Jan. 11, 2017
IL's 2016 Face-Off Yearbook Top 20 | IL's Preseason All-America Teams
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Coming off their first Final Four appearance in 17 seasons the Penn State women's lacrosse team earned a preseason rank of No. 5 by Inside Lacrosse and had five players named to IL's preseason All-America teams on Tuesday.
Penn State ranks fifth according to Inside Lacrosse's 2017 Face-Off Yearbook. The only teams ahead of the Nittany Lions are North Carolina, Maryland, Florida and Stony Brook.
Senior Abby Smucker (Bel Air, Md.) repeats as a first-team selection for the second consecutive year while classmate Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) garners a third-team nod after earning honorable mention accolades in 2016.
Three additional Nittany Lions also received honorable mention credits on the 2017 report as sophomore Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) and senior Natalie Schmitt (Malvern, Pa.) join repeat member junior Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.).
In 2017, Penn State will face eight teams ranked inside IL's top-20. In addition to No. 2 Maryland and No. 10 Northwestern, PSU will face No. 12 Virginia, No. 14 Cornell, No. 16 Princeton, No. 18 Johns Hopkins, No. 19 Towson and No. 20 Loyola.
The Lions return eight starters from their Final Four team in 2016 that finished the season 14-7. Lazo, Carter and O'Donnell who registered 71, 52 and 50 points, respectively, last season will pace them on offense. O'Donnell will also join Smucker and senior Erika Spilker (Severna Park, Md.) as team captains.
Penn State opens their 2017 slate on February 4th as they host Albany for a 12 p.m. affair inside Holuba Hall.