April 20, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Penn State women's lacrosse team (4-10, 0-3 ALC) dropped a 17-12 decision to ALC rival Ohio State (9-6, 1-2 ALC) on Sunday afternoon at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
After knotting the game at 7-7 at the 4:34 mark in the first half, the Nittany Lions went scoreless for the next 9:37 of action, which opened the door for a Buckeye scoring rally. Ohio State netted four unanswered goals to take an 11-7 lead. From there, the Nittany Lions could get no closer than two goals, as the Ohio State offense sealed the 17-12 Buckeye victory.
Marisa Lozano (Pittsburgh, Pa.) paced the Nittany Lions with five goals on six shot attempts. Senior Jessi Lieb (Villanova, Pa.) and freshman Jen Steadman (Sykesville, Md.) chipped in with two goals apiece. Sophomore Mary LeNoir (Timonium, Md.), sophomore Theresa Bucci (Hudson, Ohio) and junior Kerry Shea (Baltimore, Md.) also added goals for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State out-shot the Buckeyes 27-26 on the final stat sheet, but Ohio State's second-half scoring flurry proved to be too much for the Lion defense. The Nittany Lions also finished with 19 draw controls to Ohio State's 11.
Kristen Slahor led the Buckeye attack with 11 points in the victory, tying a school scoring record. Slahor finished the day with six goals and five assists. Jessica Patane added four goals and an assist for Ohio State.
The Buckeyes got on the board first with four quick goals in the first eight minutes of action, before Lozano found the net for the Lions at the 21:05 mark in the first half. A goal from LeNoir on a free position shot and another from Lozano set the score at 4-3, in favor of the Buckeyes with 18:57 to play in the half.
Nevertheless, the Buckeyes came right back with three more unanswered goals, which gave them a 7-3 edge. Penn State was not done there, as the Lions rattled off four unanswered goals - two from Lozano and on each from Lieb and Shea - of their own to knot the score 7-7.
Just as the case was early in the first half, the Ohio State offense clicked once again. The Buckeyes responded to the Penn State run with four-straight scores to end the first half and open the second half, stretching their lead to 11-7 before Lozano halted the run when she scored for the fourth time in the game with 24:57 to play in the contest.
A Steadman goal for the Lions at the 23:55 mark set the score at 11-9, but that would be as close as Penn State would get, as the Buckeyes out-scored the Nittany Lions 6-3 in the final 21 minutes of action. Slahor accounted for four goals and an assist for Ohio State during the scoring streak to closeout the 17-12 victory.
Penn State finishes off the regular season next Saturday with a home game against ALC foe Johns Hopkins. The game is slated to begin at 1 p.m. at Jeffrey Field.