March 17, 2018
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| SHOTS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #17 Penn State | 18 | 13 | 31 |
| Rutgers | 17 | 23 | 40 |
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| SAVES | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #17 Penn State | 7 | 3 | 10 |
| Rutgers | 7 | 3 | 10 |
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| GROUND BALLS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #17 Penn State | 7 | 4 | 11 |
| Rutgers | 5 | 7 | 12 |
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| DRAWS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #17 Penn State | 10 | 8 | 18 |
| Rutgers | 4 | 11 | 15 |
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Freshman Lucy Lowe (Cockeysville, Md.) collected a career-high ten saves to secure her fourth win of the season as No. 17 Penn State defeated Rutgers, 18-13, to open Big Ten Conference play on Saturday afternoon from High Point Solutions Stadium.
The Nittany Lions run their winning-streak to three games as they improve to 6-3 on the year and 1-0 in the Big Ten while Rutgers has now dropped three straight contests and falls to 4-5 overall and 0-1 in conference action.
Penn State opened the game scoring three consecutive goals over a one-minute span to grab the 3-0 lead at the 27:09 mark of the first half.
Senior Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.) sandwiched a goal at the 27:29 mark between a pair of free-position tallies by freshman Sophia Triandafils (Wading River, N.Y.) and senior Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) at the 28:09 mark and 27:09 mark, respectively.
After a Joanna Reilly goal by Rutgers at the 26:00 mark, Nittany Lion sophomore Maria Auth (Street, Md.) fired home back-to-back free-position tallies over a 40 second stretch to give Penn State the 5-1 lead at the 19:02 mark of the opening half.
The Scarlett Knights responded scoring back-to-back goals of their own as Kerri Puckhaber and Abbey Brooks found the back of the net at 12:09 and 10:39, respectively.
However, Penn State then used at 5-0 scoring run over the next five minutes to grab the 10-3 lead heading into the half. Junior Kayla Brisolari (Crofton, Md.) took the ball from midfield and sprinted through the defense firing a goal into the upper 90 of the net for the 6-3 score at the 8:27 mark and freshman Quinn Nicolai (Moorestown, N.J.) and junior Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) followed with free-position tallies just 49 seconds apart for the 8-3 margin at the 7:03 mark.
Gallagher then finished off a great feed from junior Delaney Muldoon (Silver Spring, Md.) for her second of the game and Triandafils added her second of the first half at 5:29 for the 10-3 advantage.
Carter opened the scoring in the second half off a great feed from senior Shelby Wells (Timonium, Md.) at the 26:01 mark before Wells fired in a goal of her own at the 25:18 mark for the 12-3 lead.
Rutgers responded with back-to-back goals of its own to end a 7-0 scoring run by the visitors, but freshman Rachel Rosen (Port Washington, N.Y.) ripped in her first collegiate goal and Nicolai followed with her second of the contest at the 15:31 mark for the 14-5 edge.
Penn State then hit running time after Nicolai deposited a feed from Auth for the 16-6 lead at the 12:02 mark, however, the Scarlet Knights scored back-to-back goals in just 1:10 to stop the running clock and cut into the deficit at 16-8 with 8:37 remaining in the contest.
O'Donnell scored a pair of goals over the final eight minutes, however, Penn State was outscored by Rutgers 5-3 during that span to account for the 18-13 final.
Lowe improves to 4-3 on the year after her 10-save performance during the first 48:26 of the game before being relieved by sophomore Madison Cunningham (Davie, Fla.) who didn't factor in the decision after playing the final 11:34 of the game.
NOTES
- Penn State runs its all-time record against Rutgers to 19-0 including winning each of the last four seasons to open Big Ten play. Dating back to 2011 Penn State has now won eight-straight conference openers.
- Rutgers outshot the visitors 40-31, but Penn State held the 28-23 edge in shots on target. The hosts also held the slim 12-11 edge in groundballs while the Nittany Lions held the 18-15 advantage on the draw.
- Junior Kelly Daggett (Bainbridge, Pa.) again played tremendous defense tying her career-high with a game-best four caused turnovers while adding four groundballs.
- Both Brisolari and Carter collected six draw controls each to lead all players.
- Carter and Auth each extend their goal-streaks to 12 games while O'Donnell runs her streak to 31 games.
- With a pair of goals Carter now moves past Diane Whipple `90 and into ninth on the Penn State all-time goals list with 149 for her career.
- Auth added a season-high two assists for five points while Wells collected a pair of assists to go along with her one goal to tie her career-high with three points.
- Sophomore Katie Schluederberg (Elkridge, Md.) also added a pair of assists as Penn State collected nine assists as a team on 18 goals scored.