April 26, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's lacrosse team (4-11, 0-4 ALC) could not hold a 6-2 halftime lead in its regular season finale and fell to visiting Johns Hopkins (7-8, 1-2 ALC), 10-8, on Saturday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.
On Senior Day, two-time First Team All-ALC midfielder Jessi Lieb (Villanova, Pa.) paced Penn State with two goals. Also netting a pair of goals was the future of Nittany Lion lacrosse, sophomores Mary LeNoir (Timonium, Md.) and Erica Mihm (Annapolis, Md.). Junior Marisa Lozano (Pittsburgh, Pa.) contributed two points, off a goal and an assist, giving her 18 in the last seven games.
The Nittany Lions dominated play and pace on both ends of the field in the first half to earn that healthy 6-2 advantage. Events early on reflected that dominance, as PSU burst from the gates to quickly build a 4-0 lead. Unassisted goals by LeNoir and Mihm through the game's first four-plus minutes sparked the Penn State attack. At the 23:17 mark, Lozano connected on a pass to Jen Steadman (Sykesville, Md.), who then found net for the 13th time in her freshman campaign, to up the Lions' lead to 3-0. Mihm completed the scoring run with her second goal of the game less than two minutes later.
Sam Schrum halted Penn State's hot streak and got Johns Hopkins on the board with a goal at the 18:32 mark. The Nittany Lions answered back with back-to-back scores by Jessi Lieb and Mary LeNoir, giving PSU its biggest lead of the game at 6-1. The Blue Jays would add a goal with under one minute remaining and head into the break down by four.
Johns Hopkins took little time in cutting into Penn State's lead, netting two goals through the second half's first four minutes. Marisa Lozano upped the Lions' lead to 7-4 when she scored an empty-net goal on a free position attempt after JHU goalkeeper Jess Buicko was whistled for a foul. After the Blue Jays sliced Penn State's lead back to two with a goal by Kirby Houck, senior Jessi Lieb scored her second goal of the game and the Nittany Lions' eighth with 22:26 remaining in the game. However, that would be the last goal Penn State would tally, as Johns Hopkins finished the game with an unanswered five-goal scoring flurry.
Senior goalkeeper Jess Boccio (Northport, N.Y.) went the distance in net for Penn State, collecting 10 saves against a barrage of 33 Johns Hopkins shots.
Penn State and Johns Hopkins each notched 10 ground balls while the Blue Jays had a 17-12 advantage in ground balls.
The Nittany Lions will begin postseason play next week when they travel to Evanston, Ill. to take part in the 2008 American Lacrosse Conference Tournament from Fri.-Sun, May 2-4. To be hosted by Northwestern University at Lakeside Field, the top three finishers in the league regular season standings will receive byes while the bottom two will meet in a first round contest on the first day of the tournament. Seeding for all five teams, byes, and the first round match-up will be determined after regular season play is concluded on Monday.