Yesterday, the No. 16 Penn State women's lacrosse team (4-5) played the best lacrosse it has played all season -- but only in the first half.

At the end of the first half, the Nittany Lions were up 10-7 against No. 5 North Carolina, playing on top of the world, and the upset looked within their grasp.

But the tables turned at the start of the second half and the Lions faltered, quickly losing the lead, and consequently fell to UNC, 16-12.

"We played an amazing first half, some of the best lacrosse all season," Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Isidor said. "In the second half, we turned the ball over too much."

In the first game of the ALC/ACC challenge on Friday, the Lions played No. 8 Maryland.

The Terrapins quickly took over the game, scoring three in the first three minutes. The Lions never had a chance and lost 16-7.

Turnovers and shots on goal were the ultimate downfall of the Lions this weekend.

Against the Terps, they actually played well, on paper. They only had 14 turnovers and took 26 shots on goal but could not find a way to counter Maryland's great offense.

"On Friday, Maryland just played a great game. Their attack was the best we've seen all season," Isidor said.

Penn State kept the intensity up against the Tar Heels. In the first half, the Lions only had seven turnovers and took 17 shots.

In the second half, however, that number grew to 12 in turnovers, and the team only had nine shots on goal. It also had four free-position shots in the first half and scored off of all of them. In the second half, it had none and was unable to capitalize near the goal.

"For this game, in the second half, we didn't have possession of the ball as much as we did in the first and without that possession of the ball, you are not going to score," senior Shari Maslin said.

Despite these two losses, the team had a strong weekend individually. Sophomore Jessi Lieb had one a great weekend against both teams.

On Friday, she had two goals, two ground balls, three draw controls and tallied two points. Yesterday, she scored three times, had two ground balls and six draw controls, and tallied three points.

The Lions have much to worry about this week.

The shots on goal are growing, but the turnovers are also growing. They have yet to beat a ranked team all season and are slowly falling out of the rankings.

This weekend, Penn State will have another chance to prove that it can beat a ranked team when No. 20 Loyola travels to Happy Valley.

"I think we are facing great competition," Isidor said.

"We know we are capable of playing against that competition. We just need to play at their level."