April 15, 2018
By Briana Zuccarelli, GoPSUsports.comstudent staff writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The Nittany Lions returned to Panzer Stadium and Big Ten play Saturday evening to take on seventh-ranked Northwestern in their 2018 THON game.
A 46-hour no sitting, no sleeping dance marathon, THON is an annual event run by Penn State students each year. Throughout the year, Nittany Lion student-athletes from variety of Penn State sports participate in THON, giving back to the cause in support of childhood cancer.
"Any game we get to go out there and play for the kids is a big deal for us," Katie O'Donnell said. "We are just happy it was a great game to do it for. Northwestern was a great team and it was a great matchup."
THON children and families arrived early to the game to play in the bouncy house, later taking to the field with the team for starting lineups and the national anthem.
"The THON game is a great opportunity for us to spread awareness for such an incredible cause," Kelly Daggett said. "Any way we can help raise funds for THON is great for us and great for the kids and the cause."
While the Nittany Lions are regular supporters of THON in various events throughout the year, the evening was of course filled with hope, but ended with a slightly bitter outcome. Playing in front of their largest crowd of the season, the Nittany Lions came up short against the Wildcats, 17-13.
"I think we definitely just fought hard until the end," O'Donnell said. "We're going to have to do that for the rest of the season. We play really good teams to finish the remainder of our regular season. It's really a learning experience that we need to get better for these next couple of games. We pushed our legs a lot in transition, but we really needed to put our shots away."
The game started off with quick goals from both the Nittany Lions and the Wildcats. Northwestern quickly took a two goal lead with 20 minutes left in the first period to pull ahead.
Heading into the locker room at halftime, the Nittany Lions were trailing by three, 10-7. Inside the locker room, Penn State focused on getting refocused to put up a fight in the second period, which they did.
O'Donnell, Maria Auth and Madison Carter came out hot in the second, each scoring a pair of goals to bring the Nittany Lions within one, 13-12.
"We basically just told everyone in the locker room that we are in this game," Auth said. "We just need to come out and fight hard, that Northwestern is a great team, but so are we. We can compete with any team in the country. At halftime, whether we are up or down, we need to treat each half like it's 0-0 and we need to fight hard."
Among the highlights from the Nittany Lions, freshman Rachel Rosen recorded four assists for a career-best mark.
"She has done a good job," Penn State head coach Missy Doherty said. "She has come in with some really strong plays. We are always looking to see who is going to give us the most and she has come into some games and given us some good points. She filled a good spot for us there and has been holding her own."
Although the Nittany Lions ultimately fell short, Penn State moves to 9-5 on the year and 3-1 in Big Ten play.
"I think tonight was just their night," O'Donnell said. "They played really hard, they had a great defense and they got a lot of lose 50-50 balls. They are just a great team and we just didn't come out on the winning end tonight. Hopefully we will get to see them again."