UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 12 Penn State Women's Lacrosse team celebrated the opening of Panzer Stadium in style on Saturday, earning a 15-5 win over Lehigh. The Nittany Lions scored the first seven goals of the second half to pull away for the victory. Penn State improved to 2-0 on the season, while Lehigh dropped to 0-2.
Freshman Lauren Craft led the Nittany Lions with four points, including two goals and two assists. Junior Quinn Nicolai and sophomore Sophia Triandafils each contributed three points, each with two goals and an assist. Seniors Kelly Daggett and Delaney Muldoon each tallied two goals, while senior Kayla Brisolari and freshman Sydney Wolfington each had a goal and an assist. Brisolari won six draws and senior Madison Carter added five. Goalie Taylor Suplee made six saves.
Hannah Cermack led the Mountain Hawks with two goals and an assist. Sondra Dickey added two goals and Mary Ellen Carron scored one. Goalie Samantha Sagi made 20 stops.
Penn State held a 6-3 advantage at halftime, led by two goals by Daggett. Nicolai, junior Kristin Roberto, Triandafils and Sydney Wolfington each scored once. Craft paced PSU with two assists. Suplee stopped all three shots she faced.
Roberto opened the scoring, finding the net off an assist by Carter with 26:50 left in the 1st half. Brisolari gained the ensuing draw before Daggett scored off a feed from Craft. On the following draw, Brisolari won possession again. Once again, Daggett found the net, this time off a pass from Nicolai, giving the Nittany Lions a 3-0 advantage with 26:11 to go in the half.
Wolfington's first career goal, off an assist by Brisolari, came with 20:52 left in the half. After a draw control by Brisolari, PSU's Nicolai sent one to the back of the net off a feed from Wolfington just 18 seconds later.
After a goal by Lehigh's Carron cut the lead to 5-1, the Nittany Lions responded with a man-up tally by Triandafils, off an assist by Craft with 6:13 left in the half.
The Mountain Hawks scored the final two goals of the half. Dickey found the net with 5:50 on the clock and Cermack scored with 4:43 to go in the period.
Penn State opened the second half on a 7-0 run. Brisolari scored with 28:39 remaining in the game, extending the PSU lead to 7-3. A minute later, Triandafils tallied her second goal.
The Nittany Lions extended their lead to 9-3 on a free-position goal by Muldoon, her first of the year. The Nittany Lions' 10th goal came on a spin-and-score by Craft with 12:48 left and she added a goal three minutes later off a feed by senior Reilly Masterson. A minute later, Muldoon found the net again, off an assist by Triandafils, to give PSU a 12-3 advantage with 11:48 remaining.
The blue and white held a 10-goal lead after Nicolai's second score of the day with 7:03 left in the game. Lehigh answered with the next two goals. Dickey scored with 5:02 remaining before Cermack's goal with 3:57 left.
Penn State closed out the scoring on a free-position attempt by freshman Marina Miller, her first career goal, with 1:03 remaining, and a free-position goal by junior Yasmain Hamood, her first career score.
The Nittany Lions travel to Duquesne on Wednesday for its first road contest of the season. The game is set to begin at 3 p.m. at Rooney Field.
Freshman Lauren Craft had two goals and two assists