EVANSTON, Ill.- No. 18 Penn State women's lacrosse suffers its first Big Ten loss of the season in a 19-9 road battle at No. 2 Northwestern. The Nittany Lions fall to 9-3, 2-1 Big Ten and the Wildcats improve to 11-1, 3-0 Big Ten.
Gretchen Gilmore produced three goals on the night for the offense. Haley Urgo and Ellie Hollin led the defenses with three caused turnovers apiece. Urgo also picked up three ground balls and Hollin had two.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
After a scoreless five minutes, Penn State got on the board first with a goal from Brooke Hoss assisted by Meghan Murray. The Wildcats went on a 7-0 run for the remainder of the quarter.
Second Quarter
The Wildcats continued their draw control success to grab the first one of the second quarter to convert another goal.
The Nittany Lions went on a 4-0 run sparked by Hoss with her second of the day. Two back-to-back goals from Gretchen Gilmore cut the score in half to 8-4 with 10:47 remaining in the half. Gilmore's second goal came a man-down and with only 10 seconds on the shot clock.
A major defensive effort from Brooke Barger to cause a turnover on a Northwestern clear attempt gave the ball back to the Penn State offense. Kayla Abernathy found the back of the net off a pass from Kristin O'Neill.
The Wildcats ended the Nittany Lions scoring stretch with a goal with just over five minutes to play in the half to make the score 9-5.
Meghan Murray scored on a free position with just over a minute to go to narrow the margin to three goals. Despite Northwestern winning the following draw, Haley Urgo's caused turnover gave the Nittany Lions the ball and O'Neill found her first goal of the game with 5 seconds remaining in the half to make the score 9-7.
Third Quarter
The Wildcats came out of the break with four-straight goals to move the score to 13-7 with just over seven minutes to play in the period. Gilmore broke up the stretch with a free position goal but Northwestern added two to its total to make the third quarter score 15-8.
Fourth Quarter
Alaina Hamood interrupted Northwestern's four goal opening drive to make the final score 19-9.
OF NOTE
- O'Neill continued her scoring streak, bumping it to 16 consecutive games.
- Gilmore had her fourth hat trick in five games.
- Penn State caused 13 Northwestern turnovers.
- The Nittany Lions outscored the Wildcats 6-2 in the second quarter.
- Ashley Bowan scooped up a career high five ground balls.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions return to Happy Valley on Sunday, April 2 to host Cornell. The game is set to begin at 3 p.m. following the men's lacrosse noon game.