Live Stats • Game Notes • B1G+ • March 4th at 12 p.m. • University Park, Pa. at Holuba Hall
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 17 Penn State Nittany Lions (6-0) are set to host the Colgate Raiders (2-2) on Wednesday, March 4th at 12 p.m. at Holuba Hall. The meeting is the 11th between the two programs with the Nittany Lions winning the past 10 contests.
With the arrival of new Head Coach Kayla Treanor and staff, the Blue and White have been revitalized with the team’s first 6-0 start since 2017. As of March 1st, the Penn State offense ranks inside the top-20 nationally in assists per game (10th), free position percentage (20th), points per game (11th), scoring offense (18th) and shot percentage (18th). The Nittany Lions are also ranked top-four offensively in the Big Ten in assists per game (fourth), free position percentage (first), points per game (fourth), scoring offense (fourth) and shot percentage (second).
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State secured the team’s second ranked victory of the season with a victory over the No. 25 Cornell Big Red at Schoellkopf Field on Saturday afternoon, 11-9. The 6-0 start is the best start by a Penn State women’s lacrosse team since 2017 and the best start by a first year Penn State head coach since 1986.
Rocquette Allen led the goal scoring for the team. The freshman secured her third career hat trick, this time against a top-10 scoring defense in the country while adding an assist, a ground ball and a caused turnover. Delaney Radin had a game-high five points, one shy of her career-high, with four assists and a goal. Kelly MacKinney added with a goal and a pair of assists while Payton Wainman and Ellie Wisch each netted two goals. Defensively, Lilly Spilker had a team-high four ground balls and two caused turnovers with Emma Kelly, Lauren Tinson and Susannah O’Connell each adding two more. Spilker caused a pair of turnovers to lead the team and five other Nittany Lions added a caused turnover. At goal, Sydney Manning saved at a 52.6% clip with double-digit saves on the afternoon.
FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
The Big Ten Conference office announced last Tuesday afternoon that Allen was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Allen is the first Penn State women’s lacrosse player this season to earn a Big Ten Weekly Award and the first freshman to earn the award since Brooke Long was selected in April of last year.
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. Allen’s hat trick proved to be the difference to keep the Nittany Lions undefeated in Penn State’s second ranked victory of the year over No. 25 Cornell, 11-9. The 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.
Allen has scored a team-high 18 goals so far this year, the most by any Power Conference freshman in the country, and is tied for the team-high with 25 points, the second most by any Power Conference freshman.
OUR STATE
In the three regular season games against Pennsylvania opponents (Bucknell, Pitt and Drexel), the Nittany Lions showed that they own the Keystone State. The Nittany Lion defense allowed, on average, only seven points in each contest while winning by a margin of nearly nine goals on average. The offense tallied 49 total goals against Pennsylvanian competition for above 16 goals per game.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Colgate Raiders come to Holuba Hall after losing to then-No. 5 Johns Hopkins, 7-23. Aubrey McMahon leads the Raiders’ offense with 11 goals and eight assists for 19 points while the trio of Gracie DeSimone, Caroline Panzirer, alongside five assists, and Katie Walsh have all netted seven goals on the year. Sophie Granse and Meghan Holland lead the Colgate defense with six ground balls picked up a piece with Granse, Grace DelNegro and Ella Bishara all causing four turnovers. Josie Cavallo has won 31 draw controls, a team-high, and DeSimone has 15 draw controls for the second most on the team. Colgate is helmed by Head Coach Alyssa Guido and assisted by Taylor Woolard and Mikela McCauley.
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.