UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 25, 2007 – In its American Lacrosse Conference opener, the sixth-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team lost a heartbreaker to No. 18 Vanderbilt, 9-7, Sunday afternoon in Holuba Hall. The teams were very evenly matched, as the game saw five ties and two lead changes. The loss drops the Nittany Lions to 6-2 on the season, and 0-1 in the ALC.

Penn State jumped out to an early 2-1 lead with both goals coming from junior Jessi Lieb (Villanova, Pa.). Vanderbilt would then respond by scoring the next four goals, making the score 5-2 going into halftime.

The Nittany Lions came out roaring in the second period, scoring three goals within the first seven minutes of the half. The run started when freshman Mary LeNoir (Timonium, Md.) netted a goal three minutes into the second period. She was followed three minutes later as sophomore Kerry Shea (Baltimore, Md.) scored her first goal of the game. LeNoir scored again just a minute later, tying the game at 5-5.

The game was deadlocked for almost eight minutes as the defense from each team took over. Vanderbilt broke the tie with a goal at the 16-minute mark. The Commodores then appeared to take a two goal lead as they found the back of the net again, but the second score was waved off as the Vanderbilt player stepped into the crease as she was shooting. Penn State answered immediately with another goal from Shea. On the play, Vanderbilt goalie Brooke Shinaberry appeared to have made the save, but then let the ball trickle across the goal line as she tried to scoop it up off the ground.

After another Commodore goal, Jessi Lieb scored her third goal of the game, tying the score up again at 7-7. But the Nittany Lions would never take the lead, as Vanderbilt scored the last two goals making the final 9-7. Vanderbilt is now 5-3 (1-1 ALC) on the year, with all three of their losses coming to teams currently ranked in the top 5.

Penn State will now hit the road to take on Loyola College on Saturday, March 31st. They return home on Tuesday, April 3rd at 7:00 p.m. to take on the Quakers of Penn. Four of Penn State's next five opponents are ranked in the top 20, with three of them in the top four.

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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – After narrow losses and mounting frustration against top-ranked teams, Vanderbilt (5-3, 1-1) finally came out victorious, knocking off American Lacrosse Conference rival and sixth-ranked Penn State, 9-7, Sunday at Holuba Hall.

“This wasn’t just about this year, this was about three years of coming so close and not being able to get over the hump,” said head coach Cathy Swezey. “They have a great team every year, and it feels so good to finally beat them.”

The Commodores struck first on junior Margie Curran’s goal two minutes into the game. Penn State (6-2, 0-1) answered back with two goals by junior Jessi Lieb less than a minute apart to give the Nittany Lions a 2-1 lead.

From that point on, however, Vanderbilt dominated the first half. Four unanswered goals by seniors Nicole Pugno and Ali Lemons, Curran, and freshman Anastasia Adam gave the Commodores a 5-2 lead at halftime. With her two first half goals, Curran extended her team lead to 20.

Penn State staged a rally at the beginning of the second half, scoring three times in the first seven minutes to tie the game at five. Coach Swezey responded by calling a time-out, which proved to be enough to settle the Commodores down.

“I just told them to be calm,” said coach Swezey. “We knew this rally was going to happen, so the key was to calm ourselves down and play the way we had in the first half. If we could do that, I knew we would be just fine.”

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2007-03-25