Coming into Sunday's game, the Penn State women's lacrosse team was hoping to start off conference play strong and with a win.
Instead, the Nittany Lions experienced lapses in execution and were outplayed on both sides of the ball, losing to No. 18 Vanderbilt by a score of 9-7.
Facing their first ranked opponent at home this season, it was obvious the Lions were a bit out of sync.
"We just did not do all of the little things," said junior midfielder Jessi Lieb. "We cannot just choose when we show up, we have to always come ready to play."
The Commodores commited 12 turnovers, but it was Vanderbilt that did a better job exploiting the Lions' 10 miscues.
"Vanderbilt did a great job of capitalizing on our mistakes," head coach Suzanne Isidor said. "Each person on the team made mistakes and overall we did not play a good game."
Things the Lions have been known to do the entire year, such as being patient and communicating on both sides of the ball, were less frequent throughout the game.
The Lions seemed to be flustered on both sides of the ball for the first time at home this season when their speed and aggressiveness was matched by the Commodores.
"We rushed on attack instead of slowing down, and we were not communicating as much as a team," Lieb said.
Throughout the season, the team has tried to focus on shooting at 48 percent or above, in Sunday's game the Lions were 7-of-21 shooting, just 33 percent accurate.
"We did not play our best," senior goaltender Cammie Jurkowsky said. "If we would have shot 48 percent or higher in Sunday's game, we would have won."
The Lions also seemed to be caught off guard by Vanderbilt's offensive scheme.
"Vanderbilt played close to the crease and took a lot more shots than as a defense we were use to," Jurkowsky said.
The Lions' lapse and loss to Vanderbilt could not have come at a worse time. Four out of the team's next five games are against opponents ranked in the top 20 nationally.
"We realized that no matter how good we are, on an off day we can get beat," Isidor said.
