The Penn State women's lacrosse team had been treading water, but when the floodgates opened, it parted the sea.

The Nittany Lions had dropped three of five games and were coming off a contest with No. 3 North Carolina that was categorized by defensive letdowns and offensive ineptitude. But Penn State put that aside and rebounded with Saturday's 10-5 win at Loyola.

Playing in a downpour on Loyola's home field, the No. 7 Lions (7-3) weren't significantly slowed by sloppy playing conditions, as they reached the double-digit goal mark for the eighth time in 10 games.

Penn State senior goalkeeper Lee Tortorelli returned to her preseason All-America form, making 14 saves.

The smothering defense made it a bit easier on her. The game was physical throughout and borderline nasty, as the Greyhounds (3-6) drew four yellow cards and Penn State drew one on the afternoon. This played into the Lions' hands and they capitalized on the ensuing one-man advantages on multiple occasions.

"They're a physical team. Loyola's just aggressive, and the conditions were a bit sloppy," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said. "The officials were trying to keep it as safe as possible."

Meanwhile, the Lions' matched the physicality but remained disciplined.

"Our defense did a really great job of limiting their quality shots," Isidor said. "Double-teaming and forcing low-angle shots was big."

The Lions were out-shot 28-26, but their ability to execute made the difference. The failure to convert on similar opportunities had been the biggest reason for the recent skid.

Senior midfielder Emily Chambers and freshman midfielder Jessi Lieb both had hat tricks, leading the Lions in scoring. Junior midfielder Lori Havrilla scored once, pushing her team-high goal total for the season to 24.

The Lions will be shooting for their first back-to-back wins in a month when they face No. 13 Penn at home Wednesday. Last season, the Lions prevailed 9-8 on the road, as both teams were unranked at the time.

"Penn is a huge game for us for a lot of reasons," Isidor said. "We want to string together two in a row, and we haven't been able to do that for a while.

"We have a 10-day break before we head out to Northwestern. It's big to finish this non-conference part of our schedule with a win."

Win or lose, the Lions are in an ideal spot before they face the brunt of their conference schedule.

"We're in a great spot," Isidor said. "We're playing well; it's just a consistency factor we're looking for. That's the only thing we've been looking for in our losses."