May 5, 2011
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Penn State women's lacrosse team downed Johns Hopkins (9-8), 17-11, in a quarterfinal contest of the 2011 ALC Championship on Thursday in Nashville, winning its opening match-up of the conference tournament for the fifth consecutive year. With the victory, the third-seeded Nittany Lions advance to play No. 2 seed Northwestern in the semifinals on Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Senior attacker Jen Steadman (Sykesville, Md.) starred for Penn State, tallying four goals and two assists, marking the second consecutive year that she posted those offensive totals in the Lions' first round ALC Championship game. Freshman Mackenzie Cyr (Westminster, Md.) also helped fuel the attack, contributing four points on one goal and three assists while senior Mary Dean (Wyncote, Pa.) added a hat trick. Junior Dana Cahill (Towson, Md.), the 2011 ALC Goalkeeper of the Year, recorded a career-high of 15 saves in the face of 34 JHU shots, including a bombardment of 24 in the second half.
Penn State (10-7) dominated the first half of play, outscoring Johns Hopkins 8-2, to set the tone for the game. Steadman and Dean lead off the scoring, giving the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead four minutes in. After Courtney Schweizer got the Blue Jays on the board at the 24:00 mark, PSU scored the next four, getting two goals from Steadman and one each from sophomore Molly Fernandez (Baltimore, Md.) and senior Jackie Eastman (Springfield, Pa.).
Schweizer also accounted for Hopkins' second goal of the half, netting it with 11:15 remaining. Senior Maggie Dunbar (Cockeysville, Md.) and junior Aly Adams (Springfield, Pa.) then pushed the Penn State advantage to six and the Lions went into halftime in full control.
Johns Hopkins looked to be primed to get into the game after the break, scoring the first two goals of the second half, but its rally attempt would be short-lived. Penn State responded emphatically by reeling off six unanswered goals over a span of nine minutes to effectively put the game away. Six different Nittany Lions found net during the run, including the first of the game for Cyr, freshman Lizzy Carney (West Chester, Pa.), senior Laura Lesnick (Jarrettsville, Md.), and junior Elaine Welch (Bernardsville, N.J.).
Following two goals by the Blue Jays' Colleen McCaffrey, goals by Lesnick, Dean, and Carney would make up a 3-1 Penn State run, making the score 17-7 with 9:15 left. Johns Hopkins would register the final four goals of the game, but they proved inconsequential, as the contest had long been decided.