With 15 minutes left in the game, fans of the No. 8 Penn State field hockey team began to chant.

"Banta, Banta," they repeated, praying and cheering that junior Shaun Banta would score and begin another scoring streak.

Despite backing from the fans, however, she was unable to score a goal of her own in the Nittany Lions' (11-3, 2-1) 2-1 win against No. 5 North Carolina. An assist on sophomore Brittany Long's game-winning goal was all Banta could muster on the box score.

"She was a breakout player for us today," Penn State head coach Char Morett said. "When she got the ball, she was just getting the ball to space and gaining ground down the field."

On Friday, Banta seemed to have a personal vendetta against the Tar Heels (11-5). Each time she received the ball, Banta morphed into a different player, easily cutting in and out of defenders and forcing many corners for her team.

To the delight of the coaches, the intensity of her gameplay rubbed off on many of her teammates. After UNC scored within the first three minutes of the game, it looked as though this could be another replay of the Ohio State game. Penn State, however, turned it around very quickly, finding something within itself to come out on top.

Junior Mallory Weisen scored her fourth goal of the season and then Long scored before the end of the first half. Both goals were well executed, one coming from a corner rebound and the other was a tip shot from Banta's cross.

"It's always important to not get down on yourself when that stuff happens. It was a really good goal, but we just had to dig deep," Junior Kiersten Wood said. "There's plenty of time and we all had faith in each other to work ourselves out of it."

Throughout the rest of the game, however, both sides could not capitalize on chances. Penn State had 11 corners in the game, but was only able to score on one of them. The team also took 13 shots, eight by Weisen alone, and she only scored one goal.

By not exploiting all opportunities, the Lions are beginning to revert to their preseason play. Back in early September, Morett complained about the lack of goals scored. On Friday night, she was at it again, criticizing not only the offense but also the defense.

"Both teams had some runs. We had it down here for a while, and we couldn't capitalize. They had it down there for a while, and they couldn't capitalize," Morett said. "One of our goals was to let the ball go to one side and then go over and trap them. We weren't getting that from everybody all the time."

Despite some mistakes from all areas of the field, the cohesive play of the team was easily evident. Banta on offense, Weisen in the midfield and sophomore Jen Long in the backfield all contributed to this crucial win. Playing against a tough ACC team, who got very physical as the clock wound down, the Lions showed that they could keep their composure and win.