Feb. 10, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The seventh-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team continues their three-game home stand to kick off the 2017 season as they welcome the 19th-ranked Towson Tigers to Happy Valley on Saturday afternoon for a 1 p.m. affair.
THE MATCHUP
- Penn State welcomes Towson to State College for the first time in 36 years. The teams last battled at Penn State on April Fool's Day 1982. The Nittany Lions won that matchup, 22-1.
- This marks just the second meeting between the two schools since 1983 and the first in Happy Valley. In 2012 the teams met at Towson another 15-8 victory for the Nittany Lions.
- Penn State leads the all-time series 7-0 and are outscoring the Tigers 105-23 averaging 15 goals per game.
OPENING DAY SUCCESS
- Penn State improved to 38-14-1 all-time in season opening contests including a 6-0 record in their last six with a commanding 20-9 victory over Albany last weekend.
- Over the last six seasons, Penn State is outscoring their opponents 106-36 in opening day contests.
HIGH SCORE
- The 20 goals scored last game by the Nittany Lions marks the first time in three seasons they have potted at least 20 goals in a single contest.
- It last happened on March 26, 2014 during a 21-8 victory over Drexel. The Nittany Lions scored 20-plus goals three times that season including a 21-9 victory over Bucknell in their opening game of the season.
CAREER DAY
- Senior Steph Lazo registered a new career-high with 12 points last weekend. She also tied career-highs for goals (5) and assists (7). She became the first Penn State player to register double-digit points in a single game in at least the last 12 seasons.
- Junior Katie O'Donnell also set a new career-high with six points on five goals and one assist while sophomore Madison Carter tied her career best with six goals and seven points.
LAZO NAMED B1G OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
- With her career-high performance, Lazo earned the first Big Ten Offensive Player of the week award for the 2017 season. It marks the third time in her career she has earned this distinction.
ABOUT THE TIGERS
- Towson enters the season ranked No. 19 in the preseason IWLCA national poll and are coming off a 10-9 setback at the hands of No. 6 Stony Brook on a late goal last weekend.
- Seven different Tigers registered goals last week including a pair of scores from Carly Tellekamp and Emily Gillingham.
- Gillingham was third on the team in scoring last season with 26 goals and nine assists for 35 points while Tellekamp was fifth with 22 goals and three helpers for 25 points in 2016.
- Towson returns their top eight scorers from last season's roster and are led by Kaitlyn Montalbano and Natalie Sulmonte who each eclipsed the 30-goal plateua with 36 and 31, respectively. Montalbano paced the 2016 team with 59 points, as her 23 assists were also a team-high.
NEXT UP
- Penn State hosts Wales for a rare mid-week exhibition game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. before doing battle with Lehigh next Saturday at 3 p.m. to close out their season opening three-game home stand.