March 13, 2013
Ithaca, N.Y. - The No. 7/9 Penn State women's lacrosse team dropped a 13-12 heartbreaker in double overtime on Wednesday afternoon at No. 14/16 Cornell. Penn State is now 4-3 on the season while Cornell stays undefeated at 5-0. Four Nittany Lions scored two goals each in the narrow loss.
Playing its fourth ranked opponent of the season, Penn State struck first when sophomore attacker Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) netted her first goal of the afternoon 1:32 into the game. Less than a minute later, Cornell used the first of Amanda D'Amico's game-high five goals on the day to tie the game at 1-1. After nearly 10 scoreless minutes, sophomore midfielder Kelly Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.) scored her first goal of the day to put the Nittany Lions ahead again, 2-1, with 17:58 left to play in the first half.
D'Amico answered for Cornell at the 16:43 mark, tying the game at 2-2. Penn State then ripped off four straight goals in a three and a half minute span to pull the Nittany Lions ahead of the Big Red, 6-2. A free position shot at the 14:52 mark led to junior attacker Mackenzie Cyr's (Westminster, Md.) first goal of the game. Freshman midfielder Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) added back-to-back scores over the next 41 seconds before freshman attacker Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) converted a man-up opportunity with 11:19 remaining in the half. The four-goal advantage matched the Nittany Lions' largest lead of the day.
Cornell finally halted the PSU run with less than 8:29 remaining off a Kelly Lang tally to shrink PennState's lead to 6-3. Sarah Hefner assisted on that goal, then scored one of her own for Cornell a little over a minute later to bring the Big Red within two goals, 6-4.
The two teams exchanged goals to end the half, with sophomore Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) scoring on a free position shot at 3:36 and Cornell's Lindsay Toppe converting on her 19th goal of the year to send the Penn State into the break up 7-5.
Penn State freshman midfielder Ally Heavens (Garnet Valley, Pa.) opened scoring in the second half, converting a free position shot, before goals from Toppe and D'Amico made it a one-goal game with Cornell leading 8-7. The game was one of streaks until the end of regulation with Penn State rattling off the next three goals with one each from Lechner, sophomore midfielder Haley Ford (White Hall, Md.), and Mackenzie Cyr to take the 11-7 lead, equaling the team's largest advantage of the game.
The Big Red offense heated up down the stretch, starting with a free position goal from Caroline Salisbury with 13:47 to play. A goal from D'Amico, a conversion from Toppe and one final goal from D'Amico knotted the game at 11-11 with 7:17 left to play. The five-goal run was the largest of the day for either team.
Neither team got on the board again in regulation and the game went into overtime. Salisbury found the back of the net again for Cornell with 2:24 left in the first overtime, but Mosketti found McCormick with 47 seconds to play in the first overtime to force the game to a second overtime with the score 12-12. Cornell struck again in the third overtime on another goal from Salisbury to win the battle, 13-12.
Despite 12 saves, Penn State freshman goalkeeper Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) was credited with the loss. Cornell's Courtney Gallagher made eight saves in the Big Red victory. Shots were a 35-28 advantage for the Big Red, with Cornell outshooting Penn State 18-10 in the second half.