PITTSBURGH, Pa.- No. 20 Penn State women's lacrosse earns its fourth consecutive win at Pitt with a 15-12 final score. The Nittany Lions move to 8-2, 1-0 Big Ten and the Panthers fall to 3-7, 0-4 ACC. Junior captain and Tewaaraton Watch List member Kristin O'Neill scored her 100th career goal.
Penn State also continues a four-game streak of having at least one player score a hat trick with junior Kayla Abernathy and Brooke Hoss notching four goals each today. Alaina Hamood, O'Neill and Meghan Murray also had multi-goal games with two apiece.
Aberntahy also contributed in the draw control circle, winning eight of the Nittany Lions' 31. Lauren Saltz added six and Murray added three.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
Abernathy gave Penn State an early 2-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game with two goals off assists from Gretchen Gilmore and Murray.
Pitt cut the deficit in half after a goal from Sydney Naylor with 11:11 on the first quarter clock but Kara Nealon put one away to give Penn State a two-goal advantage.
The Panthers once again drew the margin to one with four minutes to play, but Hoss came back with a man-down goal and 2:28 on the clock to make the score 4-2 after one quarter.
Second Quarter
The Panthers managed a man-up goal to begin the second quarter after a yellow card was handed to Sammy Dupcak. Pitt got one more to tie the score at 4-4 with 11:17 to play in the second stanza.
Kristin O'Neill got in on the action with her 100th career goal to bring the lead back to the Nittany Lions followed by a second goal from Hoss to make it a two-goal margin within 55 seconds.
Pitt produced a fifth point before Penn State went on a three-goal run to go up by four. Hoss completed her hat trick off an assist from Gilmore to score the seventh goal for the Nittany Lions. Meghan Murray and Alaina Hamood scored a goal apiece to take a 9-5 lead with 5:52 to go in quarter two.
The Panthers added one more to the board before the conclusion of the second quarter to make the score 9-6 at the halfway point.
Third Quarter
Murray wasted no time in the third quarter, scoring her second goal of the day 13 seconds in to take a four-point lead. Kayla Abernathy sealed her first hat trick of her career and continue a Penn State scoring run. O'Neill contributed a free position goal to the three-goal run for the Nittany Lions to take their biggest lead of the day at 12-6.
Pitt finally found the back of the net twice, once on a man-up goal to narrow the margin to 12-7 and then to 12-8 with 6:47 to play in the period.
Hamood worked to extend the Penn State lead again off a pass from Murray to take a 13-7 edge and Abernathy contributed to the effort with her fourth of the day off a free position shot to finish off the quarter with a 14-8.
Fourth Quarter
The Panthers narrowed the score to 14-12 throughout the final stanza. Hoss came up in a big spot with her fourth goal of the game at 1:41 on the clock to extend the margin to three goals. Penn State won the following draw control and held onto the ball for the remainder of the quarter to hang the final score at 15-12.
OF NOTE
- O'Neill bumped her scoring streak to 14 games and scored her 100th career goal. This marks her ninth multi-goal game this season out of 10 games.
- Hoss scored her second consecutive hat trick, matching her career high four goals.
- Abernathy earned the first hat trick of her career with a personal best four goals and tied her career best eight draw controls.
- Penn State won the draw control battle 21-10 and outshot the Panthers 31-24.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions return to Happy Valley on Saturday, March 25 to host Ohio State on Penn State's senior day. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. The senior day ceremony will take place before the game.