More than a month into the season, the No. 2 Penn State women's lacrosse is still searching for its identity.

Are the real Nittany Lions the ones that started 4-0 ... or the ones that have dropped three of their last five?

Nobody really knows and it's getting late. The thing is, during both stretches, the Lions have defeated two then-No.1 teams, on the road, no less. Those wins against Virginia and Princeton were each followed by a loss to an unranked team.

"[Against Princeton] we were able to make the most of our opportunities," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said following the loss to Temple. "Today we weren't able to do anything."

The performance this past weekend is equally confusing. The Lions, who had not beaten Maryland since 1991, scrapped their way to a 13-12 win, and rebounded from their loss last Tuesday to Temple by erasing a five-goal deficit.

You would think that, by beating a team the Lions hadn't beaten since the current roster was in elementary school, they would be on some sort of emotional high. But again, the Lions couldn't capitalize on the regained momentum.

Down 8-6 going into halftime on Sunday against No. 5 North Carolina, the normally potent Penn State offense stagnated in the second 30 minutes, scoring just one goal.

The Lions are now at a crossroads. When the current rankings are released, they could drop quite a bit from their current perch at No. 2. Although they will most likely stay in the top 10 because of the win against Maryland, the loss at home to the Temple Owls could leave doubt in the pollsters' minds.

It will be the first slip of the year for a team that started the preseason at No. 18 in the national lacrosse rankings.

Their schedule is not getting any easier, and the Lions could work their way up the current rankings. Saturday they will face No. 17 Loyola on the road, then host Penn four days later. The three-game stretch will culminate with a game against now-No. 1 Northwestern on April 15.

And the Lions still have games remaining with No. 13 Ohio State and No. 12 Johns Hopkins.

"We can't wait any longer to learn the lesson," Isidor said. "We have to be consistent. Everybody on our schedule is a ranked team and a big game."

And for right now, the answers to the lesson are eluding the coaching staff.

"I wish I knew," Isidor said of what the main problem was against North Carolina. "I guess we just didn't execute anything well. It was the little things that just killed us. Stick work and shooting, primarily. Draw control and groundballs, too."

What works one day simply doesn't work the next.

"We have to be able to find that consistency," Isidor said. "We were great the second half against Maryland so there was no reason we couldn't do anything against North Carolina."

Isidor said that winning may be bringing with it new problems. Last year, the Lions fell out of the top 20 with a 6-11 record, failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

"Part of it may be this is the team that hasn't experienced the highs that we've experienced -- the big games and the big wins," Isidor said. "You have to be ready every single game. Just because it happens one day doesn't mean it's going to happen two days later. ... There's no reason we shouldn't be able to get up for No. 5 North Carolina."

If the Lions want to regain that No. 2 ranking, that's going to have to change. Win-one, lose-one won't, no matter what team you beat.