UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's lacrosse team earned a 13-9 win over Lehigh in its home opener on Saturday in Panzer Stadium. The Nittany Lions scored seven unanswered goals in the first half and used a couple key goals to stop a Lehigh run in the second half. Penn State improved to 2-0 overall.
Senior Maria Auth led the Nittany Lion attack with seven points, including three goals and four assists. Junior Sophia Triandafils collected a hat-trick with three goals. Sophomore Mary Muldoon found the net twice, while senior Katie Schluederberg recorded a goal and two assists. Sophomore Lauren Craft, senior Shannon Moore, junior Quinn Nicolai and senior Kristin Roberto each had one goal. Freshman Olivia Dirks won six draws, while fellow rookie Meghan Murray won five. Sophomore Taylor Suplee made 12 saves, her 11th career double-digit save performance.
Senior Sondra Dickey paced the Mountain Hawks with seven points, including five goals and two assists. Katia Carnevale and Hannah Cermack each had two goals with Cermack adding an assist. Gabby Schneider contributed three assists. Samantha Sagi made eight saves before being replaced in the second half by Kerry McHugh, who made two stops.
Cermack gave Lehigh an early 1-0 lead, at the 27:47 mark, but Penn State responded with a 7-0 run, sparked by four straight free-position goals. Triandafils led off the scoring at the 22:21 mark. Auth scored twice on free-position looks, with the second coming with 19:56 remaining in the half. Moore found the net on a free-position attempt just 22 seconds later. Triandafils added another tally, off an assist from Schluederberg, and Craft scored off a feed from Auth. Penn State extended its lead to 7-1 on a goal by Schluederberg with 15:57 left in the half.
Lehigh answered with a pair of goals, one each by Dickey and Cermack, before Roberto scored off a feed from Auth to give Penn State an 8-3 lead going into the break.
The second half opened with a 3-0 run by the Nittany Lions. Muldoon scored on a free position shot followed by a Nicolai tally off a dish from Auth. Muldoon scored again, this time off a pass from Schluederberg to put the blue and white ahead, 11-3, with 25:08 remaining.
However, Lehigh responded with a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to 12-9. Dickey found the net four times during that stretch, while Carnevale scored the other two goals. Penn State got an insurance goal from Triandafils, off a feed from Auth, to extend the lead back to 13-9.
The Nittany Lions are set to host two games at Panzer Stadium next week. Penn State takes on Duquesne on Wednesday, February 19 at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions meet Cornell on Sunday, February 23 at 1 p.m.
Senior Maria Auth led PSU with seven points