April 13, 2017
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| SHOTS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #5 Penn State | 15 | 9 | 24 |
| #16 Northwestern | 18 | 19 | 37 |
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| SAVES | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #5 Penn State | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| #16 Northwestern | 3 | 2 | 5 |
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| GROUND BALLS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #5 Penn State | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| #16 Northwestern | 5 | 9 | 14 |
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| DRAWS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #5 Penn State | 6 | 4 | 10 |
| #16 Northwestern | 11 | 8 | 19 |
EVANSTON, Ill. ââ'¬" Junior Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) scored five goals to lead the fifth-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions past No. 16 Northwestern, 14-13, this evening in Big Ten women's lacrosse action from Martin Field.
O'Donnell shot .833 (5-for-6) and went 3-for-3 on free position shots to help PSU improve to 14-1 on the year and 4-0 in the Big Ten. The Wildcats fall to 7-7 overall and 3-1 in conference play.
Sophomore classmates Kelly Daggett (Bainbridge, Pa.) and Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) added four and three goals, respectively, to pace the Nittany Lion offense.
The Wildcats opened the scoring as Ally Mueller fired one home in transition at the 24:14 mark before Daggett responded cutting toward the middle of the crease to secure the equalizer at the 22:38 mark for the 1-1 tie.
Northwestern came right back to regain the lead as they controlled possession over the next seven minutes using a 6-1 spurt to secure the 7-2 advantage at the 14:47 mark. Sheila Nesselbush scored twice for the Cats during the streak while senior Taylor Bleistein (Bayville, N.Y.) scored the lone goal for the Nittany Lions at the 15:13 mark.
Penn State came clawing back scoring three consecutive goals in just a 2:25 span to cut the deficit to a pair of goals. Carter scored twice and O'Donnell added a free-position goal for the 7-5 score at the 7:09 mark.
Carter then nudged the Nittany Lion run to 4-0 as she recorded the hat trick at the 3:04 mark. The goal was the 100th of Carter's career in just her 36th game played. However, the Cats responded to snap the streak and end a 13:12 scoring drought as Catie Ingrilli fired one home at the 1:35 mark for the 8-6 lead.
Penn State closed the opening half as O'Donnell recorded her second free-position tally of the evening at the 38-second mark and Bleistein secured her second tally with just 11 seconds left for the 8-8 tie heading into the intermission.
The Nittany Lions came out of the break on fire as Daggett scored three consecutive goals just 2:08 apart and O'Donnell registered her eighth hat trick of the season at the 2:30 mark for the 12-8 Penn State lead.
The Cats then embarked on a 4-0 run of their own over the next five minutes to tie the contest before O'Donnell registered her fourth and fifth goals of the evening to grab the 14-12 lead for the visitors at the 20:07 and 13:17 mark, respectively.
Both defenses stiffened from that point forward before Megan Kinna made it a one-goal game, 14-13, with just 5:01 remaining in the contest. Down the stretch Penn State held strong and with 23 seconds remaining senior Abby Smucker (Bel Air, Md.) drew a timely charge and even after a turnover, the Wildcats final two shots missed the cage and the Nittany Lions escaped with the 14-13 victory.
Senior Cat Rainone (Newtown Square, Pa.) improves to 13-1 in cage after stopping 11 shots, including nine in the second half, and collecting a game-high five ground balls. Her counterpart, Mallory Weisse, collected five saves in the defeat to fall to 7-7 on the year.
The Nittany Lions were outshot for just the third time all season, 37-24, including the 24-19 clip on target and they lost the draw control battle, 19-10, for just the third time this season, but they held the commanding 20-14 edge in ground balls.
Penn State returns to action next Thursday as they host No. 1 Maryland at 7 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.