BALTIMORE, MD. – The No. 14 Penn State women's lacrosse team fought back in the second half but could not catch up to Johns Hopkins, falling 13-10 at Homewood Field. A stretch of five unanswered goals spanning the halftime break gave the Blue Jays enough separation. The Nittany Lions dropped to 3-6, while Johns Hopkins improved to 3-4.
Senior Maria Auth led the Nittany Lions with four points, including three second-half goals and an assist. On the day, Auth moved into a tie for ninth all-time at Penn State with 211 career points, matching Steph Lazo (2014-17). Auth moved past Colleen O'Hara (208; 2000-03).
The Maryland native also moved into a tie for 10th on the all-time goals list with 148 career goals. She tied Diane Whipple (1987-90). Auth also now has 63 assists, tied for 13th at Penn State with Laurie Gray (1981-84).
Sophomore Olivia Dirks tallied two goals and four draw controls. Gretchen Gilmore, Mary Muldoon, Quinn Nicolai, Kristin O'Neill and Sophia Triandafils each recorded one goal. Kayla Abernathy and Kara Nealon contributed one assist each. Taylor Suplee made seven saves.
Johns Hopkins was led by Aurora Cordingley, who collected six goals. Maggie Schneidereith registered two goals and an assist, while Shelby Harrison had a goal and an assist. Kathleen Garvey made 10 saves to earn the win.
Penn State got on the board first as Dirks drove into the middle of the defense and fired into the net with 28:23 to go in the half. The Blue Jays tied the game three minutes later on a score by Cordingley.
The Nittany Lions answered with a free-position goal by Gilmore, who fired a low-angle shot into the net at the 25:10 mark. Johns Hopkins tied the game again on a free-position look by Schneidereith and took the lead, 3-2, on a score by Cordingley with 18:03 to go in the half.
Penn State tied the game again on a free-position goal by Nicolai with 15:03 to go in the half. After a free-position score by JHU's Maeve Barker, the Nittany Lions evened the score on a snipe by O'Neill, off a dish from Kayla Abernathy. The game was tied 4-4 with 6:49 remaining in the half.
Johns Hopkins closed out the half on a 3-0 run. Shelby Harrison found the net on a free-position look at the 5:51 mark. A little over a minute later, Schneidereith scored from the right of the net. Cordingley sniped her third goal of the day with 2:32 remaining to give the Blue Jays a 7-4 advantage going into the break.
The Blue Jays kept their momentum going into the early second half. Back-to-back free-position tallies by Cordingley extended their lead to 9-4 with 25:23 left in the game.
Triandafils stopped the run by working her way into the middle from behind the net and finishing on the shot. However, Cordingley answered with a man-up goal to give JHU a 10-5 lead with 21:03 to go in the contest.
Muldoon responded with a man-up goal for the Nittany Lions, off an assist by Nealon. It was answered by a score by the Blue Jays' Eliza Bowman to extend the lead to 11-6 at the 19:51 mark.
Dirks found the net for the second time, this time off an assist by Auth, to cut the deficit to 11-7 with 10:29 remaining. However, Johns Hopkins extended the lead back to five on a tally by Abbey Hurlbrink just 30 seconds later. The Blue Jays added a goal by Mackenzie Heldberg to push their lead to 13-7 with 8:27 remaining.
The Nittany Lions fought back with three straight goals, all by Auth. On the first goal, Auth was knocked to the ground, but got back up, gathered and fired. Under two minutes later, Auth fired into the net again. A third goal by Auth came as it tipped off the goalie stick and bounced in. The Nittany Lions nearly had a fourth goal in the stretch as O'Neill found the net on a free-position attempt but it was waived off and her second attempt went wide.
Penn State returns to Panzer Stadium on Sunday to take on No. 9 Maryland. First draw is scheduled for 1 p.m. with a live stream on Big Ten Network+. The Nittany Lions will celebrate their Senior Day.
Follow along with the team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateWomensLacrosse) and Twitter/Instagram (@pennstatewlax).
Maria Auth