UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's lacrosse team celebrated Senior Day with an 18-7 over Rutgers on Saturday at Panzer Stadium. The Nittany Lions jumped out to an 8-0 lead and cruised the rest of the way as they improved to 8-8 overall and 3-3 in the Big Ten. Rutgers fell to 5-11 overall and 0-6 in the conference.
With the win, Penn State secured the fourth and final spot in the Big Ten tournament, joining Maryland, Michigan and Northwestern. The Big Ten Championships will be played May 3-5 in Baltimore, hosted by Johns Hopkins, starting with the Big Ten Semifinals on Friday, May 3.
Before the game, the Nittany Lions honored six athletes as part of its Senior Day Ceremony. Kayla Brisolari, Kelly Daggett, Katie Garvery, Reilly Masterson, Delaney Muldoon and Alex Rich have led PSU to 49 wins over the last four seasons as well as three NCAA Tournament appearances and two NCAA Semifinals.
The Nittany Lions were paced by a career high-tying four goals by sophomore Sophia Triandafils. A pair of Senior Day hat-tricks came from Brisolari and Daggett with Daggett adding an assist. Junior Maria Auth tallied two goals and two assists, while Garvey had two goals and a dish and sophomore Quinn Nicolai scored twice. Freshman Taylor Suplee made eight saves in goal in the first 35 minutes of the game. Sophomore Lucy Lowe finished the contest, making one stop.
Rutgers was led by Jordan Drab and Amanda Romano, who each scored two goals. Marin Hartshorn contributed a goal and two assists, while Julia Lytle and Dakota Pastore each found the net once. Kameron Halsall started the game in goal, making three saves, while Devon Kearns finished the game with eight stops.
The Nittany Lions started the game on an 8-0 run, opening the scoring with a senior-to-senior connection. Daggett found the net off a dish by Garvey with 24:05 left in the half. A minute later, Nicolai sent one to the back of the net off a pass from Auth.
Auth added her own goal, a free-position shot, at the 20:10 mark. Garvey's first goal of the year came on a free-position look just 32 seconds later. A minute later, Brisolari scored on a free-position attempt to give PSU a 5-0 advantage. After a yellow card on Rutgers, Daggett scored on PSU's fourth free-position shot of the half.
With 15:47 remaining in the half, Triandafils found the net off a feed by Muldoon before Nicolai scored on a dime by Auth to give PSU an 8-0 lead with 15:21 to go.
Following a goal by Rutgers' Lytle, PSU's Muldoon answered with 12:57 remaining in the half. Junior Kristin Roberto followed with a man-up, free-position goal. PSU led 10-0 with 12:22 remaining.
Rutgers responded with a goal by Pastore at the 10:02 mark. However, the Nittany Lions scored the final three goals of the half. Triandafils scored back-to-back goals, the first assisted by Shannon Moore, before Garvey's second of the game came on a free-position look to give the Nittany Lions a 13-2 advantage at the break.
Brisolari opened the second half with two straight goals, the second coming on a free-position attempt with 23:32 to go.
Rutgers responded with a 4-0 run, including two tallies by Romano and one each by Drab, on a man-up opportunity, and Hartshorn. Penn State led 15-6 with 14:39 remaining.
Auth answered with a behind-the back snipe to the net, at the 8:17 mark, off an assist by Roberto, and Triandafils' fourth of the day came after a feed by Daggett. The Nittany Lions held a 17-6 advantage with 5:40 to go.
After a goal by RU's Drab, with 2:44 remaining, Daggett closed out the scoring with a tally at the 1:17 mark.
Nittany Lion Seniors