STATE COLLEGE, Pa., March 17, 2002 --After weather and a change of venue delayed the start of the contest, the 12th-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team came back from a four-goal halftime deficit to claim a 10-8 win over No. 19 William and Mary on Sunday afternoon in Holuba Hall. The Lions even their record at 2-2 while the Tribe fall to 1-4 on the season. Junior attack Colleen O'Hara (Ardmore, Pa.) scored four goals on four shots in the second half to aid Penn State in the win.

William and Mary scored the first goal less than three minutes into the contest but Penn State quickly answered with a tally by junior Kate Affonsa (Springfield, Pa.) at the 25:50 mark. The Tribe then went on to score four goals within four minutes to go up, 5-1. Senior Molly Ford (Trenton, N.J.) tallied a goal at 16:44 for the Lions while William and Mary's Julie Scurachio put away another shot with 13 minutes remaining to make the score 6-2 in the Tribe's favor. Neither team would score again before the break.

Down by four goals, the Lions came out of halftime on fire. Senior B.J. Lucey (Springfield, Pa.) tallied a score off a pass from sophomore Jamie Donahue (Oreland, Pa.) less than two minutes into the second stanza. O'Hara tallied her first goal of the afternoon on an assist from sophomore Katie Jeschke (Ellicott City, Md.) at the 26:38 mark. Lucey then recorded her second tally of the half with 21 minutes remaining, taking a pass from freshman Emily Chambers (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) while in mid-air to score and put the Lions down by one.

William and Mary answered Penn State's hot streak with two scores of their own with 20:32 and 18:55 remaining to put them up 8-5. From then on, it was all Penn State. O'Hara recorded her second tally of the afternoon at 17:50 and scored again 37 seconds later to pull the Lions to within one. Donahue scored her fourth goal of the season with 16:06 remaining to even the score at eight. Three minutes later, O'Hara connected on her fourth shot of the half, scoring her fourth goal to put the Lions up by one with 13 minutes remaining. Senior Alison DeCecco (Newtown Square, Pa.) sealed Penn State's victory with her second goal of the season with 5:05 to play.

Penn State freshman goalkeeper Lee Tortorelli (Havertown, Pa.) recorded 10 saves in her 60 minutes of play.

The Lions remain at home as they host Johns Hopkins on Wednesday, March 20 at 5:00 p.m. The contest will mark the 500th game played by the Penn State women's lacrosse team, making them the first team in Division I history to reach the 500-games played milestone.

--LIONS--