May 5, 2018
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| SHOTS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #19 Penn State | 24 | 16 | 40 |
| #7 Northwestern | 17 | 19 | 36 |
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| SAVES | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #19 Penn State | 7 | 6 | 13 |
| #7 Northwestern | 8 | 1 | 9 |
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| GROUND BALLS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #19 Penn State | 10 | 9 | 19 |
| #7 Northwestern | 9 | 7 | 16 |
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| DRAWS | 1st | 2nd | Final |
| #19 Penn State | 12 | 7 | 19 |
| #7 Northwestern | 9 | 10 | 19 |
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Junior Madison Carter (Davidsonville, Md.) tied her career-high with six goals to help lead third-seeded Penn State past No. 2 Northwestern, 21-16, in Big Ten Tournament semifinal action this evening from the U-M Lacrosse Stadium.
Penn State improves to 10-8 on the year and advances to Sunday's Big Ten Championship against the top-seeded Maryland Terrapins at 12 p.m. Northwestern falls to 13-5 on the year with the setback.
Senior Katie O'Donnell (West Chester, Pa.) and sophomore Maria Auth (Street, Md.) added three goals each while Auth added a career-high five assists to give her a new career-high of eight points.
Penn State had six players with multi-goal games as senior's Maggie Gallagher (Bel Air, Md.) and Shelby Wells (Timonium, Md.) along with sophomore Kristin Roberto (Miller Place, N.Y.) each tallied two goals. Junior Kelly Daggett (Bainbridge, Pa.) added her first two assists of the season while freshman Rachel Rosen (Port Washington, N.Y.) collected one goal and a pair of assists on the evening.
After the Wildcats scored just 13 seconds into the contest the Nittany Lions rattled off the next three to grab the 3-1 advantage just 3:38 into the contest. Junior Kayla Brisolari (Crofton, Md.) opened the scoring for Penn State at the 29:11 mark while O'Donnell and Auth added the other two goals during the mini spurt.
After the teams traded goals it was Northwestern scoring twice in the span of just 27 seconds to pull everything even, 4-4, at the 23:59 mark. The teams again traded goals for a 5-5 score before the Nittany Lions erupted for five scores in-a-row to grab the commanding 10-5 advantage at the 7:22 mark. Carter scored twice during the stretch while Auth, O'Donnell and Wells added the other tallies.
Nicole Beardsley snapped the streak with Northwestern's first goal in over 14 minutes at the 5:53 mark before Carter scored twice in just over a minute and Gallagher added a score at the 4:04 mark for the 13-6 advantage.
Northwestern closed out the half scoring the final two goals as Penn State took the 13-8 advantage into the locker room.
The Nittany Lions opened the scoring in the second half getting those two goals back as Roberto and Wells scored at 27:45 and 24:48, respectively, for the 15-8 PSU lead.
Northwestern came back and scored three-straight goals in just 1:17 to cut into the deficit, but Penn State responded with a 3-0 run of its own to grab the 18:11 lead at the 13:45 mark. Rosen, Gallagher and Carter scored the goals for the Nittany Lions.
After the teams traded goals, Northwestern would outscore Penn State 4-2 down the stretch, but the Nittany Lions hung on to secure the 21-16 victory.
Freshman Lucy Lowe (Cockeysville, Md.) improves to 8-8 on the year while tying her career-high with 13 saves and collecting a game-high four groundballs.
NOTES
- The Nittany Lions improve to 3-2 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament and 2-2 against Northwestern in the Big Ten semifinals avenging losses the past two seasons.
- Penn State snapped a four game losing streak to avoid losing five-straight for the first time since 1969 when the Nittany Lions finished just 1-5 on the year.
- Penn State is now 9-22 all-time against Northwestern.
- The Nittany Lions held the edge in shots 40-36 including the slim 30-29 margin on target while also holding the 19-16 advantage in groundballs while each team collected 19 draw controls.
- The 13 first half goals were one shy of the most Penn State has scored in a single half this season (Drexel 3/14/18 - 1st half).
- Carter has registered at least five goals for the fifth time this season and now has back-to-back 50-plus goal seasons.
- Roberto tied her career-high with a pair of goals as she has now registered three-straight two-goal games
- The 21 goals allowed by Northwestern was a season-high while Penn State has now scored 20-plus goals three times this season marking the most 20-goal games in a single-season since 2014.
- O'Donnell's three goals give her 197 for her career as she is just three shy of becoming just the fourth Nittany Lion ever to reach the 200 goal milestone. O'Donnell has scored at least three goals in 12 games this season and her 55 goals lead the team.