Feb. 4, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Sophomore Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) had a career-high seven points including six goals to help lead No. 7 Penn State past Albany, 20-9, in non-conference women's lacrosse action this afternoon to begin the 2017 season inside Holuba Hall.
Senior Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) also had a career day registering 12 points on five goals and seven assists while junior Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) also added five goals and one assist for six points to pace the offense.
Penn State improves to 1-0 on the season and have won their last six season openers while Albany drops to 0-1 on the year.
PSU started the scoring early getting on the board just 1:35 into the game as Lazo found the back of the net with help from O'Donnell for the first goal of the 2017 season.
O'Donnell then ran off three consecutive tallies to push the Nittany Lion lead to 4-0 at the 18:18 mark of the opening half.
Albany got one back at 18:08 as Kenzie Neal potted the first Great Dane goal of the season before sophomore Kelly Daggett (Bainbridge, Pa.) set up Lazo for a goal and then potted one of her own for the 6-1 score at the 9:54 mark.
Just over two minutes later Carter increased the lead to 7-1 for the hosts, but Albany used a timeout to make some adjustments and registered four unanswered goals heading into halftime trailing by just two at 7-5.
The Danes came out in the second half and continued the momentum as Emma Powlin fired one home just 28 seconds into the frame cutting the deficit to a single goal, 7-6. However, Lazo came right back scoring three consecutive goals in a five and a half minute span to stretch the lead back to 10-6 at the 22:35 mark.
Carter and O'Donnell then added back-to-back scores just 28 seconds apart for a 5-0 scoring run and the 12-6 lead at the 19:40 mark. Carter would then get another one at 17:52 in between three Albany goals, which made the score 13-9 midway through the final period.
Penn State used another 5-0 spurt to grab the 18-9 lead with 7:39 left to play as Carter scored a pair during that span while Lazo and senior classmates Taylor Bleistein (Bayville, N.Y.) and Shelby Wells (Timonium, Md.) each added goals.
Carter then added her sixth score of the game to hit running time with 3:30 remaining in the contest and the 19-9 score. Sophomore Kayla Brisolari (Crofton, Md.) added a late tally to account for the final score.
Carter collected ten draw controls to lead the team while junior Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.) added five draws on the afternoon.
Senior Cat Rainone (Newtown Square, Pa.) got the start between the pipes and made seven saves to secure the victory and improve to 1-0 on the season.
The Nittany Lions held the 45-21 advantage in shots including the 31-16 edge on target while also holding the 21-8 lead in draw controls. Each team collected seven ground balls while Penn State went a perfect 15-for-15 on clear attempts.
Penn State returns to action next weekend as they host No. 19 Towson at 1 p.m. on Saturday February 11.