Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/21/17
From Press Release
Sophomore Madison Carter tied her career-high with six goals and Katie O’Donnell (Henderson) scored five, but it was not enough as No. 1 Maryland defeated No. 5 Penn State, 16-14, in Big Ten women’s lacrosse action this evening from the Penn State Lacrosse Field.
The Nittany Lions fall to 14-2 overall and 4-1 in conference action while the Terrapins improve to 16-0 on the year and 5-0 in the Big Ten to clinch at least a share of the regular season championship.
Carter added a game-high nine draw controls to go along with her game-high six goals while goalie Cat Rainone (Marple Newtown) posted 15 saves for the Lions.
For the second straight game Penn State went into half time tied as they used a 3-1 spurt over the final 9:51 to secure the 6-6 score as sophomore Kayla Brisolari (Crofton, Md.) started the run with an unassisted tally before setting up Carter for a score and O’Donnell followed just 23 seconds later for the 6-5 lead. The Terps answered with 1:37 remaining in the half to go into the intermission with the tie.
Lazo opened the second half with her first goal of the contest just 1:39 into the frame for the 7-6 lead, but Maryland used a 4-1 run over the next six minutes to gain the 10-8 advantage as four different players scored.
The teams then began to trade goals before the Terrapins struck for two consecutive to grab the largest lead of the game of 14-11 at the 9:36 mark of the second half. The Terps then stretched the lead to 16-12 after back-to-back free-position tallies by Taylor Hensh and Jen Giles at 6:29 and 3:48, respectively.
Penn State responded with a pair of free-position goals of their own just 17 ticks apart as O’Donnell and Carter found the back of the cage for the 16-14 score and after a pair of yellow cards against the hosts Maryland was able to run out the clock.
The Terrapins held the 42-29 edge in shots including the 26-9 mark in the second half and the 31-21 margin on target. Maryland also held the slim advantages in ground balls (16-12) and draw controls (17-15).
Senior Cat Rainone (Newtown Square, Pa.) once again surpassed her career-high in saves as she stopped 15 shots, but fell to 13-2 on the year. Terrapin net-minder Megan Taylor collected seven saves to improve to 16-0 overall.
Senior Abby Smucker (Bel Air, Md.) played a solid defensive game securing a trio of ground balls to go with a game-high three caused turnovers.
Penn State closes out their regular season as they travel to Ann Arbor to battle Michigan on Sunday April 30 at 11 a.m.