Feb. 17, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 7 Penn State women's lacrosse team welcome Lehigh to Happy Valley for a 3 p.m. affair on Saturday afternoon at the Penn State Lacrosse Field. This will be the first game of the 2017 season played outside.
THE MATCHUP
- Penn State and Lehigh do battle for the third consecutive year and the eighth time in the last nine seasons only missing 2014.
- This is the 25th overall meeting between the two schools and the Nittany Lions hold the 24-0 series lead.
- Penn State has won each of the last four meeting by at least seven goals including last year's 13-6 victory at Lehigh.
- For Lehigh this marks the third straight season they have opened up with Penn State as their season opening contest.
FAST START
- Penn State erupted for seven straight goals to open last weekend's contest against Towson en route to a 9-2 halftime advantage.
- So far this season the Nittany Lions are outscoring their opponents 16-7 in the first-half of games.
LAZO'S HOT START
- Senior Steph Lazo leads the team with 18 points and 10 goals as she's potted five goals in each of the first two games of the season.
- Lazo has earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honors twice already this season as she leads the conference with 18 points good for third in the nation while her 10 goals and eight assists are good for second in the Big Ten and are also top-10 in the nation. Lazo's 9.00 goals per game average is currently best in the nation.
- The senior currently stands at 86 goals and 54 assists for 140 career points and is slowly inching toward the record books. Lazo is just five assists shy of jumping to 15th on the all-time list and is just 33 points back of 16th on the all-time scoring list.
CONTROLLING THE DRAW
- Penn State currently leads the Big Ten in draws per game at 19.5, a mark good for third in the nation.
- Sophomore Madison Carter paces the squad with 18 draws on the season, which tops the Big Ten and her 9.00 draws per game average is fifth best in the nation.
ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
- This marks the first game of the 2017 season for Lehigh after finishing 2016 with a 13-5 overall record losing to Loyola in the Patriot League semifinals.
- The Hawks return eight of the nine players that recorded double-digit points during the 2016 season including their top four scorers. They only lose Kendall Garden who scored 19 goals and added five assists for 24 points.
- Lehigh was paced last season by Allison LaBeau who led the team with 46 goals and 34 assists for 80 points, 42 more points than their second leading scorer Lauren Beausoleil (29-9-38). Both Courtney Henig and Haley Wentzel also scored 20+ goals with 29 and 20, respectively.
- The Hawks return a senior between the pipes in Taylor Tvedt who started 17 games last season going 12-5 with a .472 save percentage and a 7.75 goals against average.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions travel to Duquesne for a Wednesday afternoon match-up at 4 p.m. This marks the first of three consecutive road contests for Penn State.