April 20, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 13 Penn State women's lacrosse team will begin a regular season ending, two-game road swing on Saturday when it travels to Baltimore to take on No. 18 Johns Hopkins (9-5, 1-2) in a pivotal ALC contest. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at the Blue Jays' Homewood Field.
On Sunday at Jeffrey Field, the Nittany Lions won an 11-10 thriller over No. 19 Ohio State, coming from behind to claim the key ALC game in sudden victory double overtime. The win was Penn State's sixth consecutive over the Buckeyes, its third versus a ranked opponent this season, and its second straight by one goal.
Senior attacker Jen Steadman (Sykesville, Md.) netted the game winner 45 seconds into the second overtime period, collecting a perfectly placed pass from Jackie Eastman (Springfield, Pa.) before firing in an off-balanced, acrobatic shot. The goal was Steadman's fifth of the game, tying a season high. Junior goalkeeper Dana Cahill (Towson, Md.) recorded a career best 14 saves against a barrage of 37 OSU shots.
After posting an impressive 7-2 home record this season, including wins over ranked conference foes Vanderbilt and Ohio State, Penn State will look to improve upon its 1-4 road mark when it travels to Johns Hopkins. The Lions' lone road win was a 17-8 rout of No. 16 William & Mary on March 25. Their road losses, however, have come at the hands of four top 10 teams with a combined record of 48-8.
Johns Hopkins comes into Saturday's contest riding momentum derived from one of the biggest wins in program history, last weekend's 12-11 home upset of No. 2 Northwestern. Fronting the Blue Jays' attack is junior Colleen McCaffrey, who leads the team in goals scored with 31, including three in the victory over the Wildcats, and points with 38. Taylor D'Amore (23g, 14a) and Candace Rossi (24g, 11a) also fuel the JHU offense. Defensively, sophomore Cosette Larash, one of the ALC top goalkeepers with an 8.62 goals against average, and senior Brooke Lapinski, the reigning ALC and Synapse Sports Defensive Player of the Week, anchor the unit.
Penn State is 6-3 in its all-time series with Johns Hopkins, with all nine meeting taking place during the regular season, starting in 2002. The Nittany Lions won the first five match-ups but are 1-3 since, including last season's 12-7 setback in University Park. In its last trip to Baltimore, in 2009, Penn State escaped with a 12-11 victory.
Fans can follow all of the action of the Penn State-Johns Hopkins game with live stats and instant scoring updates from GameTracker. Find a link on the front page (click on Schedule/Results) of the official website of Nittany Lion athletics, www.GoPSUsports.com and on the women's lacrosse schedule page.
The Nittany Lions will finish out the 2011 regular season on Saturday, April 30 when they visit No. 15 Princeton (6-5) for a 1 p.m. non-conference tilt. Penn State last met the Tigers in 2009, a 9-7 road setback.