The No. 8 Penn State women's lacrosse team entered Saturday afternoon's game with hopes of knocking off the nation's best. Despite staying close with No. 1 Northwestern at the game's outset, the Wildcats were able to pull away from the Nittany Lions, cruising to a 19-8 win at Lakeside Field.

Penn State (8-5) was unable to handle the defending NCAA champion's explosive attack for 60 minutes, dropping its American Lacrosse Conference record to 0-2.

"They were a great team, and we knew that going into the game," Penn State attacker Karen Long said. "We were prepared but we didn't play the way we thought we could."

Northwestern struck first when midfielder Meredith Frank scored 2:01 into the game, but Penn State midfielder Maria Valderas responded with a goal of her own. The Lions were able to keep the Wildcats within reach in the early going, answering their opponents' scores with tallies from midfielder Kerry Shea and attackers Mary LeNoir and Long.

At the 12:19 mark of the first half, the Lions were within two goals of Northwestern, trailing 6-4. During the next 20 minutes, though, the Wildcats squashed Penn State's upset hopes, going on a 9-0 run that put the contest well out of reach.

"Their offense was incredible, and we knew we had to answer back every time they scored," Long said. "We kept our heads up and did our best to try to come back."

But the deficit was too steep to mount an effective counter-attack. With 21:42 remaining in the second half, Valderas notched her second score of the game, cutting the Northwestern lead to 15-5 and ending a scoring drought for Penn State that lasted more than 22 minutes.

The Wildcats would eventually build an 18-5 lead before the Lions added a few late tallies.

Penn State's scoring was led by Valderas, Long and Shea, who each had two goals. LeNoir and midfielder Erica Mihm had a goal apiece.

"We didn't have the ball enough on offense," Shea said. "We were getting good looks at goal and good shots, but we didn't have the ball enough to put up the numbers we needed."

Penn State totaled 21 shots for the game, which was far surpassed by Northwestern's 37. The Lions also turned the ball over 13 times, compared to the Wildcats' five.

Those two statistics are among the factors the players said they need to work on in practice, but the performance wasn't a complete failure in the eyes of some. Saturday's game capped off a stretch during which the Lions played the top three teams in the country in consecutive games. After winning a close game against UNC and losing a nail biter to Maryland, their outlook remains positive.

"We proved we can play against the top teams in the country," Shea said. "It gives us hope that we can play with anyone and go deep into the tournament."

Penn State will be back at home on Friday when it takes on ALC rival Ohio State in its final home game of the season.