UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – After defeating Rutgers in the regular season finale, the No. 18/19 and fifth-seed Penn State Nittany Lions (12-5, 4-4 Big Ten) will take on the host team of the Big Ten Tournament, No. 8/7 and fourth-seed Michigan Wolverines (11-5, 5-3 Big Ten), in the quarterfinals in Ann Arbor, Mich. at UM Lacrosse Stadium on Wednesday, April 22 at 12 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State utilized a six-goal scoring run in the middle of an eight-goal third quarter to take down No. 22 Rutgers, 18-15.
Offensively, Ho and Radin led the way with a pair of milestones against the Scarlet Knights. Ho, on Penn State’s first goal of the contest, secured her 100th career point and had one of the best offensive games of her career. The senior recorded a career-high six goals and tied her career-mark in points with seven on the afternoon. Radin, with her four assists, set the new Penn State single-season assists record with 53. The record was originally set by Megan Smith in 1990 at 51 in 18 games.
A trio of Nittany Lions recorded hat tricks during the regular season finale. MacKinney and Wainman continued their scoring ways with a combined six goals on 55% shooting. Allen added to her already stellar freshman campaign with a five-point performance off three goals and two assists while shooting 60% on the afternoon. Salerno recorded a pair of goals with an assist while Greco also added a helper.
Defensively, Spilker and O’Connell, in her New Jersey homecoming, each picked up four ground balls in the win, a career-high for O’Connell. Manning registered 11 saves on 38 shots faced while the trio of Spilker, Driver and Kelly each caused a turnover. Kelly and Driver also combined for 14 of Penn State’s 18 draw controls in the win.
ALL-B1G SQUAD
The Big Ten Conference announced on April 21 that six Nittany Lions have earned All-Big Ten honors. Junior attacker Delaney Radin and senior defender Maggie Driver both earned All-Big Ten First Team selections while graduate midfielder Anna Salerno has been named to All-Big Ten Second Team. Freshmen Rocquette Allen and Susannah O’Connell were each selected to the Big Ten All-Freshman Team with Allen being a unanimous selection. Defender Lilly Spilker was selected as Penn State’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree.
Radin, Driver, Salerno, Allen and O’Connell all make their debuts on the All-Big Ten rosters while Spilker garnered her second yearly conference accolade after earning a Big Ten All-Freshman Team nod in 2025.
THE FRESHMAN PHENOM
Allen’s first year in the collegiate ranks has been one to remember. In her debut season with the Nittany Lions, the Mountain Vista product tallied 41 goals with 22 assists for 63 points, all three of which were third-best for any Penn State player. Her 41 goals and 63 points were each the 10th best in the Big 10 with her assists total being just outside the top-10 in the conference. Her assists and points mark were both the most by any Big Ten freshman with her goal total being a close second.
In the game against the then-No. 3 team in the country, Allen put on her arguably best performance of the year after netting five goals against what was the third-best scoring defense in the Big Ten while adding an assist. Against the formidable Maryland defense and one of the best goalies in the nation, the freshman shot a spectacular 71.4% while being shadowed by the Terrapins’ top defender. Three of Allen’s five total goals, all three of which were unassisted, came in the last 20 minutes of the contest as the attacker was the driving force behind a ferocious comeback attempt by the Nittany Lions in the second half. Her five goal and six point effort tied her career-high in both categories and was the most goals allowed and the second-most points against the Terrapins by any player at that point.
In addition to her heroics, Allen scored what may be the goal of the year. During the fourth quarter comeback attempt, as she was falling with her back to the net, the freshman shot a no-look, behind the back goal for her fourth of the afternoon. The goal would eventually be featured as the number two play of the day on the SportsCenter Top 10.
Throughout the campaign, she has been one of the biggest difference makers not only in the conference, but in the NCAA as a whole and has earned an array of accolades as a result. Allen was named as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week six times in the 2026 season, the most by any Penn State player in program history and is tied for second along with Izzy Scane and Megan Whittle. Her six accolades are only behind Tewaaraton Finalist Madison Taylor for one of the most dominant freshman campaigns in Big Ten history. Along with her abundance of Big Ten honors, she has also been recognized by national outlets with Inside Lacrosse naming her the seventh-best freshman in the country in the publication’s “Freshman Impact Rankings.”
QB1
Radin, in her breakout junior campaign, has established herself as one of the biggest passing threats in the nation and has rewritten the Penn State record book as a result.
