UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 25 Penn State Women's Lacrosse team is set for a 1 p.m. matchup against Cornell on Sunday at Panzer Stadium. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Missy Doherty, are 3-0 after a dominating 20-6 win over Duquesne on Wednesday. PSU started the game on a 6-0 run through the first 3:18 and cruised to victory. Maria Auth led the squad with five goals and two assists. Eleven different Nittany Lions scored at least one goal. Penn State was ranked 25th in Monday's IWLCA Coaches Poll.
Cornell, coached by Jenny Graap, is 2-0 with wins over Villanova (13-11) and Marist (18-13).
Follow along with the action on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateWomensLacrosse) and Twitter/Instagram (@PennStateWLAX).
TICKETS
Advance tickets are available for Sunday's game against Cornell. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for youth. All tickets are general admission. Tickets are available here. They will also be available on game day at the stadium.
PARKING
Due to a high volume of traffic with multiple Penn State athletics events and THON, fans are encouraged to park in the Jordan East Lot, in front of the Multi-Sport Facility. For more info, visit here.
SCOUTING THE BIG RED
Cornell, coached by Head Coach Jenny Graap in her 23rd season leading the program. The Big Red is 2-0 this season, defeating Villanova, 13-11, and Marist, 18-13.
In the win over Marist, Caroline Allen scored seven goals. Katie Castiello and Grace Paletta each collected four goals and an assist. Bridget Babcock added a goal and two assists. Hilary Hoover won eight draw controls, while Katie McGahan made eight saves in the win.
Allen leads the Big Red with 11 points, including a team-high 10 goals. Paletta owns seven points, including six goals, while Castiello and Babcock each have six points. Castiello has five goals and an assist, while Babcock has three goals and three assists. Hoover paces Cornell with 11 draw controls. McGahan has 19 saves and a .442 save percentage through two games.
Penn State earned a 14-12 win last season in Ithaca.
DUQUESNE RECAP
Penn State cruised to a 20-6 win on Wednesday after a fast 6-0 start in the first 3:18 of the game. The blue and white reached the 20-goal mark for the first time since April 4, 2019 against Ohio State, a 21-5 win. The Nittany Lions led 16-3 at halftime and closed the period on a 7-0 run.
Eleven different Penn State players scored at least one goal. Maria Auth led the squad with five goals and two assists, her 10th career game with at least five points.
Quinn Nicolai and Sophia Triandafils each tallied five points. Nicolai had four goals and an assist, while Triandafils had a goal and four dimes. Yasmain Hamood contributed two goals and an assist. Mary Muldoon added two goals.
Olivia Dirks, Kelsey Kimmel and Kara Nealon each scored their first career goal. Meghan Murray, Kristin Roberto and Rachel Rosen each found the net once.
Penn State played three different goalkeepers. Taylor Suplee had seven saves in the first half. Lucy Lowe started the second half, making three saves, before Madison Cunningham closed out the game with six stops.
AUTH'S AWESOME START
Senior attacker Maria Auth is off to a strong start in 2020, with a team-high 18 points including 11 goals and seven assists. She ranks 14th in the country in points and leads the Big Ten with 6.0 points per game, good for 15th in the nation. She's also 19th in the country in goals and 18th in assists.
Auth has at least three goals and four points in each game this season. She started the year with three goals and an assist at Towson, followed with three goals and four assists against Lehigh before tallying five goals and two assists against Duquesne. Auth now has 20 career games with three or more goals.
She has 115 goals and 53 assists through 153 career games. She reached the 150-point mark in the win over Towson.
SUPLEE LEADING STRONG DEFENSE
Penn State leads the Big Ten, and ranks 15th in the country, allowing only 8.0 goals per game. The blue and white ranks fourth in the country with a .625 save percentage.
Sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Suplee is a major part of the defensive success. She leads the Big Ten in save percentage (.596), goals-against average (8.40) and groundballs per game (3.67). She's also second in the conference with 10.33 saves per game and third with 31 total saves. Suplee sits ninth in the country in save percentage, 15th in total saves and 16th in goals-against average.
In each of the first two games, Suplee made 12 saves. Against Duquesne, she collected seven in the first half. Her 12-save performance against Towson earned her first career Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award. Suplee has 11 career double-digit save efforts.
BALANCED OFFENSIVE ATTACK
The Nittany Lions have benefitted from a balanced scoring attack, including 14 different players with at least one goal this season.
Sophia Triandafils follows Auth's team lead with eight goals. Quinn Nicolai has six goals, while Kristin Roberto has five. Mary Muldoon has two goals this season. Yasmain Hamood and Meghan Murray also
have two each. Auth leads the team with seven assists, followed by Triandafils' 4.
CARTER EARNS EARLY SEASON HONORS
Senior attacker Madison Carter was selected to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List on Wednesday. She was named a third-team Preseason All-American by Inside Lacrosse in January. Carter returns for her fifth year after suffering an injury early last season. She graduated in May with a degree in Rehabilitation and Human Services and is pursuing a master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She is a two-time IWLCA All-American and a three-time All-Big Ten selection.
Through the first six games of the 2019 season, Carter tallied 17 goals, four assists, five groundballs, 24 draw controls and two caused turnovers. She had three multi-point games, including a career high-tying six goals against Cornell. She also had five goals and six draw controls at Princeton.
Carter enters the 2020 season sitting fifth all-time at Penn State with 197 goals. She is also seventh in program history with 218 career points. In 2019, Carter became the 15th Nittany Lion to reach the 200-point mark.
PENN STATE SELECTS TEAM CAPTAINS
The Nittany Lions selected four players as team captains for the 2020 season. Senior attacker Madison Carter, senior defender Hayley DeAgostine, junior attacker/midfielder Quinn Nicolai and junior midfielder Sophia Triandafils were tabbed to lead the squad.
DeAgostine, a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, started all 17 games in 2019. She totaled 16 groundballs, two draw controls and nine caused turnovers. Nicolai made 15 starts on attack last season, leading the team with 34 goals. She ranked second on the team with 42 points. She placed seventh in the Big Ten with 4.0 shots on goal per game. Triandafils started 14 games at midfield, recording a team-high 17 assists to go with 24 goals and 16 draw controls.
The captains will lead the 24 returners and 11 newcomers that make up the 2020 squad.
NEW FACES ON COACHING STAFF
The Nittany Lions welcomed assistant coaches Corrine Drost and Michael Molster to the staff.
Drost served as the offensive coordinator at William & Mary in 2019. Molster spent seven seasons at Towson, coaching the defense and goalies. He is also a defensive assistant for the England Senior National Team.
SECOND YEAR IN PANZER
The Nittany Lions will open up their second season in Panzer Stadium on Saturday. Penn State earned five home wins in 2019, including four in Panzer Stadium.
The state-of-the-art venue was dedicated on September 23, 2018. The stadium project was made possible through the efforts of Ken Panzer, a 1982 graduate and former co-captain of the men's lacrosse team, and his long-time business partner at Douglas Emmett, Jordan Kaplan. In May 2017, the duo committed a $3.55 million gift to transform the Penn State Lacrosse Field into one of the premier lacrosse stadiums in the country. Additional gifts by Penn State lacrosse alumni and donors totaled $2 million, bringing the total donations to $5.6 million.
Senior Shannon Moore