March 29, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 10 Penn State women's lacrosse team will face the first of five ranked opponents remaining on its 2012 regular season schedule on Sunday when it travels to take on No. 4 Florida (11-2, 1-0) in a pivotal ALC clash. The Nittany Lions will also be putting their unblemished 5-0 road record on the line when they meet the Gators at 1 p.m. at Donald R. Dizney Stadium in Gainesville.
Penn State (8-2, 1-0) won its fourth straight game last weekend, coming from behind to defeat William & Mary, 9-7, at Penn State Lacrosse Field. After scoring just three goals on 20 shots in the first half, clutch offense in the second half, primarily from the trio of junior Molly Fernandez (Baltimore, Md.) (3 goals), sophomore Mackenzie Cyr (Westminster, Md.) (2 goals, 1 assist), and freshman Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) (1 goal, 3 assists) helped Penn State carry the day. Freshman Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.), who is featured in the April 2 issue of Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" and leads the Lions with 25 goals, added two scores.
Florida surpassed the 20-goal plateau for the sixth time this season and recorded the program's first-ever shutout on Wednesday, as the Gators beat up on Fresno State, 29-0. Florida's high-powered offense, which posts an average of 17.38 goals per game, features eight players with 22 or more points. Gabi Wiegand (40 goals, 11 assists), Ashley Bruns (38 goals, 12 assists), and Kitty Cullen (29 goals, 20 assists) top the team in scoring. The Gators are strong on defense as well, allowing an average of just six goals per game. Goalkeeper Mikey Meagher is among the nation's leaders with a 6.95 goals against average.
Penn State holds an 0-2 record in its series with Florida. A year ago, in Happy Valley, the Nittany Lions played UF even through the game's opening 20-plus minutes but a late first and early second half run by the Gators put them ahead for good and PSU fell, 13-7. In 2010, in the inaugural meeting of the programs, Penn State saw a furious late rally come up short and dropped a narrow 13-11 decision in Gainesville.
Fans can track all of the action of the Penn State-Florida match-up with live stats from GameTracker or receive game updates by following the official Twitter account of the Penn State women's lacrosse team, @GoPSUWLax. Find links on the official website of Nittany Lion athletics, www.GoPSUsports.com.
The Nittany Lions will continue ALC play on Friday, April 6 when they host defending national champion No. 1 Northwestern (10-0, 2-0) in a 7 p.m. game at Penn State Lacrosse Field. The night game will be the program's first ever at its new facility.