April 18, 2018
| GAMEDAY PREVIEW | |
| | |
| 9-5 (3-1 B1G) | 14-1 (4-0 B1G) |
| Thursday - 7:00 p.m. ET | |
| FH & LACROSSE COMPLEX | COLLEGE PARK, Md. | |
| GAME DAY CENTRAL |
LIVE COVERAGE TV: Big Ten Network |
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| INSIDE THE NUMBERS | ||
| PSU | MD | |
| 9-5 | Overall Record | 14-1 |
| 3-1 | Conference Record | 4-0 |
| 224 | Goals Scored | 241 |
| 170 | Goals Allowed | 137 |
| 16.00 | Goals Scored/gm. | 16.05 |
| 12.11 | Goals Allowed/gm. | 9.13 |
| 488 | Shots | 539 |
| 34.9 | Shots/gm. | 35.9 |
| 77 | Assists | 79 |
| 72-141 | Free Position Shots | 75-140 |
| 130 | Saves | 123 |
| 15.50 | Ground Balls/gm. | 14.93 |
| 15.14 | Draw Controls/gm. | 16.66 |
| 12.42 | Turnovers/gm. | 13.06 |
| 9.64 | Caused Turnovers/gm. | 6.2 |
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The 17th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions look to keep things tight atop the Big Ten standings as they travel to No. 3 Maryland for a primetime contest on Thursday night.
HOW TO WATCH
The game will air live on the Big Ten Network at 7 p.m. marking the fourth-straight season this game has aired live on BTN.
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
- This marks the 55th meeting between the two teams dating back to 1973 with Maryland holding the decisive 39-14-1 all-time series lead.
- The teams have met at least once each year since the series began and since 1992 the Terrapins have won 29 of the last 30 meetings with Penn State's lone victory coming on March 25, 2005.
- The Terrapins defeated the Nittany Lions 20-10 in last season's NCAA National Semifinals ending Penn State's season at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts.
- Senior Katie O'Donnell registered nine goals against the Terrapins in two games last season scoring five and four, respectively, and she has 11 goals and one assist for 12 points in four career games against Maryland. Junior Madison Carter has added eight goals in three games against the Terrapins.
SCOUTING THE TERRAPINS
- Maryland has won 12 in-a-row after a 16-15 overtime setback to North Carolina in February. The Terrapins are 14-1 on the year and a perfect 4-0 in the Big Ten coming off a 20-5 victory over Ohio State on Sunday.
- The Terps are led by Megan Whittle who leads the Big Ten with 56 goals to rank sixth in the nation.
- Maryland has seven other players with double-digit goals as Caroline Steele and Jen Giles have added 41 and 36, respectively with Kali Hartshorn adding 26, Taylor Hensh with 23, Grace Griffin with 20, Brindi Griffin with 15 and Meghan Siverson with 12.
- Between the pipes Megan Taylor has started 14 of 15 games this season posting a 12-1 record with a 9.10 goals against average and a .479 save percentage. Her goals against average leads the Big Ten and ranks 12th nationally while her save percentage is good for third and 27th, respectively.
- Maryland leads the Big Ten and ranks 12th in the nation allowing just 9.13 goals per contest. The Terps have held their opponents under 10 goals in seven games this season.
DOMINATE THE STATE
- Senior Katie O'Donnell has scored at least one goal in 37 straight contests dating back to her sophomore season including a stretch of six-straight games with at least three goals.
- O'Donnell has registered multiple goals in 20 of her last 21 games dating back to last season and currently leads the team with 45 goals to rank second in the Big Ten and tied for 27th nationally.
- O'Donnell has moved all the way up to eighth on the Penn State all-time scoring list with 210 points in 77 games and is just one point shy of Steph Lazo `17 in seventh.
- O'Donnell's 187 career goals are also good for sixth among active players across the nation and she is just 13 goals shy of becoming only the fourth player in program history to reach 200 career goals. The senior is also just 20 goals shy of her career-high of 65 set last season.
EVERY ROSE'N' HAS ITS THORN
- Freshman Rachel Rosen has worked her way into the starting lineup in the last month and is currently riding a six-game point streak including multi-point games in her last three contests.
- Rosen registered a career-high five points in her first career start against Ohio State three weeks ago and just this past Saturday collected a career-high four assists against Northwestern. The freshman has four goals and 12 assists for 16 points on the year.
FRESH FACES
- Along with Rosen, freshman Quinn Nicolai is currently riding an eight-game goal-streak and has registered at least one point in 13 of her 14 games played this season with goals in 12 contests.
- Nicolai leads the team in freshman scoring with 19 goals and 24 points while Sophia Triandafils has added 18 goals and 23 points.
- Triandafils has scored a goal in 10 of her 14 games played this season.
- Freshman Lucy Lowe has also started the last nine games in cage posting a 7-5 record so far in her first season in Happy Valley with a 12.12 goals against average and a .439 save percentage.
- Lowe registered a career-high 13 saves and six groundballs against the Wildcats last Saturday. It was her fourth game this season with double-digit saves.
17 AGAIN
- Junior Madison Carter and sophomore Maria Auth are each riding 17-game goal-streaks. Auth has scored multiple goals in eight-straight games and in all, but one game during her 17-game streak.
- Carter also currently ranks second in the entire nation among active juniors with 162 career goals, which is good for 14 among all active players in Division I.
- Carter and Auth rank third and fourth in the Big Ten with 44 and 43 goals, respectively, which is also good for tied 32nd and tied 39th in the nation.
B1G OFFENSE
- Penn State saw its season average for goals drop to 16.00 after only scoring 13 in a 17-13 loss to Northwestern on Saturday. With the slight decrease, Maryland jumped past the Nittany Lions once again and lead the Big Ten averaging 16.07 goals per contest.
- Maryland and Penn State rank ninth and tenth in the nation, respectively, in scoring offense.
- The Terrapins also rank fifth in the nation with 241 goals this season while Penn State's 224 place them 12th.
SHOOT TO SCORE
- Penn State is second in the Big Ten averaging 34.9 shots per game, but the Nittany Lions lead the conference with a .459 shot percentage, which is good for 17th in the nation.
- PSU ranks second behind Maryland in the Big Ten with a .511 free-position percentage, but its 141 free-position attempts leads the entire nation. The Lions have converted 72 of their 8-meter shots this season, good for second in the nation behind Maryland's 75.
- The Nittany Lions also lead the Big Ten with 15 man-up goals this season.
BALL CONTROL
- Penn State leads the Big Ten causing 9.6 turnovers per game while also pacing the conference with just 12.4 turnovers per game themselves.
- The Nittany Lions are also currently third in the conference averaging 15.14 draws per game while Carter ranks second in the Big Ten with 6.6 per game of her own.
NEXT UP
- Penn State travels to No. 1 Stony Brook for a 4 p.m. contest next Tuesday.
- This marks the first time since the 2005 season that the Nittany Lions have faced a top-3 team in back-to-back weeks. That season Penn State defeated both Virginia and Princeton who were each ranked No. 1 at the time, but suffered a loss in between to William & Mary.
- That 2005 season also marked the last time the Nittany Lions defeated Maryland accomplishing that feat just one week after defeating Princeton.