March 8, 2017
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Senior Abby Smucker (Bel Air, Md.) and sophomore Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) each registered a hat trick to help lift No. 6 Penn State past No. 18 James Madison University in non-conference women's lacrosse action this afternoon from the Penn State Lacrosse Field.
Penn State (7-0) opened the scoring with three straight goals as junior Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.), Smucker and junior Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) found the back of the net for the 3-0 lead just over four minutes into the contest.
The Dukes (5-2) responded as Hanna Haven registered a goal at the 14:34 mark before the Nittany Lions again used a 3-0 spurt to grab a 6-1 lead midway through the opening half. Carter sandwiched her first goal of the game between a pair of scores by sophomore Kelly Daggett (Bainbridge, Pa.) at 20:17 and 16:04, respectively.
JMU fought back scoring two quick ones, but Penn State again scored three consecutive goals as senior Steph Lazo (Stevensville, Md.) registered her lone goal of the game and Smucker and Carter followed with their second tallies of the evening for the 9-3 halftime lead.
James Madison came out quick in the second half and for the most part controlled the pace of play as Katie Kerrigan scored just 41 seconds into the frame and Kristen Gaudian followed just 23 ticks later for the 9-5 score.
Carter stopped the mini-spurt with her third goal of the game at 15:20, but the Dukes ran off four consecutive scores over the next 22:32 to cut the deficit to a single goal, 10-9, with just 3:37 remaining.
The Nittany Lions used a timeout and some timely draw controls to maintain possession the rest of the way as O'Donnell and Smucker added the insurance goals for the final score.
Senior Cat Rainone (Newtown Square, Pa.) remains perfect on the season improving to 6-0 after making a career-high nine saves while Emily Poelma was unable to make a stop during the first 20:22 and falls to 5-2 after allowing seven goals. Ellie Harmeyer stopped nine shots over the final 39:38 for the Dukes.
The Lions held the 29-22 edge in shots including the 21-18 margin on target while also controlling the draw (14-9) and ground balls (21-17).
Carter led the way with seven draw controls while Gallagher grabbed three. Senior Erika Spilker (Severna Park, Md.) collected a trio of ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers on the backend while Rainone also collected three ground balls to lead the defense.
Penn State returns to action on Sunday as they host No. 10 Colorado at noon.