ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Well, it happened again.

While the Penn State women's lacrosse team was able to secure a victory against a ranked team Friday, the Nittany Lions were unable to carry the momentum into their next game.

The No. 2 Lions took on No. 11 Maryland Friday night at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium and beat the Terrapins 13-12, breaking a 12-12 tie with 2:35 left in the game.

But yesterday, Penn State couldn't continue its strong play, falling to No. 5 North Carolina 13-7.

"I have no idea how we can be inspired one day and so poor the next day," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said.

The Tar Heels did the same thing to Penn State that the Lions did to Maryland two days prior: come out in the second half and shut down the offense. Penn State's last goal against North Carolina came at 18:40 of the second half cutting the lead to 8-7, in favor of North Carolina.

But Tar Heel goalie Kristen Hordy stopped everything that was thrown her way, making four saves on eight shots, while the Tar Heels' offense was led by five goals from Jess Allen, three of them coming in the second half.

North Carolina pushed the score to 10-7 on an empty net goal.

Penn State's Lee Tortorelli, who was called for cross-checking, had to come out of the game for three minutes.

She was replaced by Cammie Jurkowsky, but because Tortorelli was out of the crease Jurkowsky also had to be out.

That left Erica LaGrow to take a free position shot on a wide open net.

"When we go on a run, everyone picks up it up a notch," midfielder Emily Chambers said.

"We just never got to that level [yesterday]."

The Lions converted on just seven of 25 shots, and 17 of those shots came in the first half.

In every statistical category, other than shots and saves, the Lions and Tar Heels were almost even.

Shari Maslin and Jessi Leib led the Lions with two goals each. Maslin added an assist to lead all Lions with three points. Tortorelli made just six saves.

"I thought North Carolina played a very good game, but we lost the game on our shooting and one-on-one defense," Isidor said.

On Friday, Penn State was down five goals with five minutes left in the first half, and finished the half down four at 10-6.

The Lions made the score 9-6 with 36 seconds left, but Maryland scored again with 20 seconds remaining.

"I don't have to say much [at halftime], they go in and say all the right things," Isidor said. "Their confidence is great."

The Lions used that confidence coming out in the second half and scored three goals in 30 seconds to cut the score to 10-9.

They limited the Terrapins to few offensive chances, the first of the offensive possessions came five minutes into the second frame.

They also forced a goalie chance after the first two goals when Maryland called time out.

Penn State tied the score at 17:02 in the second half and 30 seconds later took the lead, for the first time since 28:11 of the first half, on a Lori Havrilla goal.

Maryland tied the score at 9:45. Maslin scored the game winner and Penn State hung on for the last 2:35.

"On that last possession Maryland had, I said to my assistant that if she makes this save then I'll forgive her for all those ones she let in, in the first half," Isidor said.

The Penn State faithful that traveled to Navy ended the game with a weak but proud "We Are ... Penn State" cheer.

Havrilla scored a career-high six goals.

Ground balls and draw control were two factors in the slow first half against the Terrapins.

Things didn't get much better on Sunday against UNC.

"We knew that if we got the draw we could score off of it as we did on that run," senior attacker Kristen Burke said on Friday. "Our momentum fed off of that. There wasn't a doubt in our mind that we weren't going to come back."

Isidor said the team will go back to the basics this week working on shooting and one-on-one defense to prepare for Loyola.