STATE COLLEGE, Pa., April 6, 2002 -- The No. 16 Penn State women's lacrosse team did not let the cold air and snow flurries slow them down Saturday afternoon at Jeffrey Field as they played a tough game and defeated third-ranked Loyola,10-9. Sophomore
Katie Jeschke (Ellicott City, Md) had five goals in the game to lead Penn State. With the win, the Lions improve to 4-6 and Loyola falls to 8-2 on the season.
Loyola scored the first goal of the game less than five minutes into the contest but Penn State quickly answered with a tally by junior Colleen O'Hara (Ardmore, Pa.) at the 24:21 mark. The Greyhounds answered back just two minutes later to make the score 2-1. Penn State sophomore Stephanie Curnoles (Baltimore, Md.) scored on a pass from Kristen Wood (Wilton, Conn.) at the 16:06 mark, and with 10:32 left in the half, Jeschke scored her first goal of the game to put the Lions up 3-2. Loyola answered back with two goals within a minute of each other to take the lead 4-3, and then scored another goal with 6:30 to go widen the gap to 5-3. With 3:44 to go in the half, sophomore Jamie Donahue (Oreland, Pa.)took an over-the-shoulder shot and scored, and three minutes later, Jeschke scored on a pass from senior Molly Ford (Trenton, N.J.) to tie the game. Loyola scored with six seconds to go in the half, to go up 6-5 at the break.
The Lions dominated when they took the field in the second half, scoring five unanswered goals. Just 15 seconds into the half, senior Brooke Bailey (Wallingford, Pa.) scored to tie the game at six. Then Jeschke broke open the lead as she scored less than a minute later on a pass from O'Hara with 29:08 to go. She then scored again on a pass from freshman Kristen Burke (Severna Park, Md.) with 23:20 to go. Just 30 seconds later, Jeschke scored her third-consecutive goal for the Lions on a pass from Curnoles to make the score 9-6. Burke then rebounded a free position shot and added a goal of her own with 15:17 remaining, to give the Lions a 10-6 lead. Loyola scored with 10:37 to go in the half to make the score 10-7, and then fought until the end trying to come back. They scored with 3:47 and 2:34 to go but the Penn State defense was too strong, as the Lions held on to win 10-9.
Penn State freshman goalkeeper Lee Tortorelli (Havertown, Pa.) recorded 15 saves in her 60 minutes of play, including key saves at the end of the second half to help the Lions hold on to their lead.
The Lions will face Dartmouth next weekend on the road at noon on Sunday, April 14.
