Both times the opponent was the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Both times were on the road. And both times the Nittany Lions came home with a victory.

Ten days ago, the Penn State women's lacrosse team handed defending national champion and then-No.1 Virginia its first loss of the season. On Saturday, the Lions (5-1, 2-0 ALC) did the same to No. 1 Princeton, beating the national runners-up from a season ago in a 14-13 triple overtime thriller.

Senior attack Kristen Burke scored six goals, including the game winner 1:38 into the third overtime period of the day. The goal came off of a pass from fellow senior Emily Chambers.

"Our senior leadership really, really came through," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said. "Their experience and their ability to make plays late in the game was huge."

The 10th-ranked Lions trailed 12-11 with 12 minutes to go in regulation before consecutive goals from junior midfield Lori Havrilla, her fourth of the day, and Burke put the Lions ahead 13-12.

Princeton's Elizabeth Pillion scored her sixth goal of the game to tie the score at 13 with 2:40 left. The Lions had a final chance to win before overtime, but Princeton goalie Sarah Kolodner made a save on a shot from Chambers with 10 seconds to play to keep the score knotted up and force an extra session.

Neither team could convert its opportunities in the first two overtime periods. Princeton's one overtime shot, a free-position attempt by Mary Minshall in the first extra period, was stopped by Penn State goalie Lee Tortorelli. In the closing seconds of the second overtime, Penn State midfielder Shari Maslin hit the post with a shot that would have sealed the deal for the Lions.

With the score still tied at the end of two overtime periods, the game headed into sudden death. The third overtime was the charm for the Lions, as Chambers fed Burke in front of the net for the game-clinching goal.

Though the two teams won 15 draws each, Chambers and freshman Jessie Lieb controlled the most important face-offs at the start of the three overtimes, which allowed the Lions to out-shoot the Tigers 5-1 in the extra sessions. The final draw control in sudden death proved to be decisive as it allowed the Lions to play for the last shot of the game.

With the victory Saturday, the Lions have now defeated three of the four teams that made it to last seasons' Final Four -- Vanderbilt, Virginia and Princeton -- and have seemed to prove that last season's 6-11 campaign, which left them short of the NCAA tournament, is a distant memory.

"We're only six games into the season. We have a lot of other games to play," Isidor said. "But we're a different team than we were last year. That's for sure."