The entire Penn State women's lacrosse team stormed toward the middle of Jeffrey Field and celebrated.

Still on the sideline was Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Isidor, calmly giving her assistant coaches high fives. This was what she envisioned when the season started. After four one-goal losses to top-ranked teams, this is what Isidor knew her team could accomplish if it just put all the pieces together.

The look of relief on her face was because the No. 19 Nittany Lions (4-9, 1-1 ALC) had just defeated No. 3 Georgetown (9-3) 10-7 yesterday afternoon.

"We finally got the monkey off our back and beat a top-ranked team," Isidor said. "Even when we got down 2-0, there were never any doubts or questioning on the sidelines."

The two-goal deficit was the largest Penn State would face all day. After continually being denied by Hoyas' goalie Sarah Robinson, the Lions finally got on the board with 15:32 left in the first half as Kristen Burke scored a free position goal. Burke scored two more goals in the half for a hat trick and gave Penn State a 3-2 lead.

The Lions' struggles this season have been due in part to mental lapses where Penn State allows its opponent to score a flurry of goals in a row.

There was no such stretch yesterday, as Georgetown never scored more than two goals in a row without Penn State answering back.

The Lions controlled the game in the second half as Lori Havrilla scored a hat trick in the final 30 minutes, giving her a team-leading 27 goals on the season. The Hoyas trailed by as many as four goals in the game, but were never able to get closer than two.

The win was especially gratifying for Renee Cipro and Emily Chambers, who both have twin sisters playing for Georgetown.

After getting pounded by the Hoyas in the previous two seasons, the family bragging rights appear to have switched hands for the time being. Chambers said her sister Allison and the rest of the Hoyas reacted differently following this game.

"The past couple years, we were supposed to lose so I was the one congratulating them after the game," Chambers said with a laugh.

"Today, she [Allison] just got on the bus and showered. When we shook hands with them, there were a lot of frowns and dirty stares."

After having dropped one-goal games to No. 2 Maryland and No. 4 Virginia, the Lions were finally able to win yesterday, rather than learn from a loss. Unfortunately, the timing isn't the best for Penn State, as its loss to Northwestern on Saturday likely knocked the Lions out of postseason contention. Chambers said the position Penn State was in only made the win more exciting.

"This win made the whole season worthwhile," she said. "We showed we can play against anyone in the country."