UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 21 Penn State Nittany Lions (9-1, 1-0 Big Ten) welcome the No. 6 Michigan Wolverines (6-2, 1-0 Big Ten) for the Blue and White’s Senior Day and Alumni Game on Sunday, March 22nd at 12 p.m. at Panzer Stadium. Senior Day festivities will commence after the conclusion of the ranked match up and Penn State will honor Lauren Tinson, Erika Ho, Maggie Driver, Payton Wainman, Emma Kelly, Maddie Greco and Emily Bette.
As of March 19th, the Penn State offense ranks inside the top-20 nationally in assists per game (seventh), points per game (eighth), scoring offense (ninth) and shot percentage (fourth). The Nittany Lions are also ranked top-four offensively in the Big Ten in assists per game (third), free position percentage (first), points per game (third), scoring offense (second) and shot percentage (first). The Blue and White have the Big Ten’s top-ranked scoring defense and are the second-best team in the conference in picking up ground balls while having the second-highest save percentage and have caused the fourth-most turnovers per game in the Big Ten.
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State fell for the first time in the 2026 campaign to then-No. 19 Princeton, 11-14. The Nittany Lion offense was led by Ho, Wainman, Kelly MacKinney and Rocquette Allen who all notched two goals each. Greco, Delaney Radin and Anna Salerno all contributed a goal a piece. Salerno and MacKinney each had a team-high two assists while the junior captain, MacKinney, had a team-high four points on the afternoon. Senior defender Driver had three caused turnovers while freshman Susannah O’Connell had a pair of ground balls and pair of caused turnovers each. Captain Julia Basciano and junior Lily Strohecker had three and two ground balls, respectively. In the cage, Sydney Manning secured 15 saves, a career-high.
THE ASSIST QUEENS
Delaney Radin and Kelly MacKinney have been on a tear to start the pair’s junior campaigns. Through 10 games, the duo has combined for 56 assists and 91 points, the most assists by any pairing in the country and one of the highest point totals, along with 35 goals.
In her electric start to the 2026 season, Radin has already set new career-highs for most goals, assists, points, shots, shots on goal, free position shots and free position goals that she’s had in a single-season. Her 32 assists on the year have more than doubled her previous combined total in 15 less games and has also more than doubled her combined point total with 47 points this season. As of March 19th, the New Yorker has the second-most assists in the Big Ten, the sixth-most in Division I. Radin has the fourth-most points by any Big Ten player, tied for 14th-most points in the NCAA.
For her efforts against Colgate and San Diego State, Radin earned her first Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor, her first collegiate accolade.
MacKinney has followed closely behind the Florida transfer and had a more balanced approach to her success this season with 45% of her 44 points, the second-most by any Nittany Lion, coming from goals and set a new single-season high in goals for herself. Even though she’s been able to cash in more than in years past, MacKinney still remains a passing threat and sees the field extremely well. Her 24 assists are top-15 nationally, and the fourth-most in the Big Ten.
THE FRESHMAN PHENOM
The Big Ten Conference office announced on March 10th that Allen earned her third consecutive Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor. She is the first three consecutive week winner of the award since Tewaaraton Finalist Madison Taylor and was previously the first back-to-back recipient of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Award since Northwestern’s Madison Smith during the 2024 season. Allen was also selected as the seventh-most impactful freshman by Inside Lacrosse in the publication’s Freshman Impact Rankings.
Allen’s consecutive honors was the first time Penn State had earned Big Ten weekly honors in consecutive weeks since April of 2024 when MacKinney was selected as Big Ten Freshman of the Week after Manning secured the award and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week prior.
In the two games against then-No. 20 Pitt and Drexel, with the primary defender on her, she totaled three goals, four assists and seven points. Allen scored twice against No. 20 Pitt, including the golden goal. Against Drexel, she dished out a game and career-high three assists and netted a goal to help snap a two-game losing streak against the Dragons.
Her hat trick proved to be the difference to keep the Nittany Lions undefeated in Penn State’s second ranked victory of the year over then-No. 25 Cornell, 11-9. At the time, freshman’s three goal effort was only the second time this year that the top-five scoring defense of the Big Red have given up three goals to a single player. Allen also dished out an assist, caused a turnover that led to the first Penn State goal of the day and picked up a ground ball in the win over Cornell.
Against San Diego State and Colgate, the reigning freshman of the week drew the toughest defensive assignments in both games and faced constant slides towards her. Despite that, Allen was still able to score a pair of goals in each game, shooting an efficient 80% between her two showings and still leads the Nittany Lions’ offense in goals scored. Along with her stellar shooting, the Colorado native also picked by two ground balls in both games, the fifth and sixth time she’s done so this season and caused a turnover that led to a Penn State goal against Colgate.
The Mountain Vista product is currently second on the Nittany Lions with 25 goals on the year, the seventh-most in the Big Ten this year and tied for the most by a Power Four conference freshman. Her 35 points are most by any freshman in the conference, the 11th-best by any Big Ten player.
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
The No. 6 Michigan Wolverines enter Sunday’s competition on a three game winning streak and with a win over a fellow Big Ten foe, the University of Southern California, 15-11.The Michigan offense is led by a trio of 20-point scorers in Emma Bradbury, Calli Norris and Caroline Byrd. Bradbury leads the squad with 22 goals and seven assists for 29 points while Norris is not far behind with 19 goals and five assists for 24 points. Byrd leads the Wolverines with 13 assists and seven goals for 20 points. Elizabeth Johnson leads Michigan with 21 ground balls with Emma Arico, Taylor Cullen and Grace Callahan all in the double-digits. Callahan has a team-high 12 caused turnovers and Jordyn Harrison notched 11 on the season so far. Emma Burke leads the Michigan draw circle with 79 draw controls while Norris is second on the team with 20 draw controls. In the cage for the Wolverines is Johnson, the freshman star who was recently named on the Inside Lacrosse Impact Freshman Rankings as the ninth-ranked freshman. Johnson has started all eight games for Michigan with 60 saves on the year and 70 goals allowed on 181 shots faced for a 46.2% save rate and 9.48 goals allowed on average. Michigan is helmed by head coach Hannah Nielsen alongside associate head coach Ana Heneberry and assistant coaches Casey Pearsall and Nora Boerger. Erin O’Grady joins the staff as a graduate assistant coach and Rylee Tinney as a student assistant coach with Lellie Swords as the Wolverines’ Director of Lacrosse Operations.
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.