April 30, 2012
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The third-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team will begin play at the 2012 ALC Championship on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. when it meets No. 6 seed Johns Hopkins (8-8) in a first round match-up in Gainesville, Fla. The sixth annual conference tournament will be hosted by the University of Florida.
Should the Nittany Lions get past Johns Hopkins, they will advance to face No. 2 seed Northwestern (16-1) on Friday, May 4 at 4:30 p.m. in the semifinals. In the other quarterfinal contest on Thursday, fourth-seeded Ohio State (10-5) will meet No. 5 seed Vanderbilt (8-7) at 7 p.m. The winner will square off with the championship's No. 1 seed, Florida (15-2), at 7 p.m. on Friday. The ALC Championship title game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 5. All tournament games will be played at the home of the Gators, Donald R. Dizney Stadium.
Despite a furious second half rally, Penn State (11-5) had a three-game winning streak snapped in last weekend's regular season finale, falling to No. 17 Princeton, 13-12, in overtime at Penn State Lacrosse Field. Freshman Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) led the Nittany Lions with six points, equaling her season high of four goals along with two assists. Sophomore Mackenzie Cyr (Westminster, Md.) added three points (2 goals, 1 assist) while junior Molly Fernandez (Baltimore, Md.) and freshman Kelly Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.) contributed two goals each.
Penn State owns a 9-3 record in its series with Johns Hopkins, including the Nittany Lions' 17-11 victory in the first round of the 2011 ALC Championship. Less than two weeks ago, in the teams' regular season meeting, Penn State topped the Blue Jays, 12-9, in Happy Valley. Johns Hopkins finished the regular season with a 12-9 upset of No. 13 Ohio State in Baltimore, breaking a six-game losing skid.
Penn State is undefeated in opening round games of the conference tournament, posting a 5-0 record. Overall, the Nittany Lions are 5-5 in ALC Championship play, with four of five their victories coming against Ohio State and all five of their losses dealt by Northwestern.
Fans can follow all of the action as Penn State pursues its first conference title with live stats from GameTracker or receive game updates through the official Twitter account of the Penn State women's lacrosse team, @GoPSUWLax. In addition, all Nittany Lion contests at the ALC Championship will also be streamed live online for free. Find links 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.