was whether they could overcome what was once a four-goal deficit, or if this would be just another close loss, the kind that has plagued the team throughout the season.

Anyone looking at the frustration and disappointment on the players' faces as the final whistle blew could see that the end result was the latter, a 10-9 loss that dropped Penn State's record to 2-8.

"We're constantly the ones fighting back," Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Isidor said. "Loyola made as many mistakes as we did today, but they had the lead the whole time."

In the game's first five minutes, it looked as though the Greyhounds (10-1) were going to dominate after they scored the game's first three goals.

However, the Lions responded and cut Loyola's lead to 1 before the Greyhounds scored the half's final three goals to take a 7-3 lead into halftime.

Isidor said there was no emotional halftime speech or dramatic change in strategy.

Nonetheless, the Lions looked like a different team as soon as the teams switched ends to start the game's second half.

Senior Stephanie Curnoles started the comeback for the Lions as she slung a shot past Cindy Nicolaus less than a minute into the half.

The Lions added two more goals before Loyola responded with its first score of the half to make the score 8-6. Sophomore Shari Maslin then added one of her team-high three goals in the game.

Then it was Kristen Burke who scored on a pass from Katie Jeschke to tie the game.

Both Nicolaus and Lions goalie Lee Tortorelli kept their teams in the game by making multiple saves.

The next score came with less than six minutes left when Jaclyn Borrone scored on a shot hurled high past Tortorelli.

Stephanie Walker then added another goal for the Greyhounds, prompting Isidor to call a timeout.

Curnoles cut the lead to one with her second goal of the game.

Then with two minutes left in the game, the Lions were on the attack and needed to score once more to force an extra session, but an offsides call gave Loyola control of the ball and the victory.

The Lions lost a one-goal game for the fourth time this season.

They have been able to compete with the nation's top teams, but have yet to get over the hump and defeat any of them.

"The frustrating part is that we keep working and we can't pull out a win," Isidor said. "Playing the top teams is not the frustrating part."

The bright side for the Lions is that only one of their losses has been to a conference opponent.

With the winner of the ALC getting an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, Penn State's postseason hopes are still alive.