Live Stats • ESPN+ • Game Notes • Feb. 7th, 12 p.m. • Richmond, Va. at Robins Stadium
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 23 Penn State Nittany Lions and newly appointed Head Coach Kayla Treanor are set to open the 2026 spring season on the road against the Richmond Spiders on February 7th at 12 p.m. at Robins Stadium. This will be the 13th meeting all-time between the Nittany Lions and the Spiders.
THE TREANOR ERA
On May 21st, Treanor was named the 10th coach in Penn State Women’s Lacrosse history. As the head coach at Syracuse, Treanor compiled a 59-24 record and guided the Orange to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including back-to-back National Semifinal bids in 2023 and 2024. Under her watch, Syracuse played the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country in 2024 and 2025. Among the many accolades received by Syracuse student-athletes under Treanor, Meghan Tyrell was a two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2022 and 2023.
Treanor brought in Abby Rehfuss as her associate head coach after a year-long stint as the offensive coordinator at Colgate where she also helmed the draw unit. Under her leadership, the Raiders were one of the best teams in the conference at taking care of the ball. The team turned the ball over less than 14 per game, a mark that ranked 23rd nationally. Her offensive unit saw five student-athletes with 30 or more points, including two who eclipsed the 50-point mark. She has worked with Treanor before as the offensive coordinator of the Orange in 2024.
Treanor also brought in Amy Moreau and Kerrigan Miller as assistant coaches and Jay Dyer as the assistant director of athletic performance. Katie Haus continues her stint as director of operations under Treanor.
PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Penn State women’s lacrosse had three players named to the Big Ten Players to Watch list: Erika Ho, Sydney Manning and Rocquette Allen. Leading up to the 2026 campaign, the Nittany Lions were selected 24th in the IWLCA Preseason Poll, 23rd in the KANE Women’s D1 Media Poll, received votes for USA Lacrosse Magazine’s Preseason Poll and was selected fifth in the Big Ten Preseason Poll
Ho, who was also selected as a preseason All-America honorable mention by USA Lacrosse Magazine, is set for another big year for the Nittany Lions offense. In her breakout junior season, Ho became one of the nation’s top draw takers and developed into an incredible offensive force. The senior captain won 112 draw controls during the 2025 campaign, becoming the third Nittany Lion to eclipse 100 draw wins. Ho ranked 23rd nationally and fourth in the Big Ten with a 7.00 draws per game on average. The Frankfort, Illinois, native led the Nittany Lions with 46 goals, 56 points, 14 free-position goals, three game-winning goals and had the third highest amount of picked up ground balls with 26 on the year. Outside of the draw circle, Ho ranked inside the top-10 in the Big Ten in goals, goals per game, free-position goals per game, points per game, shots per game and shots on goal per game.
Manning has been a stalwart at goalie for Penn State the past two seasons. The former Big Ten Freshman of the Year has amassed 110 saves in her sophomore campaign with five performances with double-digit saves. The Pennsylvania native secured a season-high 12 saves on four occasions, including during an overtime thriller against Ohio State. In addition to her work in the cage, Manning has also notched 47 ground balls in her career and caused six turnovers.
Allen, an attacker from Lone Tree, Colorado, was the lone freshman named to the list. During her high school career, Allen was named as the Colorado lacrosse Player of the Year and was Inside Lacrosse’s No. 51-ranked freshman coming into the 2026 season. She was also a member of USA Lacrosse’s Select U18 Team, a three-time All-Colorado honoree and the three-time CHSAA 5A All-Conference Player of the Year.
Along with Ho, Lauren Tinson, Kelly MacKinney and Julia Basciano were all named captains for the 2026 version of Penn State Women’s Lacrosse.
RELOADING FOR 2026
Penn State has retained a good amount of the program’s offensive production from the 2025 campaign. Ho, who paced the Nittany Lions in goals (46), points (56) and draw controls (112) last season, returns for her senior season and MacKinney, the team leader in assists in 2025 with 37, returns for her junior season. The offense also returns Emma Kelly, who’s 50 career goals is second for returning Penn State players and Payton Wainman, who has 21 goals and 36 points in her career while hooting 43.8%. Junior Delaney Radin also looks to become a bigger piece of the offense for the Nittany Lions with 19 points in her career and placing 81.8% of her shots on goal.
The loss of Ellie Hollin to graduation has created more opportunities on the defensive end. Maggie Driver, a defender from Pennsylvania, has the most ground balls (36) and caused turnovers (22) by any returning player while Lilly Spilker looks to continue to improve upon her impressive redshirt freshman campaign that saw her vacuum nine ground balls and cause 16 turnovers. Manning, the primary goalie from the past two campaigns, returns for her junior season in the cage. During her sophomore year, the former Big Ten Freshman of the Year tallied 110 saves in 12 starts on 355 shots faced for a save percentage of 43.7% while allowing an average of 11.36 goals per game.
Treanor also went into the transfer portal for two key additions: Anna Salerno hailing from Mount St. Mary’s, and Basciano.
Salerno is a true midfield threat from the MAAC. The Mount St. Mary’s product has the highest total career goals (110) and points (121) by any Nittany Lion this season while also accumulating 54 ground balls and 29 caused turnovers. During her time in Emmitsburg, Md., Salerno was named to the First Team All-MAAC honoree in her senior year and to the Second Team All-MAAC the year prior.
Basciano followed Treanor from Syracuse and has been on every team she has been a head coach for. The Pennsylvania native played in 36 games in her time with the Orange, with the last season being cut short due to injury. During Syracuse’s Final Four run in her sophomore year, she was a key cog for a monstrous Orange defense that held opponents to 10 goals or less in 13 of the 20 games she played that year.
Penn State also welcomed in eight freshmen into the Nittany Lion ranks. Along with Allen, the Blue & White also added Hannah Hoyt, Kate Dennen, Anna Mellinger, Lizzie and Sarah Anné, Makenna Gagliardi and Susannah O’Connell.
MILESTONE WATCH
- Radin needs only six more points to reach 25 in her career.
- Ho needs to tally 23 goals to reach 75 in her career and 13 points to reach 75 career points. The senior captain also needs 27 draw controls to surpass 150 in her career.
- Driver is three caused turnovers away from 25 in her career and needs to pick up 14 more ground balls for 50 in her career.
- Wainman needs to score four goals to reach 25 career goals and tally 14 points for 50 in the senior’s career.
- Kelly is currently at 50 career goals and needs 20 points to reach 75 career points.
- MacKinney is only 12 points away from 100 in her career.
- Manning needs 36 saves to reach the 250 career saves mark.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Spiders are headed into 2026 as the preseason favorites for the A-10 Conference led by Alexis Morton, Bridget Lonsinger and Reagan Quinn. Morton, last season, tallied 76 points off 39 goals and 37 assists while A-10 All-Rookie Team member Lonsinger filled out the stat sheet with 21 points off 14 goals and seven assists, 29 draw control wins, 23 ground balls and caused 10 turnovers. On the defensive end, Quinn caused nine turnovers, picked up four ground balls and won a draw control. Abby Francioli, the primary goalie for Richmond last season, returns for her junior year after notching 155 saves off 474 shots faced for a 46.5% mark while averaging 11.09 goals allowed. The Spiders are helmed by Head Coach Anne Harrington and assisted by Danielle Etrasco and Taylor Paige.
Penn State leads Richmond in the all-time series between the two programs with the Nittany Lions’ only loss coming last spring in a 10-12 upset. The Blue and White look to avenge last year’s results.
Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State women's lacrosse. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion women's lacrosse team on Facebook at /pennstatewomenslacrosse as well as Twitter and Instagram @PennStateWLAX.