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ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The No. 10 Penn State women's lacrosse team used a 7-0 run over a 17-minute span in the first half to put away Michigan, 13-8, on Sunday at Michigan Stadium. Freshman Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) tallied four goals and sophomore Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) added a hat trick to pace the offense.
Penn State (10-4, 2-1 Big Ten) used its stout defense to keep Michigan (6-9, 0-3 Big Ten) off kilter all game long. The Nittany Lions held a 38-17 advantage in shots and forced 25 Wolverine turnovers. Michigan converted just 11-of-19 clears as well.
"It was good to get a win on the road and we are looking forward to the rest of our Big Ten play," said head coach Missy Doherty."
The defense was a total team effort with 12 Nittany Lions registering 15 caused turnovers led by a pair of forced turnovers each by Lucy Haubold (Malvern, Pa.), Ally Heavens (Garnet Valley, Pa.) and Taylor Bleistein (Bayville, N.Y.).
Down 2-1 after five minutes of action in the first half, Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) scored her only goal of the game with 23:57 remaining to kick off the decisive 7-0 run. Cyr is the only Nittany Lion to score in every game this season and is on a 23-game scoring streak dating back to last season. Cyr's 41 goals this season match her career high.
Carter connected on a free-position shot three minutes later for a 3-2 lead. Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) scored the first of her two unassisted goals at the 16-minute mark for a 4-2 advantage.
Carter put away an Abby Smucker (Bel Air, Md.) feed with 13:43 remaining for the fourth-straight goal and a 5-2 lead. That started a three-goal stretch in 1:52 of game time as O'Donnell scored a free-position shot at 12:54 and Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) put away a Natalie Schmitt (Malvern, Pa.) offering in transition to cap the seven-goal spurt and an 8-2 lead with 6:43 left in the half.
Michigan responded with a pair of goals at 4:53 and 3:41 to end a scoring drought of 20:19. Lazo and Carter scored in the final two minutes to re-gain the six-goal advantage for a 10-4 halftime lead.
Michigan made a run to open the second half by scoring three goals in the first seven minutes to cut the lead in half. O'Donnell halted the Michigan momentum 42 seconds later for an 11-7 advantage before Kim Coughlan responded to make it a three-goal game again at 11-8 with 17:43 to play. Coughlin had four goals for the Wolverines.
Mosketti scored at 14:12 and Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.) scored her fourth of the year on a Lazo assist with 6:37 remaining for the final 13-8 score line.
Goalie Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) made five saves and picked up a ground ball to improve to 9-4 on the season.
GAME NOTES
• Madison Cyr has scored in every game this season and is currently on a 23-game scoring streak dating back to last year. This season, Cyr has tallied at least two points in every game and has nine hat tricks.
• Cyr lone tally brings her career total to 138, which has her in a tie for 9th all-time at Penn State. She is one point away from cracking the all-time PSU list (173, Diane Whipple, 1987-90).
• Penn State improved to 3-0 all-time against Michigan. Sunday's game was the first visit to Michigan.
• Penn State avoided its first three-game losing streak since 2009.
• Madison Carter notched her fourth game this season with at least four goals. Carter has scored in 13 of 14 games this season.
• Katie O'Donnell notched her sixth game with at least three goals this season. O'Donnell has 31 this season, matching her total from her freshman campaign, which was accomplished in 21 games.
• With Penn State's win at Michigan, the Nittany Lions move into a three-way tie for second place in the Big Ten with Northwestern and Ohio State. Maryland leads the conference at 3-0.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State hosts Northwestern for a crucial matchup on Saturday at Noon. The game will serve as Penn State's alumnae gathering with a game at 9:30 a.m. and multiple events surrounding the Northwestern game.