May 4, 2017
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| 15-2 (5-1 B1G) | 9-8 (4-2 B1G) |
| Friday - 8:30 p.m. ET | |
| FH & LACROSSE COMPLEX | COLLEGE PARK, Md. B1G SEMIFINALS | |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | NU | |
| 15-2 | Overall Record | 9-8 |
| 5-1 | Conference Record | 4-2 |
| 249 | Goals Scored | 183 |
| 169 | Goals Allowed | 179 |
| 14.65 | Goals Scored/gm. | 10.76 |
| 9.94 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 10.53 |
| 561 | Shots | 515 |
| 33.0 | Shots/gm. | 30.3 |
| 101 | Assists | 72 |
| 53-150 | Free Position Shots | 52-142 |
| 150 | Saves | 138 |
| 18.53 | Ground Balls/gm. | 17.65 |
| 14.76 | Draw Controls/gm. | 14.06 |
| 15.18 | Turnovers/gm. | 15.65 |
| 9.18 | Caused Turnovers/gm. | 8.06 |
COLLEGE PARK, Md. ââ'¬" The second-seeded and fifth-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team travels to College Park, Md. for the 2017 Big Ten Tournament this weekend.
The Nittany Lions battle third-seeded and No. 14 ranked Northwestern in the second semifinal on Friday night at 8:30 p.m. with the winner playing either No. 1 Maryland or No. 4 Johns Hopkins in the B1G Championship on Sunday at 12 p.m.
THE MATCHUP
- Penn State and Northwestern will meet for the third consecutive season in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals and sixth time overall in the past three years.
- The Nittany Lions defeated the Wildcats 13-10 in 2015 en route to capturing the inagural Big Ten Tournament title, but Northwestern avenged that loss by defeating Penn State, 9-6, last season in Evanston.
- Penn State is 4-1 against the Wildcats during the past three seasons including a 14-13 victory in Evaston earlier this season. However, prior to 2015 Northwestern had won 18 straight and hold a commanding 20-8 edge in the all-time series dating back to 1984.
- The Nittany Lions are 2-1 all-time in Big Ten Tournament contests.
LAST TIME THEY MET
- Penn State used a 10-1 scoring run to bridge the first and second half and erase a five-goal deficit en route to defeating the Wildcats, 14-13 on April 13th.
- Sophomore Kelly Daggett erupted for a career-high four goals and six points including three straight scores over a 2:08 span to open the second half.
- Junior Katie O'Donnell tied her career-high with five goals while sophomore Madison Carter added three goals and senior Taylor Bleistein scored twice.
COACHES CORNER
"Northwestern is a really physical team. We need to make sure we're ready to play and push ourseleves. I think we got off to a bit of a slow start the last time we played them, so we want to make sure we are ready to stop them defensively. We need to be ready to secure the ball off the draw and get some possessions than we did last game."
LAST TIME OUT
- The Nittany Lions defeated Michigan, 17-10, last Sunday marking their seventh game this season with at least 16 goals. Penn State is 7-0 in such contests.
- O'Donnell registered her third consecutive game with five goals while four other Nittany Lions scored two goals each.
- Senior goalkeeper Cat Rainone secured her fifth consecutive game with 10 or more saves and her sixth on the season after stopping 11 shots.
RECORDS IN JEOPARDY WITH HISTORIC SEASON
- Penn State secured its second 15-win season in the last three years, but just the third since 1989 when they went 19-1 and captured the NCAA Championship.
- Penn State's 15-2 regular season finish is its best mark since going 17-1 during that 1989 regular season.
- The Nittany Lions are closing in on some major team records as the single-season goals, assists and points records are all within reach.
- PSU's current records are 280 goals, which has been acheived twice, last just two years ago in 2015. The Nittany Lions have already scored 249 this season.
- The Blue and White are also just 27 assists shy of setting a new assist record which currently sits at 101 while their point total of 350 is 46 points off the record of 396 set during the 1986 season.
HEY MS. CARTER, TELL ME WHERE YOU BEEN?
- Been around the B1G and now she's back again, sophomore Madison Carter is in the midst of a career-year for the Blue and White. After tallying a pair of goals agasinst Michigan, the second-year player now has 60 on the season, just eight off the Penn State single-season sophomore record held by Marsha Florio since 1983. She has also scored at least one goal in 25 straight games dating back to last season.
- Carter's 60 goals lead the Big Ten and rank eighth in the country. She is also the first Penn State player to score 60 or more goals since Diane Whipple registered 62 in 1990. Madison Cyr came close last season, but finished 2016 with 59 goals.
- Like Cyr last season, Carter was named a Tewaaraton Award Nominee as one of the top-25 women's lacrosse players in the country. She is also a 4-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week.
- This marks the 12th time in Penn State history a player has scored 60-plus goals in a single-season while Carter marks just the seventh different Nittany Lion to accomplish this feat.
NINE AND DINE
- On Sunday senior Steph Lazo became just the 13th player in program history to reach the 200-point milestone. She is now tied with Mackenzie and Madison Cyr for ninth on the all-time points list with 202 points.
- Fittingly enough her 200th point came off an assist, the 83rd of her career, as she ranks seventh on the all-time assists list.
- Lazo, who is also a Tewaaraton top-25 Nominee, leads the Big Ten and is tied for 12th in the country with 80 points on 43 goals and 37 assists.
HAWAII 5-KO
- Junior Katie O'Donnell has registered three straight five-goal games and has scored 19 goals over her last four. The five goals in a game tie a career-high and she has done it four times this season.
- O'Donnell has also moved up to 14th on the Penn State all-time goals list as she now has 129 for her career in 59 games played.
POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO WIN
- Penn State has controlled possession in most games this season as they lead the Big Ten averaging 14.76 draw controls per game and 18.53 ground balls per game.
- PSU's draw control average is also good for 14th in the entire nation as they are led by Madison Carter with 97 draws on the season averaging 5.7 per contest. Both marks rank second in the Big Ten behind Northwestern's Shelby Fredericks.
- The Nittany Lions are also a combined 20-0 when winning both the draw (11-0) and the ground ball (9-0) battles.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
- Northwestern finished the regular season 9-8 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten. They are led by a trio of All-Big Ten honorees in Christina Esposito, Catie Ingrilli and Claire Quinn
- Esposito leads the team with 40 goals and 51 points while Ingrilli is second on the team with 32 points on 24 goals and 8 assists. Danita Stroup has added 31 goals to help led a struggling offense.
- The Wildcats averaged just 10.8 goals per contest during the regular season to rank fifth in the conference and 79th in the nation. However their defense allowed just 10.48 goals per contest good for fourth in the conference and 35th in the nation.
- Mallory Weisse started all 17 games between the pipes for the Wildcats and secured a 10.46 goals against average and a .437 save percentage with 138 saves.
- Shelby Fredericks led the Big Ten with 130 draws, averaging 8.13 per game, a mark good for third in the entire NCAA.
- Averaging 30.3 shots per game, the third most in the Big Ten, Northwestern finished the regular season as the worst shooting team in the conference at just 35.5 percent, ranking 106th in the country.