UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A 10-2 second half powered Penn State to its second top 25 win of the season, downing No. 22 Southern California, 16-8 on Sunday afternoon at Panzer Stadium. The senior day win moves Penn State to 7-7 (5-2 Big Ten), while USC falls to 9-6 (2-5 Big Ten).
Sophomore Kelly MacKinney led both teams with five points on a goal and four assists. Junior Erika Ho led all scorers with four goals in the contest. Ho matched her career-high draw controls for a third time this season, winning 14 pulls for the Nittany Lions in addition to scooping three ground balls. Even though it was senior day, the freshmen had some of the biggest impacts on the final score. First-year Brooke Long secured her first-career hat trick, while rookie Ellie Wisch put up three points on a pair of scores and an assist. Junior Maddie Greco tallied her first career points with a goal and assist, both of which were crucial in the Blue and Whites momentum swing in the first half. Senior Lauren Saltz and junior Emma Kelly rounded out the multi-point scorers on Sunday afternoon. Saltz put up a goal and an assist in addition to three draw controls, two ground balls, and a caused turnover. Kelly buried two shots, won two draws, and vacuumed up two ground balls.
Defensively, goalkeepers Ashley Bowan and Sydney Manning split time, combining for a .556 save percentage, making 10 saves collectively. Manning as an individual made saves at a 75 percent clip.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Quarter 1 – Penn State 3, Southern California 3
USC picked off an errant PSU pass after the Nittany Lions won the opening draw, and capitalized quick on their first possession, giving the Trojans a 1-0 advantage less than 1:30 into the game.
MacKinney, Penn State’s top assisted, did it herself to open PSU’s scoring burying a fake high, shoot low on the doorstep. Erika Ho got her first of the day less than two minutes later at 10:44 to move the Nittany Lions in front.
USC had an answer with 8:41 to go in the quarter, and retook the lead at 3-2 just over 30 seconds later. PSU had the final tally of the quarter on an Erika Ho free-position goal at 7:08, leading to more than seven minutes of scoreless lacrosse as both teams’ defenses began to settle in.
Quarter 2 – Penn State 6, Southern California 6
Southern California ended its scoring drought at 13:27 of the third, and tallied another 40 seconds later for good measure as the visitors took a 5-3 lead.
Long’s goal at 8:26 ended a nearly 14-minute scoreless period for the Nittany Lions, but USC’s score at 6:44 kept the PSU deficit at two.
Greco’s first career goal turned the tide of the game. Her free-position goal at 5:14 preceded her first career assist by less than four minutes, as Ellie Wisch scored to knot things up headed into the break.
Quarter 3 – Penn State 11, Southern California 7
Penn State carried the momentum swing into the second half, when a goal by Lauren Saltz gave PSU its first lead since the first quarter. Confidence in the home team’s attack only grew, as back-to-back scores from Erika Ho and Brooke Long moved Penn State’s lead out to 9-6.
USC got one back at 10:21, but the Penn State defense tightened up, allowing no goals and only four shots to close out the third. The Penn State offense boosted its lead to four on goals by Payton Wainman and Emma Kelly.
Quarter 4 – Penn State 16, Southern California 8
The Nittany Lions offense chased a running clock as the team used the fourth quarter to score five more times, with the last one coming with 1:56 left in the game.
PSU’s defense held the USC attack to no goals for over 24 minutes of game clock. The Trojan finally broke through with just 1:03 left in the contest, and it was too little, too late as PSU earned its fifth consecutive conference win.
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions wrap up the 2025 regular season with a road trip to Johns Hopkins on national television. First draw between Penn State and the Blue Jays is set for 6:00 p.m. at Homewood Field on ESPNU.