|
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The No. 8 Nittany Lion women's lacrosse team won in comeback fashion over Loyola Maryland, 11-8, Saturday at Penn State Lacrosse Field. Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) had a six-point afternoon, scoring all four of her goals late in the second half to complete the comeback. Lazo had a six-point day.
Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) tallied a hat trick, including the game-tying goal with 10:50 remaining in the game that halted a 3-0 Loyola (1-4) run and snapped a Penn State (4-1) scoring drought that lasted 23 minutes, 16 seconds.
The Nittany Lions were aided by the staunch play of Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) who had nine saves including six in the first half to give Penn State a 6-4 lead. Penn State struggled to gain possession in stretches, but precise scoring (67 percent shooting in the first half) and timely saves by Smith kept the Lions ahead.
In the second half, Loyola maintained its steady play and tallied three straight goals in the opening 14:23, while keeping Penn State off the board thanks to several Emily Wolf saves (8 for the day).
O'Donnell broke through on an unassisted tally and Lazo gave Penn State a lead the Lions wouldn't relinquish only a minute later, assisted by Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.). Lazo continued her scoring run by scoring off a Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) feed with 8:12 remaining for a 9-7 advantage. Cyr finished with two goals and an assist.
Lazo punched home a pair of unassisted goals with 3:47 and 2:39 remaining to up the lead to 11-7 before Loyola's Taylor VanThof provided the final tally with 55 seconds to go.
PSU got off to a fast start with O'Donnell scoring the game's first two goals in the opening seven minutes. Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) scored off a Lazo feed for a 3-0 lead with 22:17 to go in the first.
The Greyhounds fought back with a 4-0 run of its own from 17:13 to 11:34. Cyr started Penn State's 3-0 response with 10:26 remaining and Kayla Brisolari scored in transition three minutes later from Lazo for a 5-4 margin. Cyr tallied her second goal with 4:06 left for the halftime lead of 6-4.
Penn State out-shot Loyola 24-20 and earned an 11-10 edge in the draw controls. The Greyhounds won the ground ball battle, 19-16, and were perfect on the clear at 14-for-14. PSU was 14-for-15 on clears.
The Nittany Lions improved to 16-14 all-time against Loyola Maryland by winning their third straight game in the series. The Nittany Lions have won eight of the last 11 meetings.
Penn State heads back to the road for a two-game road swing next week beginning with James Madison on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before heading to Vanderbilt on Saturday for a 12:30 p.m. ET contest against the former ALC foe.