UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women’s lacrosse could not contain the Cornell offense in the first quarter, ultimately leading to a 14-8 defeat for the Nittany Lions at Panzer Field on Saturday afternoon.
Penn State drops to 2-4 on the season with the loss, while Cornell improved to 4-1.
Sophomore Kelly MacKinney was the Nittany Lions top point scorer with a goal and four assists for five points. Junior Erika Ho followed with three goals for her second-straight hat trick. Senior Brooke Hoss wrapped up the Penn State multi-point scorers with two goals. Maggie Golder scooped a career-high five ground balls and senior Ellie Hollin caused two turnovers to move her career tally to seven.
Cornell was led by attacker Caitlin Slaminko, who posted five goals to lead all scorers on Saturday afternoon. The Big Red had four others tally multi-point days. Dillyn Patten led both teams at the draw circle with seven wins. 10 different Big Red tallied at least one caused turnover in the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Quarter 1 – Penn State 2, Cornell 9
It took less than two minutes for Cornell to get on the boards, but Erika Ho had a quick answer 38 seconds later to tie the game at one in the afternoon’s only tie score.
The Big Red offense exploded, going on a dominant 8-1 run beginning with 10:44 remaining in the first quarter and running through the end of the period.
Quarter 2 – Penn State 5, Cornell 11
The second quarter continued with more of the same, as Cornell put away back-to-back goals in the first 4:08 of play.
Penn State staved off the running clock with a three-goal run including a highlight reel behind the back goal from Kelly MacKinney to bring up a six-goal PSU deficit at halftime.
Quarter 3 – Penn State 7, Cornell 14
Cornell put away the first tally of the second half with 12:14 remaining, but Emma Kelly and Ho each found the back of the net to bring up a 12-7 Big Red advantage. Cornell remained unfazed, scoring twice more in the final two minutes of the quarter to extend its lead out to seven.
Quarter 4 – Penn State 8, Cornell 14
The Nittany Lions tallied the lone goal of the fourth quarter on a score by Brooke Hoss on a feed from MacKinney after over 12 minutes of scoreless action from both teams.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
- Sophomore goalkeeper Sydney Manning made eight stops and posted her second highest save percentage this season (.533).
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions are back on the road next weekend for a mid-week matchup at Princeton. First draw between the Tigers and PSU is set for 5:30 at Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium.