March 11, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The sixth-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team welcomes No. 10 Colorado to Happy Valley for a Sunday afternoon affair in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
The Buffaloes will be the toughest test so far this season for the Nittany Lions as they come in at 6-0 and ranked No. 10 in the latest IWLCA poll and No. 9 in the latest Inside Lacrosse poll.
RANK THIS
- With their latest victory, a 12-9 triumph over No. 18 James Madison, the Nittany Lions move to 3-0 against ranked teams this season having also defeats No. 19 Towson (13-11) and No. 14 Cornell (9-8).
- After their matchup with Colorado, Penn State plays unranked Rutgers before facing two more ranked opponents on the road in No. 9 Princeton and No. 19 Johns Hopkins.
STARTING FAST
- Once again Penn State opened up a sizeable first half lead against JMU using a trio of three-goal spurts to take the 9-3 lead into halftime. So far this season the Nittany Lions are doubling up opponents, 54-27, over the first 30 minutes.
- However, the Dukes controlled the second half at one point having scored six of seven goals getting the game within a single score. Penn State still holds the 49-36 edge in the second half so far this season, but things have been much closer in the final 30 minutes than in the first 30 minutes.
CAT IN THE CAGE
- Senior goaltender Cat Rainone has been stellar over the past three games averaging eight saves including a career-high nine stops against JMU.
- Rainone currently has an 8.35 goals against average, which ranks second in the Big Ten and tenth in the nation.
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
- Penn State currently has three of the top four goal scorers in the entire Big Ten and each rank in the top-25 nationally.
- Sophomore Madison Carter leads the Big Ten and is ninth in the nation with 25 goals while senior Steph Lazo has added 21 of her own good for second in the conference and 16th nationally and junior Katie O'Donnell's 19 goals place her fourth in the Big Ten and 24th in the nation.
- Lazo's 41 points and 20 assists also lead the Big Ten and rank third and second in the nation, respectively.
SCOUTING COLORADO
- Colorado enters Sunday a perfect 6-0 on the year after going 13-5 last season.
- The Buffaloes returned eight of their top ten scorers form last season including their top four as they are led by Johnna Fusco with 19 goals and 25 points while Darby Kiernan and Katie Macleay have added 16 and 14 goals, respectively.
- Paige Soenksen returns between the pipes for Colorado where she leads the nation with a .605 save percentage and her 5.81 goals against average is good for second in the nation.
- Colorado is nearly tripling up their opponents on the season scoring 96 goals and only allowing 34. Their scoring defense ranks first nationally only allowing 5.67 goals per game.
- The Buffaloes also rank fourth in the nation in scoring offense averaging 16 goals per game while their scoring margin of 10.33 also tops the nation.
- Colorado also possess the ball well ranking fourth in the nation in turnovers with just 13.17 per game.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions open Big ten Conference play next Saturday as they welcome Rutgers to Happy Valley for a 1 p.m. affair.