Saturday marks another new beginning for the Penn State women's lacrosse team as the Nittany Lions host Towson at 2 p.m. With fall and winter workouts in the rearview mirror, the team is now turning its attention to the season ahead.
The Nittany Lions enter this season poised for their eighth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, and look to regain their form after a 15-14 defeat to Penn in last year's tournament. Penn State made the Final Four in each of the two seasons prior to 2018.
Head coach Missy Doherty pointed to the veteran leadership on the team as a reason to turn the corner and get back to the elite level of college lacrosse.
"It's a different vibe this year," Doherty said. "We have a lot of returners especially on the defensive side of things. Going into the season last year, we had lost a lot from the previous year. This year, we have a lot more players ready to go with experience, as well as some younger players contributing. It's just been a really good vibe all year."
Having scrimmaged in the fall and leading up to this week, the Nittany Lions are certainly ready for some competition not wearing Blue and White.
"It's been about a month of playing each other, so I think we're coming in really confident and we're playing great," senior captain Kayla Brisolari said. "We're just ready to go out and play someone else to show everything that we've been working on this year."
Brisolari and Madison Carter both look to build off solid junior campaigns last season, as both were selected to the All-Big Ten team. For Brisolari, now in her second year as captain, this year provides a chance to really hone her leadership and be a role model for her younger teammates.
"I think this season as a captain has been really good. All the girls have made my job easy, and I think everyone's ready to compete," Brisolari said. "Everyone came here in really great shape, and a lot of people are playing confident. On the field side of it, I think the team has motivated ourselves enough. Off the field, we're just making sure to build relationships, staying focused on what's important and not letting things around us distract from our goal. From a playing side, they've taken care of it, so I'm just really excited to go out there and play."
Doherty lauded the experience on this year's squad, saying that handling both success and failure throughout the careers of this senior class can really help them keep the team consistent throughout the year.
"Thankfully for our senior class, Kayla and Madison Carter are returning All-Americans," Doherty said. "Kelly Daggett is another senior captain. We have a lot of people who have experienced both years, whether it was a Final Four year or a growing year. They've both given us a lot of lessons that people are coming back with. I think we have a really healthy balance this year. It's what a coach always wants."
The Nittany Lions face a familiar foe this weekend in Towson. The Tigers took down Penn State last year in Maryland by a score of 14-13 and Penn State knows its hands are full, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
"They have a really strong defense, they do a great job holding teams to low amounts of goals," Doherty said. "They're physical, aggressive and they work really hard. We just want to make sure that, beyond them, we're really seeing ourselves well and making sure that we're executing our chances on offense."
This weekend's game has been moved to Holuba Hall because of inclement weather, meaning the team will have to wait another week to play their first game in the renovated Panzer Stadium. The team expects to take the field at Panzer for the first time next Saturday against Lehigh.
