April 12, 2018
| GAMEDAY PREVIEW | |
| | |
| 9-4 (3-0 B1G) | 11-3 (3-0 B1G) |
| Saturday - 6:00 p.m. ET | |
| PANZER STADIUM | UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. | |
| GAME DAY CENTRAL |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | NU | |
| 9-4 | Overall Record | 11-3 |
| 3-0 | Conference Record | 3-0 |
| 211 | Goals Scored | 207 |
| 153 | Goals Allowed | 127 |
| 16.23 | Goals Scored/gm. | 14.79 |
| 11.77 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 9.07 |
| 446 | Shots | 462 |
| 34.3 | Shots/gm. | 33.0 |
| 71 | Assists | 90 |
| 69-131 | Free Position Shots | 45-103 |
| 117 | Saves | 119 |
| 15.07 | Ground Balls/gm. | 22.71 |
| 15.30 | Draw Controls/gm. | 15.42 |
| 12.46 | Turnovers/gm. | 15.81 |
| 9.69 | Caused Turnovers/gm. | 9.5 |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 17th-ranked Penn State women's lacrosse team resumes Big Ten play riding a three-game winning streak as they battle for Big Ten supremacy against No. 7 Northwestern on Saturday at 6 p.m.
FOR THE KIDS
This contest, under the lights at Panzer Stadium, will serve as the team's annual THON game to raise awareness for pediatric cancer.
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
- This marks the 30th meeting between the two schools with Northwestern holding the 21-8 all-time advantage
- The series dates back to 1984 with the teams meeting at least once each of the past 16 years dating back to 2002. The teams have also met at least twice in nine of the last 11 years including the past three seasons since the formation of the Big Ten Conference
- Penn State has won four of the last six meetings after losing 18 straight contests from 2004 - 2014. The Nittany Lions won both contests in 2015 and the teams have split their match-ups the past two seasons with Penn State winning the regular season battle, but Northwestern getting revenge in the Big Ten Tournament.
- Senior Katie O'Donnell has registered 19 points over six career games against the Wildcats including 16 goals as she has scored at least one goal in each game with five multi-goal efforts including a five goal outburst during a 14-13 victory last season. Junior Madison Carter has added eight goals and nine points in her four career games against Northwestern.
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
- Northwestern comes into the contest ranked 7th in the latest IWLCA poll and have won six games in-a-row and stand at 11-3 on the season and 3-0 in Big Ten play.
- The Wildcats rank third in the Big Ten averaging 14.8 goals per contest while leading the league with 6.4 assists per game. Northwestern's 90 assists this season also pace the Big Ten, 15 clear of Maryland.
- Northwestern has eight players with double-digit goals on the season led by Selena Lasota and Sheila Nesselbush with 39 and 33, respectively. Lasota has added 10 assists for a team-best 49 points while Shelby Fredericks paces the team with 21 assists while adding seven goals for 28 points.
- Between the pipes Julie Krupnick has started all 14 games this season posting a 9.36 goals against average and a .482 save percentage on the season to rank second best in the conference in both categories among active starting goalkeepers with over 300 minutes of action.
- The Wildcats rank second in the Big Ten and 10th in the nation in scoring margin averaging 5.71 goals per game more than their opponents.
CLEAN SWEEP
- Senior Katie O'Donnell swept the weekly awards this past week garnering Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week as well as Brine/US Lacrosse Player of the Week and the IWLCA Division I Offensive Player of the Week.
- These awards came on the heels of a career-high eight points during a 22-13 victory over No. 6 Virginia. O'Donnell also matched her career-bests of six goals and two assists in the game.
- O'Donnell also earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the week back on February 27. The senior is currently riding a 36-game goal streak dating back to her sophomore season while her 40 goals are good for third in the Big Ten.
- O'Donnell's career-game last Friday moved her from 15th to ninth on the Penn State all-time points list with 205 as she became just the 14th member of the 200-point club. The senior is now just 18 goals shy of becoming the fourth player to eclipse 200 goals in Penn State history.
AMONG THE NATION'S BEST
- O'Donnell's 182 career goals ranks tied for sixth in the nation among active players and is second in the Big Ten behind the 267 of Maryland's Megan Whittle.
- Junior Madison Carter, who ranks just behind O'Donnell in fifth on the Penn State all-time goals list, leads all active juniors nationally with 159 goals also good for tied 12th among all active players across the country.
- Carter and O'Donnell rank second and third in the Big Ten with 41 and 40 goals, respectively. Those marks are also good for tied 23rd and tied 26th in the nation.
- Carter, along with teammate Maria Auth, is currently riding a 16-game goal-streak. Auth ranks fourth in the Big Ten with 39 goals this season.
HOME SWEET HOME
- Penn State returns home for the first time in 23 days as they battle Northwestern under the lights on Saturday evening. Penn State is 4-2 at home this season with each loss being by just a single goal.
- The Nittany Lions are outscoring their opponents at home 97-69 this season win an average margin of victory of 4.67 goals.
- Penn State has held the halftime lead during each of its six home games so far this season.
FAST START
- Penn State has jumped out to early leads often this season and have lead at halftime in 11 of 13 games posting an 9-2 record in those contests.
- The Nittany Lions are outscoring their opponents 121-76 in the first half this season. Penn State's goal differential of 45 in the first half is third in the Big Ten only behind the 65 of Maryland and 52 of Northwestern.
- Even though Penn State has lead at the half in 11 games this season they have only scored the first goal of a game in 6-of-13 games, but hold a record of 5-2 when allowing the first goal.
MATURING DEFENSE
- Penn State is 6-1 over its last seven games with its only loss coming by a single goal to Princeton, 13-12. In those seven games Penn State is allowing just 11.00 goals per game after allowing 12.67 per game over the first six.
- The Nittany Lions also lead the Big Ten in caused turnovers per game averaging 9.70 while only turning the ball over 12.5 times per game themselves which also paces the conference.
- Junior Kelly Daggett's 22 caused turnovers are second in the Big Ten lead and rank tied for 40th nationally.
B1G OFFENSE
- Penn State is averaging 16.23 goals per game to lead the Big Ten and rank fourth in the nation while its 34.3 shots per game average ranks second behind Maryland in the Big Ten and is good for tenth in the nation.
- The Nittany Lions have scored 211 goals this season to rank second in the Big Ten and fourth in the nation while their 69 free-position goals tie for the national lead with Maryland and their .527 free-position percentage is good for fifth nationally and second in the Big Ten.
- Penn State's 26.77 shots on goal per game is good for tops in the Big Ten and third in the nation while its .473 shot percentage also leads the Big Ten and ranks 12th nationally.
- Penn State is averaging 16.33 goals per game in Big Ten games this season to lead the conference while ranking third in the conference allowing 11.64 goals per game in three league games so far.
NEXT UP
- Penn State enters one of its toughest stretches of play over the next few weeks as they travel to No. 2 Maryland next Thursday for a 7 p.m. affair before heading to No. 1 Stony Brook for a 4 p.m. contest the following Tuesday.
- The Nittany Lions have never played the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the nation in back-to-back games and these contests come just five days apart.