Dec. 8, 2016
FULL 2017 SCHEDULE
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Head Coach Missy Doherty and the Penn State University women's lacrosse team announced their spring 2017 schedule earlier this week.
The 2017 slate is composed of 17 regular season games, highlighted by nine home contests.
"Our home environment is awesome," commented Doherty. "It's a huge advantage for us to play at home and by starting the season earlier this year we are able to spread out our schedule a little bit which is helpful."
In just its third year, the Big Ten Tournament will be held May 4-7 and the NCAA tournament begins on May 12th, with first round action, and concludes May 26-28 with the Final Four at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.
Of their 17 regular season games in 2017, nine come against opponents who reached last season's NCAA tournament.
"Each year we want to get ready and prepare ourselves to be one of the best teams in the country and to do that you have to play some of the best teams," mentioned Doherty.
The Nittany Lions open the season with three consecutive home games as they sandwich 2016 Sweet Sixteen member Townson (Feb. 11) between their home opener against Albany (Feb. 4) and a match against Lehigh (Feb. 18).
Penn State then hits the road for its next three contests traveling to Pittsburgh to battle Duquesne (Feb. 22) before back-to-back contests against two other members of the 2016 NCAA tournament field as they face-off against Cornell (Feb. 25) and Loyola (Mar. 4).
PSU returns to the friendly confines of the Penn State Lacrosse Field as a tough James Madison team comes to town on March 8 before visits from Colorado (Mar. 12) and their Big Ten Conference opener against Rutgers on Saturday March 18.
The Lions return to the road over the next two weeks traveling to Princeton (Mar. 21), Johns Hopkins (Mar. 25) and Drexel (Mar. 29) before back-to-back home Saturdays as they welcome Ohio State for a B1G clash on April 1st followed by ACC foe Virginia on April 8th.
The next two weeks are arguably the toughest tests for Penn State as they travel to Northwestern on April 13th to face the Wildcats for the first time since they defeated the Nittany Lions 9-6 knocking them out of the B1G tournament last May in Evanston.
PSU then hosts Maryland under the lights on the Big Ten Network as part of Senior Day on Thursday, April 20 for their final home regular season contest of the year. The past two seasons the game against the Terrapins has decided the regular season champion with the Nittany Lions falling by three goals in College Park in 2015 before dropping a one-goal thriller in State College last April.
"To finish at home against Maryland on a Thursday night is always exciting," stated Doherty. "We're looking forward to a great crowd and a great home environment."
Penn State then finishes the regular season with a trip to Ann Arbor to play at Michigan with a date and time yet to be announced.