April 1, 2017
By Ryan Berti, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After fighting back from an unusually slow start, Penn State rolled past Big Ten foe Ohio State 16-12 for the team's 12th win of the year.
The early goings of the first half featured a rare defensive duel for the Nittany Lions, as the first 15 minutes of the half only featured three total goals as Penn State held a slight 2-1 lead. Much of the first half was a back-and-forth battle between the two squads, but the Buckeyes went on a run that would give them a commanding lead.
Ohio State tied things up at two with 13:13 left in the first half thanks to a Molly Wood goal, her 36th of the season. Over the next nine minutes, the Buckeyes outscored the Nittany Lions 5-1 to take the 6-3 lead heading into the half's final four minutes.
But just when it looked like Penn State would be heading into the half with a sizeable deficit looking for answers in the second half, the squad suddenly turned it around.
The Blue and White opened things up with a snipe from senior captain Abby Smucker. Standing around the 12-meter line, she fired one into the top-right pocket of the mesh and got by a diving Jill Rizzo who was standing too far out in front of the net. The goal made it a 6-4 game and was the first of her three goals on the day.
"I have to attribute that goal to my teammates," the captain said, mentioning the whole team's contributions. "[My] teammates opened up a lot of space for me."
Penn State rode its newfound momentum and finished the half strong, closing out the final 3:37 with three goals to make it six-all at the half. The final two were scored by Madison Carter, who scored the tying goal on a free-position with 14.4 seconds left on the clock.
Carter had another big day as she tallied five goals and an assist to her stat line. She has been on a bit of a tear as of late, making it now 14 goals and 17 points over the last three contests. Head coach Missy Doherty said Carter has been huge for the team as of late.
"You know Mad Carter, weirdly enough, you finish the game and you're like 'Oh my god she had so many goals.' She just does a good job at scoring goals at important times, and it's a credit to her," Doherty said.
Three unanswered Penn State goals grew to eight at the start of the second half. The squad spread the wealth as five different players scored a goal for the Nittany Lions in the first six minutes after the break to push the Blue and White to a big 11-6 lead.
The offensive explosion could be credited to the teams increased pace after halftime. Coach Doherty had a talk with the team at the half and got the team to get back to their usual style of play.
"Missy at halftime was just telling us we just need to push our legs a little bit more and just go hard to cage, right off the catch just go hard," Smucker said. "We have a lot of speed on this team, a lot of depth, so I think we just needed to push our legs a little more."
Penn State's defense also came to play in the second half, limiting the Buckeyes to six total goals, two of which came in the final few minutes when the win was all but assured.
The Blue and White now move to 12-1 on the season and move into the final four games of the season. Next up is a matchup with Virginia next Saturday, April 8 against Virginia for senior night. The opening draw I at 1 p.m.