Throughout her electric 2026 season, she has totaled 53 assists on the year, averaging an astounding 3.12 assists per game, that places her nearly half an assist higher than the next closest Big Ten player on a per game basis. The 53 total assists are the most in the Big Ten, a top-10 mark nationally and is the single-season program assists record for Penn State. Radin surpassed the original Penn State record that was set in 1990 by Megan Smith with her four-assist performance over the Scarlet Knights. Additionally, against Colgate, Radin set her career-high and tied the Penn State record for most assists in a single game with eight on the afternoon. The eight assists that she dished out is the most in the Big Ten in a single game this season, tied for fifth for the most assists by any Big Ten player ever and tied for second by any player in the NCAA in a single game this year.
Radin has amassed an abundance of points during her junior year campaign. In her first two years a collegiate player, she totaled 19 points through 15 games for 1.27 points on average. Through 17 games this season, she has tallied 79 points for 4.65 points per game. Her 79 points more than quadruple her previous career total and is a top-five mark in the Big Ten and the 12th highest in Division I. Her 4.65 points per appearance is ranked within the top-25 in the NCAA and is the sixth best in the Big Ten. Radin became the first Penn State player since Maria Auth did so in 2018 to reach both 60 and 70 points in a single-season and looks to become the first Nittany Lion to reach 80 points since Steph Lazo in 2017.
Radin set new single-season highs in every offensive category this season and was named to the Tewaaraton Watch List earlier this season. Radin earned her first Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor after her outing against Colgate that ended with nine points, tied for the most by any Nittany Lion this season. Additionally, she was named as an Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-America Honorable Mention and was featured on Kylie Ohlmiller Rees' "Way-Too-Early 2027 WLL Draft Big Board" as the 10th-ranked junior in the country.
DUAL THREAT
Another breakout candidate, MacKinney established herself as one of the most dangerous shooters in the nation while being able to pass the ball both efficiently and effectively. The junior attacked finished the regular season leading the Nittany Lions offense with 44 goals, the fifth-most by any Big Ten player, while having the sixth-highest number of assists and points in the conference with 31 and 75, respectively, and her point total ranked within the top-20 nationally. The New Jersey attacker has the seventh-most assists in Penn State history with 93 in her career. Additionally, MacKinney’s shot is deadly accurate with 61.1% hitting the mark, the best shooting percentage by nearly 4% in the Big Ten and the fifth-best rate in the nation.
In MacKinney’s first two years as a collegiate player, the majority of her points came from dishing out assists. Her goals to assists ratio during her freshman and sophomore campaigns were 14:25 and 12:37, respectively. A switch has flipped during her spectacular junior year with her ratio flipping to have a greater amount of goals than assists for the first time in her career with a ratio of 44:31. The 44 goals she has tallied throughout 2026 is a new season-high, beating out her combined total from the past two years and has set a new high in points with 75 on the year, the second-highest by any Nittany Lion.
MacKinney recorded a point total of six or more five times throughout the 2026 season showing off her versatility as an attacker by being able to score, pass and a combination of the two. Against Colgate, Southern California and Oregon, MacKinney was able to have a balanced approach on the offensive end, recording four goals in all three games, four assists against the Raiders and Trojans and falling just shy of the mark with a trio of assists against the Ducks. She was able to show off her prowess as a passer in a February showing against Bucknell where she netted a goal and dished out a season-high five assists on the afternoon. In the ranked matchup against No. 25 Ohio State, MacKinney had the best outing of her career as a shooter, notching a pair of career-highs with seven goals and nine points along with two assists.
After the dismantling of Ohio State, the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) and the Big Ten Conference announced on Tuesday afternoon that Kelly MacKinney was named the IWLCA and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week. This was her second Big Ten weekly award of her career along with her first national weekly honor. The IWLCA accolade is the first time that Penn State has earned the IWLCA Offensive Player of the Week since Kristin O’Neill was named to the award after helping take down No. 1 Northwestern in 2024.
THE CAGE REPORT
The former Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Sydney Manning has registered the best year of her career in the cage. In 2026, the Pennsylvanian has posted career-highs in saves, save percentage, minutes and a low in average goals against. Against then-No. 6 Michigan, she surpassed 300 career saves while collecting her 350th saves against then-No. 6 Johns Hopkins.
Seven times during her junior campaign, Manning has secured double-digit saves with her career-best performance in terms of saves coming against the Princeton Tigers when she tallied 15 saves protecting the net, by any Nittany Lion since Ashley Bowan’s performance against Johns Hopkins in 2023.
Against No. 25 Ohio State, Manning played lights out and earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week honors for it. The Pennsylvanian goalie faced a career-high 39 shots against the Buckeyes and tallied 14 saves, a new career-best against a conference opponent. Her 14 saves were one of the most by Big Ten goalie during the week and had a 60.9% save percentage. Manning was excellent against free position attempts, being credited for a save and only allowing one past her on five opportunities. Additionally, the junior picked up a pair of ground balls in the effort.