The No. 13 Penn State women's lacrosse team (5-6) that played on Sunday lost its momentum someplace between then and its trip to Philadelphia last night.

No. 20 Penn Quakers (7-4) were too much to handle for the Nittany Lions. They controlled the entire game and successfully shut down the Lions offense, winning the game, 8-6.

Both teams fought hard the entire game, but it was the Lions who were unable to secure a lead. Three goals for the Quakers in the final 15 minutes secured the win, despite a goal from Penn State senior Shari Maslin with two minutes left in the game.

"We played great team defense and Cammie had a great game but we struggled with taking care of the ball," Penn State women's lacrosse coach Suzanne Isidor said.

Even though the offense did not show up, the Lions defense did and was the only saving grace. The Quakers made 15 turnovers, six of which the Lions caused. However, they were unable to capitalize on the 22 fouls by Penn, two that were yellow cards.

A balance of both upperclassmen and underclassmen where responsible for the Lions' offense. Senior Lori Havrilla was the first to score for Penn State and also picked up an assist, giving her two points on the game. Maslin had another great game, scoring two goals and one assist, totaling three points to bring her season total to 34.

Junior Lindsay Dutch, sophomore Jessi Lieb and freshman Mariel Bryan each scored once, rounding out the scoring for the Lions. All three picked up one point for their goals.

Junior goalie Cammie Jurkowsky, who had her best game against Loyola on Sunday, played well again last night. She only allowed eight goals and saved nine shots against the Quakers' potent offense, which took 24 shots.

In every game the Lions have lost, they've faltered in three categories: ground balls, shots on goal and draw controls and last night was no different. The team only had 10 ground balls, 14 shots on goal and four draw controls.

"Penn had the majority of the possession time. They had the draw," Isidor said. "They had the ball in their shooting area for three fourths of the game."

With the season quickly coming to a close, the Lions have found themselves in a predicament. They have yet to beat a ranked team and will play the top two ranked teams in the country in Northwestern and Johns Hopkins before the season is out. The team will stay on the road and will play the University of Delaware next Wednesday. Hopefully this time off will give the Lions time to regroup and find the consistency they've been fighting for all season.

"We've got to focus on consistency because we played a great game against Loyola and what we had against Loyola wasn't there today," Isidor said.