Feb. 27, 2013
PITTSBURGH - Ten different Nittany Lions reached the back of the net as the No. 10/11 Penn State women's lacrosse team topped Duquesne, 16-9, at Rooney Field Wednesday night. Sophomore Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) paced the squad with six points, including a career-high five assists, as the Nittany Lions improved to 2-1.
Junior Mackenzie Cyr (Westminster, Md.), who extended her point-scoring streak to 10 games, and sophomore Kelly Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.), who matched her career high, netted three goals each. Senior attack Molly Fernandez (Baltimore, Md.) and freshman Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) each added a pair of markers.
The Nittany Lions fell behind, 1-0 and 2-1, in the opening half before ending the frame on an 8-0 run en route to a 9-2 halftime lead. Duquesne began the second stanza scoring four of the period's first five goals to make it 10-6 before Penn State put the game out of reach. Caitlin Prince led the Dukes with six markers.
Penn State outshot the Dukes by a 34-24 margin, while each team collected seven ground balls. Junior midfielder Evan Foulsham (Madison, N.J.) recorded a career-high five of the Nittany Lions' 16 draw controls. Penn State completed 14-of-19 clears and converted 4-of-10 free-position shots. Freshman goalkeeper Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) turned aside six shots, while redshirt senior Ayla Halus (Hershey, Pa.) made one stop in 6:29 of action.
After Penn State battled back from its second one-goal deficit to the game at 2-2, the Nittany Lions closed the opening half on a 7-0 run. Prince tallied her first of the game 2:48 into the contest and, after Lechner evened the game for Penn State, Prince tallied once more with 24:10 left in the half before Cyr made it a 2-2 contest.
Sophomore midfielder Haley Ford (White Hall, Md.) began the Penn State scoring barrage after connecting on McCormick's pass with 20:28 left in the stanza. At 14:29, McCormick gave the Nittany Lions a 4-2 advantage when scoring off Madison Cyr's feed.
Penn State tallied twice more in an 18-second span as it jumped to a 6-2 lead. Lechner tallied her second of the game with 7:39 left in the half before sophomore midfielder Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) corralled the ensuing draw and scored on the same possession.
With 6:04 left in the half, Fernandez scored her fourth goal of the season after a feed from Lechner before the sophomore midfielder added her third of the game 26 second later. McCormick garnered her third assist of the half on the play. At 28:18, Cyr added a free-position marker as the Nittany Lions took a 9-2 advantage.
After Prince tallied 2:09 into the second stanza, Fernandez scored off McCormick's pass at 4:28 before the Dukes made it a four-goal game with three straight markers. Prince tallied a free-position marker with 23:02 left in the frame before Kidder and Prince tallied at 7:54 and 9:11, respectively, to make it 10-6.
After Prince's marker, Penn State regrouped with a timeout and tallied 37 seconds later with Madison Cyr's first of the night on a free-position attempt. Freshman Ally Heavens (Garnet Valley, Pa.) made it a 12-6 game with 17:14 left in the half before Clare Hurley tallied for Duquesne with 13:58 remaining.
Mackenzie Cyr's third marker of the game made it 13-7 18 seconds later before Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) fired a free-position, man-up marker at 17:58 of the frame.
Hurley tallied once more for Duquesne, but junior midfielder Shannon Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.) gave the Nittany Lions a 15-8 lead with 10:14 left in the game. Madison Cyr finished McCormick's play with 8:04 remaining before Prince tallied her sixth of the game to account for the 16-9 final.
The Nittany Lions will return to action Sunday, March 3 when they travel to No. 6/8 Virginia for a 1 p.m. matchup.