Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 1/29/18
From Press Release
For the third consecutive season the head coaches in the Big Ten have picked Penn State to finish second behind Maryland in the Preseason Poll as announced by the league office on Monday morning.
Entering its fourth season the Big Ten Conference regular season champion hasn’t changed with Maryland claiming the first three regular season championships as the Terrapins are a perfect 16-0 in conference games since 2015.
Penn State has finished second in the conference behind Maryland each of the first three seasons of the Big Ten with the two teams’ regular season matchup acting as a de facto regular season championship game each year. That game is slated to take place in College Park on Thursday, April 19 at 7 p.m. and will air live across the nation on the Big Ten Network.
The Nittany Lions return six starters from last season including leading goal scorers in junior Madison Carter and senior Katie O’Donnell (Henderson) who scored 70 and 65 goals, respectively, in 2017.
Both Carter and O’Donnell along with sophomore Maria Auth were also named to the 21 player Preseason Watch List. Auth came on strong at the end of her freshman campaign working her way into the starting lineup and finishing the season with 30 points on 18 goals and 12 assists to rank sixth on the team in scoring.
Penn State opens its season on Saturday February 10 at Towson at 1 p.m. and begin Big Ten play at Rutgers on March 17 at 12 p.m.
The 2018 Big Ten Women’s Lacrosse Tournament will be hosted by Michigan on May 4 and 6. The tournament will be a four-team field, with two semifinals on Friday and the championship game on Sunday.
The preseason poll and complete Players to Watch list can be found below.
2018 BIG TEN WOMEN’S LACROSSE PRESEASON POLL
MARYLAND
Penn State
Northwestern
Johns Hopkins
Rutgers
T6. Michigan
T6. Ohio State
2018 Women’s Lacrosse Preseason Honors List
JOHNS HOPKINS
Emily Kenul, Sr., A
Shannon Fitzgerald, Sr., M
Nicole DeMase, Jr., M/A
MARYLAND
Megan Whittle, Sr., A
Megan Taylor, Jr., G
Jen Giles, Jr., M
MICHIGAN
Bianca Brueckner, Sr., A
Adriana Pendino, Jr., A
Molly Garrett, So., M
NORTHWESTERN
Shelby Fredericks, Sr., A
Danita Stroup, Sr., A
Selena Lasota, Jr., A
OHIO STATE
Liza Hernandez, So., M
Jillian Rizzo, So., G
Molly Wood, Sr., A
PENN STATE
Madison Carter, Jr., A/M
Katie O’Donnell (Henderson), Sr., M
Maria Auth, So., A
RUTGERS
Amanda Casten, Sr., D
Samantha Budd (West Deptford-NJ), So., M
Kerri Puckhaber, Sr., A