May 7, 2017
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Despite dropping a hard-fought 12-11 decision to third-seeded Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Friday evening, second-seeded Penn State earned a pair of All-Tournament team players.
Senior defender Erika Spilker (Severna Park, Md.) and sophomore midfielder Kayla Brisolari (Crofton, Md.) earned the honors for the Nittany Lions.
Spilker, the captain of the defense, was tremendous all game smothering the opponents, which led to multiple Wildcat miscues as Penn State caused Northwestern to make 21 turnovers in the game.
As PSU struggled on the draw all night securing just seven in total, Brisolari grabbed three of those as well as firing home a free-position goal early in the second half.
Maryland who captured their second-straight Big Ten Tournament Title led the way with five players on the team and Northwestern added four and Johns Hopkins two.
Penn State stands at 15-3 on the year and will await a possible at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is revealed at 9 p.m. Sunday night.
2017 All-Tournament Team
Shannon Fitzgerald, Johns Hopkins
Haley Schweizer, Johns Hopkins
Nadine Hadnagy, Maryland
Caroline Steele, Maryland
Zoe Stukenberg, Maryland
Megan Taylor, Maryland
Megan Whittle, Maryland
Nicole Beardsley, Northwestern
Lindsay Darrell, Northwestern
Christina Esposito, Northwestern
Ally Mueller, Northwestern
Kayla Brisolari, Penn State
Erika Spilker, Penn State
MVP - Caroline Steele, Maryland