| 14 | 10 |
| Lakeside Field | Evanston, Ill. | |
| STATISTICS | ||||
| F | |||
| PSU | 10 | 4 | 14 | |
| NU | 4 | 6 | 10 |
| SHOTS | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FPSU166- -->22NU1214- -->26
| SAVES | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FPSU55- -->10NU40- -->4
| GBs | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FPSU65- -->11NU58- -->13
| DRAWS | 1 | 2 |
OT -->FPSU82- -->10NU79- -->16
April 19, 2015
EVANSTON, Ill. - An explosive first half paved the way for No. 12 Penn State women's lacrosse to take out No. 7 Northwestern, 14-10, on Sunday afternoon at Lakeside Field. The Nittany Lions beat Northwestern for the first time in 12 years behind four Kelly Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.) goals, five Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) assists and 10 Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) saves.
The balanced Penn State (12-3, 4-0 Big Ten) offense had six different goal scorers with five of those tallying at least two markers. The win also upped PSU's win streak to seven, setting up an undefeated Big Ten first-place battle at No. 1 Maryland on Thursday night. Both teams have clinched byes to the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
"I'm really proud of the way the team attacked today," said head coach Missy Doherty. "I think today was our best game of the season. We were really good on offense and defense and made key plays when they were needed."
Penn State came out firing from the onset, staking an early 3-1 lead before delivering a 7-1 burst for a 10-4 halftime lead. PSU scored 10 goals on 16 shots, while Smith had five saves.
In the second half, Penn State withstood an early 4-0 run by Northwestern (10-5, 2-2 Big Ten) to start the second half by responding with a 4-0 run of its own. The Nittany Lions also withstood NU's high-tempo, trapping defense by successfully clearing all 12 attempts in the game.
Joining Lechner and McCormick on the score sheet was Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) with her four points on a hat trick and an assist. She became Penn State's 30-goal scorer this season. McCormick has 35 assists this season, while Lechner's season-high four goals has her with 23.
Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) had three points on two goals and a helper, while Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) and Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) each scored twice. Jess Loizeaux (Mullica, N.J.) had two points on a goal and an assist to aid the Nittany Lion attack.
PSU's deciding 7-1 run began at the 17:02 mark in the first half on Lazo's second tally of the game from McCormick. At 15:41, Lechner scored from Lazo and a minute later, O'Donnell tallied her 19th of the season for a 6-3 lead with 14:40 to go.
Lechner scored at 12:26 from Coffey and Loizeaux notched her 10th of the year with 11:20 remaining for an 8-3 advantage, forcing a Northwestern timeout. Loizeaux became the ninth Nittany Lion to record 10 or more goals this season.
NU's Kaleigh Craig briefly halted Penn State's spurt as Lechner and Lazo scored 50 seconds apart for the 10-4 halftime lead.
The Wildcats came out energized in the second half scoring the first four goals of the frame, all within 3:51 of each other to cut the Penn State lead to two at 10-8 with 24:30 remaining. Nevertheless, the Nittany Lions were resilient, scoring four straight to regain the six-goal cushion.
Cyr's second of the day was assisted by Loizeaux with 22:41 to go followed by Coffey's unassisted marker at 19:57, O'Donnell's 20th of the year at 14:55 and Lechner's fourth of the day with 13:25 to go, assisted by McCormick.
NU ate into the deficit with goals at 10:26 and 9:18, but Penn State's defense held strong with Smith making a crucial save with four minutes to go.
Penn State shot 63.6 percent from the field going 14-for-22 on the day, while the Wildcats were 38.5 percent on 10-for-26 shooting. PSU was out-shot 26-22 and Northwestern held advantages in draw controls (16-10) and ground balls (13-11).
The Nittany Lions head to No. 1 Maryland on Thursday night for a 7 p.m. game that will be shown live on Big Ten Network. Both teams are 4-0 in Big Ten play with the winner claiming the first Big Ten championship and earning a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament at Rutgers (April 30-May 3).