A trip back home turned out to be just what the Penn State field hockey team needed.

After a 4-3 overtime loss at Ohio State last weekend, the No. 8 Nittany Lions (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) returned home to defeat the No. 5 University of North Carolina (11-5, 1-3 ACC), 2-1, Friday night.

The Tar Heels came out strong with a goal just over two minutes into the game for a quick 1-0 lead. Playing in front of the second largest crowd ever at AstroTurf field, the Lions used the home field advantage to come back with the tying goal 13 minutes later off a penalty corner from junior Mallory Weisen.

"Playing at home is just a big advantage," Penn State coach Char Morett said. "It was nice to come back after that early goal. We give up way too many goals. If you look at our stats, we've probably given up more goals in the first five minutes than any other time that I could remember. That's disappointing but it was nice to see them come back and secure the win."

Of the 16 goals Penn State has allowed this year, four have come within the opening five minutes of the game. After UNC's early goal, the Lions held the Tar Heels to only seven shots, countering with 13. Penn State also accumulated 11 penalty corners throughout the game, the most this year.

With nine minutes left in the first half, sophomore Britney Long took a pass from Shaun Banta into the corner for a quick shot into the corner of the cage for the eventual game-winner.

"It would've been nice to get another [goal] in there, but they played well," Morett said. "We played a great game against Carolina, and it was a very competitive game. We've come out on the short end too many times so it's nice to come away with the win."

UNC has dominated the Lions with a 17-5-1 series record, having not lost to Penn State since 2002. The rivalry was shown in the strong, physical play of both teams.

"Every year that I've been here, its been a really, really close game [against UNC]," Weisen said. "We went into overtime in both years that I've been here, and we just haven't been able to pull out the win. Today, everybody just stepped it up. Everything just worked."

The end of the game saw a lot of physical play, but the Lions maintained their composure.

"We all saw the light at the end of the tunnel," junior Kiersten Wood said.

"We were so close to winning and we just needed to get the ball deep. We all just wanted it and there's always a big rivalry between us and UNC."

Penn State will travel to Northwestern on Friday for its last road game of the regular season. Even though they will be without the home field advantage, the Lions now know that they have it in them to find their intensity and play to their best ability.

"I think we all have passion for the game," Wood said.

"We just need to dig it out and play consistently like that. I think we matched up really well to [UNC]. It gives us hope for the future."