UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 19 Penn State Women's Lacrosse team is set for a Top 20 matchup with No. 5 Loyola (MD) on Saturday in Holuba Hall. First draw is set for 1 p.m. Admission is free to the public.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Missy Doherty, are 4-0 after an impressive 19-9 win over Cornell last Sunday. Penn State started the game on a 5-0 run and cruised to another big victory. Taylor Suplee made 20 saves in the win to earn Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. Maria Auth led the offense with four goals and two assists. Lauren Craft, Yasmain Hamood and Quinn Nicolai each scored three times.
Loyola, coached by Jen Adams, is 3-0 after a 17-6 win over No. 4 Florida last Saturday. Loyola also has wins this season over No. 25 Johns Hopkins and Towson.
Follow along with the action on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateWomensLacrosse) and Twitter/Instagram (@PennStateWLAX).
SCOUTING THE GREYHOUNDS
Loyola is coached by Jen Adams in her 12th year leading the program. The Greyhounds are 3-0 this season and moved up to No. 5 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll this week. They are also No. 5 in the Inside Lacrosse Poll and Nike/US Lacrosse Poll.
Loyola earned a 17-6 win over No. 4 Florida last Saturday. They already owned wins over No. 24 Johns Hopkins (16-7) and Towson (14-10).
In the win over Florida, midfielder Sam Fiedler led the way with seven goals and an assist. Livy Rosenzweig contributed three goals and three assists, while Elli Kluegel had three goals and an assist. Kaitlyn Larsson made 11 saves.
Loyola ranks 17th in the nation in scoring offense, averaging 15.7 goals per game, and 12th in scoring defensive, allowing 8.0 goals per contest. Led by Larsson, Loyola is third in the country with a .589 save percentage. Rosenzweig paces the offense with 17 points, including seven goals. Fiedler and Jillian Wilson each have 10 goals. Wilson leads the team with 15 draw controls.
CORNELL RECAP
Penn State blitzed out to a 5-0 lead on its way to a 19-9 win over Cornell on Sunday. PSU reached the 19-goal mark in back-to-back games for the first time since March 23-26, 2014 vs. Michigan (20-7) and Drexel (21-8).
Taylor Suplee made a career-high 20 saves, including 16 in the first half. She became the first PSU goalie with 20 saves in a game since Cammie Jurkowsky against North Carolina on April 6, 2007.
On attack, nine different Nittany Lions scored at least one goal. Maria Auth led Penn State with four goals and two assists. Lauren Craft and Yasmain Hamood each tallied three goals and an assist. Quinn Nicolai also scored three times. Sophia Trandafils had two goals, while Katie Schluederberg dished two assists. Penn State had four runs of 3-0 or better and led 12-4 at halftime.
MOVING UP
Penn State is currently ranked in three national polls. The Nittany Lions moved up to No. 19 in the IWLCA Coaches Poll. Penn State made their debut in the Nike/US Lacrosse Poll at No. 16 and the Inside Lacrosse Poll at No. 20.
NATIONALLY TELEVISED NITS
The Nittany Lions will be shown on at least four national broadcasts this season. The first will be at Rutgers on Thursday, March 26 at 5 p.m. on Big Ten Network. Penn State's matchup against No. 14 Michigan on Thursday, April 2 will be broadcast on BTN at 7 p.m. The Nittany Lions will be featured a third time on Big Ten Network when they take on No. 3 Maryland on Thursday, April 16 at 7 p.m. Penn State will also be on a national broadcast on Thursday, April 9 when they take on Ohio State at 6 p.m. on ESPNU. The Big Ten semifinals on Friday, May 1 and Championship game on Sunday, May 3 will also be broadcast on Big Ten Network.
AUTH'S AWESOME START
Senior attacker Maria Auth is off to a strong start in 2020, with a team-high 24 points including 15 goals and nine assists. She has at least three goals and four points in each game this season and has at least six points in the last three games.
She ranks eighth in the country in points and leads the Big Ten with 6.0 points per game, good for seventh in the nation. She's also 14th in the country in goals and 19th in assists.
Auth now has 21 career games with three or more goals. She has 119 goals and 52 assists through 59 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 19th in the country, allowing only 8.25 goals per game. The blue and white ranks second in the country with a .645 save percentage.
Sophomore goalkeeper Taylor Suplee is a major part of the defensive success. She made a career-high 20 saves in the win over Cornell, including 16 in the first half. Her previous high was 18 against Maryland in the Big Ten Semifinals. It was PSU's first 20-save performance since 2007. She has the only 20-save performance in Division I this season.
For her efforts against Cornell, Suplee earned her second Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week award this season. She leads the Big Ten in save percentage (.654), goals-against average (8.04), saves per game (12.75) and groundballs per game (4.25). She is also second in the conference with 51 total saves. Suplee sits third in the country in save percentage, third in total saves and 13th in goals-against average.
Suplee has 12 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.
Penn State ranks 15th in the country averaging 16 goals per game. PSU's 64 goals through the first four games are its most since 2017 (70 goals).
Sophia Triandafils follows Auth's team lead with 10 goals. Quinn Nicolai has nine goals, while Kristin Roberto has six. Yasmain Hamood and Mary Muldoon each have five goals.
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.
Lauren Craft and Meghan Murray