May 18, 2013
Box Score | VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference
EVANSTON, Ill. - Sophomore Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.) recorded a team-high three points and freshmen Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) and Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) netted two goals each, but the seventh-seeded Penn State women's lacrosse team fell to No. 2 Northwestern, 15-7, in the NCAA quarterfinals at Lakeside Field Saturday evening.
The Nittany Lions, who advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the second straight season, completed the 2013 campaign with a 14-7 overall record. The ALC regular season tri-champions also finished the season with the program's most wins since 1999.
McCormick, who recorded a goal and two assists, finished her breakout sophomore season with 87 points, the most by a Nittany Lion since Tami Worley collected 94 points during Penn State's 1989 national championship season. The IWLCA Second-Team All-American and Eldersburg, Md., native led Penn State in scoring for the second straight year.
Senior Molly Fernandez (Baltimore, Md.) and sophomore Kelly Lechner (Silver Spring, Md.) also scored for Penn State, while junior Mackenzie Cyr (Westminster, Md.) and sophomore Tatum Coffey (Toms River, N.J.) recorded one assist each. In 2013, Cyr notched a career-high 35 helpers to push her career total to 81, good for fifth all-time in program history.
Freshman goalkeeper Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.), who started the game and made two saves, played a portion of the first half and all of the second, while redshirt senior Ayla Halus (Hershey, Pa.) tuned aside one shot during her 7:48 of first-half relief. Senior defender Katie Guy (Whitby, Ont.) closed her career with a game-high three caused turnovers.
Northwestern, which netted five free-position markers, outshot the Nittany Lions by a 29-16 margin and held advantages in draw controls, 17-7, and ground balls, 17-8. Alyssa Leonard led the Wildcats (19-2) with four points.
After the Wildcats opened the game on a 5-0 run within the first 13 minutes, Mosketti put Penn State on the board with the team's first shot at 17:27. After a restart, the Nittany Lions moved the ball up to Cyr, who fed Mosketti in the middle of the circle. The Fallston, Md., native then fired a shot past Northwestern goalkeeper Bridget Bianco for her 27th goal of the season.
Following Mosketti's strike, Northwestern responded with a six-goal run as it widened its advantage to 11-1. After taking the 10-goal lead, Lechner answered for the Nittany Lions with 1:33 remaining after firing a low, free-position shot to the left corner.
After a quick strike from the Wildcats, Madison Cyr tallied her 17th goal of the season to make it a 12-3 game. The Nittany Lions quickly moved the ball up the field on transition before Cyr rocketed a left-handed shot past Bianco with 16 seconds left in the half. The Wildcats scored once more with eight seconds remaining to take a 13-3 halftime lead.
Northwestern opened the second stanza with two free-position goals before Penn State ended the game with four straight markers. With 9:45 left, McCormick tallied her 50th goal of the season after taking a feed from Coffey and scoring high. Penn State cut the Wildcat advantage to 15-5 with 5:02 left when Cyr raced down the middle of the eight-meter circle before netting a high marker.
With 3:37 remaining, Mosketti tallied her second of the game after executing a give-and-go with McCormick, while the sophomore fed Fernandez for a marker in the final game of her career to account for the 15-7 final.