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Lions Earn No. 2 Seed to Inaugural Big Ten Tournament

2015 Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Tournament Bracket

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April 26, 2015

ROSEMONT, Ill. - The Penn State women's lacrosse team will turn its sights to the Big Ten Tournament in Piscataway, N.J. as the bracket was announced Sunday afternoon. The Nittany Lions are the No. 2 seed and will play Friday evening (5:30 p.m.) against either third-seeded Northwestern or sixth-seeded Michigan.

Penn State (12-4, 4-1 Big Ten) readies for the first Big Ten Tournament in the hopes of winning the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. Action begins Thursday afternoon as Michigan and Northwestern opens play followed by No. 4 seed Ohio State against host Rutgers.

Friday's action features second-seeded Penn State against either Northwestern or Michigan at 5:30 p.m. inside high Point Solutions Stadium before top-seeded and top-ranked Maryland faces the Ohio State-Rutgers winner at 8 p.m. Both Friday night semifinals will be shown live on Big Ten Network and BTN2Go.

The two semifinal winners will meet on Sunday at Noon for the automatic bid. That game will be aired on ESPN3.com with a tape-delayed broadcast on ESPNU at 5 p.m. The NCAA Selection Show is set for 9 p.m. Sunday night.

The Nittany Lions earned the No. 2 seed by winning their first four games of Big Ten play, ultimately falling to No. 1 Maryland this past Thursday night in a thrilling game in College Park. Penn State forced the undefeated and defending NCAA champion Terrapins to the brink with a fantastic second-half comeback, but fell 13-10.

Penn State defeated both their potential Friday night opponents this season. The Lions downed Northwestern on Sunday, April 19 in Evanston, 14-10. PSU's final home game of the season was an 11-6 win over Michigan in a Thursday night downpour on April 9.

Penn State will compete in its ninth conference tournament having played eight previous tournaments in the ALC. PSU went 5-7 in its ALC Tournament games, reaching the tournament final in 2009 when it hosted as the No. 2 seed, the only time the Lions better than a No. 3 seed.

Head coach Missy Doherty has led the Nittany Lions to their most regular-season wins in her tenure and the most since 1999 when PSU grabbed 13 victories before the NCAA Tournament. The Lions are led offensively by senior co-captain Maggie McCormick (Eldersburg, Md.), who is a Tewaaraton Award nominee for a second time. She has a team best 61 points on 21 goals and 40 assists.

2015 BIG TEN WOMEN'S LACROSSE TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
At High Point Solutions Stadium; Piscataway, N.J.

Thursday, April 30
No. 3 Northwestern vs. No. 6 Michigan, 3 p.m.
No. 4 Ohio State vs. No. 5 Rutgers, 5:30 p.m.

Friday, May 1 (Big Ten Network)
No. 2 Penn State vs. Northwestern-Michigan, 5:30 p.m.
No. 1 Maryland vs. Ohio State-Rutgers, 8 p.m.

Sunday, May 3 (ESPN3/ESPNU Tape Delayed)
Big Ten Tournament Final, Noon