April 21, 2013
BALTIMORE - Junior attacker Mackenzie Cyr (Westminster, Md.) scored the game-winning goal with 31 seconds remaining as the No. 6 Penn State women's lacrosse team clinched a share of its first ALC regular-season championship with a 15-14 victory against No. 19 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field Sunday afternoon.
The Nittany Lions (11-4, 4-1 ALC), who won their fourth straight game, earned their first 4-1 conference season since 2006 and secured the No. 3 seed for the upcoming ALC championships, to be held May 2-5 in Baltimore, Md. Penn State, which shared the ALC crown with Florida and Northwestern, will face sixth-seeded Vanderbilt in the opening round of the ALC tournament May 2.
After trailing by a 14-11 margin, Penn State ended the game on a 4-0 run as it edged the Blue Jays in its ALC finale. Freshman Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.), who scored twice, sparked the comeback with a man-up, free-position marker before sophomore midfielder Kelly Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.) netted two of her career-high five goals to tie the game at 14-14.
With the game tied, Johns Hopkins controlled the ensuing draw, but freshman Ally Heavens (Garnet Valley, Pa.) drew a charge near the Nittany Lion cage to give Penn State possession. With the clock winding down, sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) fed a cutting Mackenzie Cyr, who fired a left-handed shot past Johns Hopkins' (9-6, 1-3 ALC) Cosette Larash for the winning tally. Penn State's 15-14 lead was only its third of the game and first since it was 6-5.
McCormick finished the contest with a team-high six points (3g, 3a), while Cyr, who moved to seventh all-time on the program's career assists list, extended her point-scoring streak to 22 games with a four-point outing (1g, 3a). Freshman midfielder Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) netted three markers, while sophomore Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) added a three-point game (1g, 2a).
Penn State outshot Johns Hopkins, 26-22, and topped the Blue Jays in ground balls (12-8) and draw controls (16-15). The Nittany Lions were 8-for-11 on clears and converted 4-of-7 free-position shots, while freshman goalkeeper Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) made two saves. Taylor D'Amore led the Blue Jays with eight points (3g, 5a), while Larash made five stops.
In game of runs, Johns Hopkins took an early 4-1 advantage before the Nittany Lions clawed back and grabbed a 6-5 lead. After McCormick opened the scoring 52 seconds after the opening draw, the Blue Jays employed a 4-0 run en route to a three-goal advantage. On McCormick's goal, Cyr ran down the right side of the field before finding McCormick, who was cutting in front of the goal circle.
D'Amore netted back-to-back markers in a 1:07 span before Katie Duffey scored a man-up marker and Sarah Taylor added a tally with 23:12 remaining in the half as Johns Hopkins ran to a 4-1 advantage.
The Nittany Lions answered Johns Hopkins' 4-0 run with five of the next six markers. Following a turnover, Mosketti cleared the ball after a great individual effort and, after drawing a foul, fired a free-position shot to the back of the net at 8:52 of the frame
McCormick added her second goal of the afternoon after she scored off Coffey's pass. With 19:30 left, Mosketti tied the game at 4-4 after she corralled McCormick's pass while cutting through the middle of the circle and scoring. After Taylor gave Johns Hopkins a 5-4 lead, Lechner and Coffey netted one goal each as the Nittany Lions took the 6-5 lead.
After a save from Smith, senior defender Katie Guy (Whitby, Ont.) cleared the ball down the left side of the field before feeding Lechner for the goal with 12:36 remaining. Coffey gave the Nittany Lions their first lead since 1-0 when she dodged around a defender and tallied 46 seconds after Lechner's strike. Johns Hopkins' Dene' DiMartino tallied with 19 seconds remaining in the frame to make it 6-6.
The Blue Jays opened the second half on a 5-2 run as they took an 11-8 lead. Jen Cook scored for Johns Hopkins 21 seconds into the half before Madison Cyr took a pass from her sister, Mackenzie, and scored a man-up marker from outside the circle. D'Amore and Taylor tallied for Johns Hopkins in a 51-second span to give the Blue Jays a 9-7 advantage before McCormick brought the Nittany Lions to within a goal with 25:39 remaining.
Johns Hopkins extended their lead to 11-8 when DiMartino and Sammy Cermack netted markers, but Lechner scored twice and Mosketti added her third of the game as Penn State tied the game at 11-11 with 17:41 remaining.
With 15:50 left in the game, the Blue Jays began a 3-0 run as they took a 14-11 lead. Jenna Reifler opened the scoring before Cermack and DiMartino added markers, the final coming with 7:47 left on the clock.
Beginning with Madison Cyr's goal with 6:42 left in the game, the Nittany Lions fired four unanswered goals as they edged the Blue Jays. After Johns Hopkins was called for a three-second violation, Cyr fired a free-position goal with 6:42 left in the game.
Lechner netted her first of two straight goals 40 seconds after Cyr's strike and added her final goal on a free-position attempt with 4:54 remaining. Mackenzie Cyr then added her heroics in the game's final minute.
The Nittany Lions will finish the regular season Saturday, April 27 when they travel to Princeton for a 1 p.m. matchup.