UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 20 Penn State Nittany Lions (9-3, 1-2 Big Ten) face another Big Ten road test as they travel to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes (7-5, 2-3 Big Ten) on Sunday, April 5 at 12 p.m. at the Ohio State Lacrosse Stadium.
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State fell in a heartbreaker to then-No. 3, now No. 1, Maryland, 13-14. Freshmen powered the Penn State performance. Rocquette Allen, the three-time Big Ten Freshman of the Week honoree, recorded a game-high five goals and six points to tie her career-high in both categories. Makenna Gagliardi, in her collegiate debut, found herself in the cage for relief during a yellow card and recorded saves with a 57.1% save rate, beating out Maryland’s Tewaaraton Watch List member JJ Suriano. Defender Susannah O’Connell tied for the game-high and her career-high with three caused turnovers. In addition to the freshman, Kelly MacKinney and Tewaaraton Watch List honorees Erika Ho and Delaney Radin each put up three points. Cailin Hetrick registered two ground balls and a caused turnover while senior captain Lauren Tinson switched it up with two caused turnovers and a ground ball. Sydney Manning, before her yellow card, recorded six saves a 42.9% save rate.
THE FRESHMAN PHENOM
The Big Ten Conference office announced on March 31st that Allen earned her fourth Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor. With her fourth accolade, Allen joins Madison Taylor, Izzy Scane, Megan Whittle, Masdison Carter, Kali Hartshorn, Kristin O’Neill and Liza Hernandez as the only Big Ten players to be named Freshman of the Week four or more times in a single season. All of them ended up winning Big Ten Freshman of the Year, aside from Hernandez who lost to Hartshorn.
In the game against the then-No. 3 and now No. 1 team in the country, Allen put on her best performance of the year. She netted five goals against what was the third-best scoring defense in the Big Ten while adding an assist. Against the formidable Maryland defense and the best goal keeper 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 this year. 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 down 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.
Allen was the first three consecutive week winner of the award since Taylor, a Tewaaraton Finalist. The freshman was also the first back-to-back recipient of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week Award since Northwestern’s Madison Smith during the 2024 season. Her 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. Allen was the first Penn State women’s lacrosse player this season to earn a Big Ten Weekly Award and the first freshman to earn an award since Brooke Long was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week in April of last year
THE CAGE REPORT
Manning has been on a tear recently as the Nittany Lions’ primary goalkeeper, recently surpassing 300 career saves after her performance against No. 6 Michigan. Against No. 6 Michigan, Manning registered 11 saves and against No. 19 Princeton, she notched a career-high 15 saves. The 15 saves she recorded is tied for the fourth-most in the Big Ten this season and the most by any Nittany Lion since Ashley Bowan’s performance against Johns Hopkins in 2023.
In her collegiate debut, Gagliardi had a heroic effort against then-No. 3 Maryland with eight saves in relief while only allowing six goals for a 57.1% save rate.
THE ASSIST QUEENS
In the most recent Tewaaraton Watch List additions, Delaney Radin was one of 13 players nationally to be named to the prestigous award’s watch list, joining Ho as the only other Penn State player on the list. Additionally, Radin was also recently named as an Inside Lacrosse Midseason All-America Honorable Mention.
In her electric start to the 2026 season, Radin has already set new single-season career-high for goals, assists, points, shots, shots on goal, free position shots and free position goals that she’s had in a single-season. Her 37 assists on the year have more than doubled her career assist total and her career point total with 53 points this season. 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.
Radin had a historic game dishing out the ball against Colgate. The junior attacker led the offensive effort with an astounding nine points and tied the program record with eight assists, a record originally set by Marsha Florio against Princeton in 1985. Her eight assists tied the NCAA single-game-high this season with Allison Reilly of Army West Point and Alexis Morton of Richmond. Radin has the two-highest single-game assist totals in the Big Ten this season alongside the first game of the year against Richmond, in which she had six assists.
MacKinney has followed closely behind the Florida transfer and had a more balanced approach to her success this season with 50% of her 50 points, the second-most by any Nittany Lion, coming from goals while also setting 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. In addition to setting a new single-season-high for herself in goals, MacKinney has set new personal single-game highs in goals, points and free position goals. Twice this season, against Colgate and in the team’s Big Ten opener at Southern California, MacKinney has tallied four goals and four assists in a single game. The New Jersey attacker has the eighth-most assists in Penn State history with 87, and recently joined the 100 point club against Bucknell.
The combination of Radin and MacKinney have been one of the best duos in the nation. Through 12 games, the duo has combined for 62 assists and 103 points, the most assists by any pairing in the country and one of the highest point totals, along with 41 goals.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
The Buckeyes host the Nittany Lions after falling to Michigan, 6-10. Camryn Callaghan and Kate Tyack lead the Ohio State offense with more than 30 goals each with the pairing and Maddy Paz all tallying double-digit assists and at least 30 points on the season. Zoe Coleman, Brooke Vinson, Kampbell Stone and Annie Hargraves join the trio as the other double-figure goal scorers for the Buckeyes. Darrien Furiness and Jocelyn Torres both have more than 20 ground balls while Audrey Schoemer and Stone are in the double-digits in terms of ground balls. In the cage, Torres leads Ohio State with 83 saves and 112 goals allowed on 267 shots faced, good for a save rate of 42.6% and 10.11 average goals allowed against her. Amanda Moore helms the Buckeyes alongside assistant coaches Tianna Wallpher, Caroline Kimel and Skylar Carrasquillo.
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