Breaking out of Holuba Hall for its first outdoor game of the season, the women's lacrosse team made the most of the setting.

Penn State scored five unanswered goals to begin the second half and defeated Loyola (Md.) 16-10 yesterday at Jeffrey Field. Loyola only scored three times in the second half with the first one coming with just 6:51 remaining.

The No. 15 Nittany Lions (5-5) kept the action in the offensive zone for most of the game, using little scoring runs to pull away from the Greyhounds (4-6). Both teams were statistically close, but the difference was the Penn State defense and goalie Cammie Jurkowsky, who set a career high in saves with 12.

"It's what we've been looking for since Vanderbilt, basically," Penn State coach Suzanne Isidor said. "I think our defense played so well that we weren't giving up any of the open shots."

Sixteen goals were the highest output since the Lions netted 19 against Bucknell and Colgate in early March. Lori Havrilla and Jessi Lieb both scored three goals for Penn State. With fellow freshman Kerry Shea out of the lineup, Megan McGuire got her first start of the season, netting two goals and an assist.

In the offensive zone the Lions used quick passing and quick shots to score. It wasn't until the end of the game when the Lions slowed down, effectively running out the clock.

"I think we all worked together really well," McGuire said. "Individually, everybody stepped up in the game."

A big improvement for the Lions in this game, as opposed to the last eight or so, was the shooting. They took a total of 29 shots in the game, most of which went on net, a rarity in lacrosse. Both goalies stood their ground on free-position shots. Loyola was 1-for-4 while Penn State went 3-for-5.

"Our attackers really stepped up and shot the ball well," Isidor said.

The Greyhounds had troubles getting a hold of the ball, as Penn State collected 22 ground balls. When the Greyhounds did have the ball, they fired high of the net a few times and Jurkowsky saved half of the shots she saw in the second half.

With about 10 seconds left in the game, Jurkowsky came out of the net to pick up the ball, but lost it to a Loyola player, who was heading for another goal. But a Penn State stick out of nowhere deflected the ball harmlessly away from the net.

"I think it really helped that our team defense was a lot better," Jurkowsky said.

They also kept Loyola's goal scoring machine Kate McHarg to two goals.

The Lions had been prone to giving up a lot of one-on-one shots or fast breaks. Penn State was the faster team yesterday, and it got the fast breaks. Penn State's fifth goal of the game was set up by a quick Lauren Bryan running the length of the field, then finding an open Kim Kontson, who was trailing behind the play.

Lindsay Dutch, Shari Maslin and Kontson all had two goals for the Lions. Mariel Bryan added her fifth goal of the season on only her fifth shot.