Jays fall to Penn St.

The Women's Lacrosse team suffered a disappointing loss at the hands of No. 9 Penn State Monday, falling by a score of 11-4 to the Nittany Lions. The Jays were barely able to find the net, taking almost 30 shots but netting just four goals.

"Our attack has not been able to find a consistency this season. We will have fleeting moments of great scoring ability, but never anything consistent. We have not found a solid four attackers that click perfectly together for the entire game. We are working very hard to achieve that solidity and consistency," said senior captain attacker Meghan Burnett.

The first goal of the game came from Nittany Lion Katie Jeschke, off a feed from Stephanie Curnoles. Senior midfielder Erinn Dennis responded quickly with an unassisted goal which proved to be the only Hopkins' score of the first half. Penn State went on to score five more goals, going into halftime with a 6-1 lead.

Penn State's Kristen Burke started the scoring run with a goal following a feed from Stephanie Curnoles, followed by a goal from Emily Cham bers fed by Katie Hartman. Kristen Wood made a free position shot about 10 minutes into the game, followed 12 minutes later by another free position goal from Katie Jeschke. Curnoles then had a goal of her own, fed by Colleen O'Hara. The Jays did have a scoring sequence in which Senior Meghan Burnett put the ball in the net, but the score was called back because a Penn State player was in shooting space, and Burnett failed to score on the ensuing free position shot.

The second half got off to a slow start as neither team scored until almost the midpoint of the half. The first goal came on a free position shot for Penn State from Jamie Donahue. Shari Maslin then scored the next goal, rebounding her own shot and putting the ball past the goalkeeper.

The Jays finally got themselves on the board for a second goal when senior attacker Liz Holland scored an unassisted goal with twelve minutes left to play.

Penn State's Emily Chambers answered that goal just two minutes later, followed by a goal from O'Hara, and another from Donahue, giving the Lions an insurmountable 11-2 lead.

Hopkins made a last ditch effort in the last two minutes of the game to improve the scoring margin with a goal from junior midfielder Heidi Pearce, as well as one from sophomore defender Lacey-Leigh Hentz. Soon after Hentz scored her goal, she took the draw, was knocked down, and seemed to have injured her ankle. She was taken out of the game with just a minute left to play, and it is questionable whether she might play in the Jay's next game, against No. 2 Maryland.

The absence of Hentz on the field would be a major blow the Hopkins defense and if she cannot play, Coach Janine Tucker will have to do some rearranging in her lineup.

"This was a disappointing loss," said senior captain Jen McDonald.

"Although we have had some good wins this season, we have not had any big wins, where we come from behind and upset the higher seed. We need one of those. We face a tough opponent in Maryland this weekend, so hopefully we can have a good showing against them."

The Jays fell to No. 19 ranking as a result of the loss to Penn State.