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GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The 11th-ranked Nittany Lion women's lacrosse team used a 7-0 second-half run to pull away from Winthrop, 16-6, in the NCAA First Round on Friday evening at Dizney Lacrosse Stadium. Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) tallied a seven-point night to lead four Penn State hat tricks.
The Nittany Lions advance to the NCAA Second Round will attempt to reach their fourth NCAA Quarterfinals in five years when they face host, No. 2 seed Florida (18-1), on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Penn State (12-6) used stellar defense, shutting out Winthrop (20-3) for the final 24 minutes of the game, while simultaneously stretching a three-goal lead into an insurmountable 10-goal cushion. That 7-0 run came after a 75-minute weather delay and a major Winthrop injury in the final 22 minutes of the contest.
Lazo led the way with a four-goal, three-assist outing to match her single-season career-high of seven points. Lazo was involved in four straight goals as Penn State pulled away from the Eagles, who allowed their most goals of the season (16) and matched their fewest of the year (6). Lazo now has 65 points for the year.
Madison Cyr (Westminster, Md.) pitched in with a five-point night, scoring three times and adding two assists. Cyr also had two ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Cyr's 51 goals are the most by a Nittany Lion in a single-season since the late Diane Whipple rallied 62 during the 1990 campaign.
Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) added four goals and Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) notched a hat trick to aid the Penn State attack. Goalie Emi Smith (Denver, Colo.) had seven saves, five of which came in the second half, to stifle the high-flying Eagle offense that had averaged over 13 goals per game coming into the contest.
Up 9-6, Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.) had her free-position chance saved by WU goalie Alaina Girani (12 saves) with 21:13 left. Gallagher skied for the loose ball and put it away for a 10-6 lead.
Five minutes later, after the two goalies traded a pair of saves, Cyr passed out of an 8-meter attempt and assisted Carter's goal. Three minutes after that, Lazo added an unassisted tally for a 12-6 lead, the largest advantage of the game.
O'Donnell scored 64 seconds later on a Lazo feed before Lazo tallied back-to-back free-position goals at 9:03 and 4:39 for a 15-6 advantage. Carter capped the scoring on a Cyr pass with 2:58 for the final 16-6 scoreline, Penn State's largest margin of victory since a Feb. 20 win over Duquesne, 19-5.
Penn State used a pair of 3-0 runs in the opening 27 minutes to pull away from Winthrop and build a five-goal lead, 9-4. PSU scored seven goals in the opening 21 minutes, eclipsing Winthrop's 6.36 goals against per game, which ranked fourth entering the afternoon.
In the first half, Cyr led the way with three goals, while Lazo had three points on a goal and two assists, bringing her season point total to 61 at the time. The Nittany Lions led 4-3 with 14 minutes remaining as Jenna Mosketti (Fallston, Md.) connected on her 28th of the year before O'Donnell put away a Lazo feed two minutes later and a 6-3 lead.
Winthrop's Kristen Shriver scored 12 seconds later off the ensuing draw, but Penn State rattled off the next three goals to open a 9-4 advantage. Carter and O'Donnell scored on back-to-back free-position shots 14 seconds apart and Cyr drove through traffic to score her 51st goal of the season.
The Eagles made a run on either side of halftime as Shannon Gallagher scored with 42 seconds left and Katie Clark scored five minutes into the second half to make it 9-6. It was the only time on Friday that WU scored back-to-back goals.
The Nittany Lions held a 35-20 edge in shots, 19-15 advantage in ground balls and 13-11 margin in draw controls. Penn State committed just nine turnovers to Winthrop's 16 and had 13 free-position attempts, which PSU scored on four.
POST-GAME INTERVIEWS
GAME NOTES
Penn State met Winthrop for the first time and improved to 19-19 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
The 16 goals scored were the most in an NCAA Tournament game since May 5, 1999 when PSU beat West Chester, 22-7, in the first round.
Madison Cyr has scored in every game this season and is currently on a 27-game scoring streak dating back to last year. This season, Cyr has tallied at least two points in every game and has 10 hat tricks.
Cyr's goal brings her career total to 148 to tie Diane Whipple (1987-90) in seventh place all-time at PSU. Her five points brought her career total to 189 for 15th all-time at Penn State. Cyr has a career-high 70 points this season.
Madison Carter has scored in 17 of 18 games this season. Carter now has 44 goals this season and has six games with at least four goals.
Steph Lazo's last seven-point outing was April 2 against Rutgers. She has three seven-point games this season.
NEXT TIME OUT
Penn State will look to spring the upset on Sunday afternoon when it takes on host, No. 2 seed Florid at 1 p.m.