Katie Haus (formerly Schwarzmann) joined the Penn State Women's Lacrosse staff in 2017-18 and begins her seventh year as the program's Director of Operations in 2024. Haus spent one year as a volunteer coach before transitioning to her director of operations role. Haus arrived in Happy Valley after spending three years as an assistant coach at Mount St. Mary's, working with her sister Lauren, who is the head coach of the Mountaineers. As an assistant, Katie focused on the offense as well as program goals, practice plans and fundraising efforts.
The Nittany Lions appearanced in just their third Big Ten Championship and 27th NCAA tournament appearance in 2024. The Nittany Lions finished 11-8 with four ranked victories, most notably against then-No. 1 Northwestern. The victory over the Wildcats was Penn State's first win against a top-ranked team since 2005. PSU had its third ever Big Ten Freshman of the Year in Sydney Manning and five All-Big Ten honorees in Kristin O'Neill (first team), Ellie Hollin (first team), Gretchen Gilmore (second team), Sammy Dupcak (second team) and Kayla Abernathy (second team). O'Neill and Hollin also earned IWLCA All-American honors.
In 2023, Penn State made their first NCAA tournament appearance in five years. Penn State finished 11-7 on the year with ranked wins over No. 17 Rutgers, No. 14 Princeton and No. 10 Maryland. The Nittany Lions had two first team All-Big Ten honorees, Kristin O'Neill and Ellie Hollin as well as four second team selections, Sammy Dupcak, Kayla Abernathy, Gretchen Gilmore and Meghan Murray. O'Neill (first team), Dupcak (second team) and Hollin (second team) also earned All-Region honors. O'Neill (third team), Hollin (honorable mention) and Gilmore (honorable mention) also garnered All-American status from USA Lacrosse.
The Nittany Lions had a 4-9 mark in 2021 with three wins coming against Top 20 opponents. Penn State earned wins over Rutgers (20-11), No. 7 Maryland (15-13), No. 13 Michigan (13-12) and No. 9 Maryland (16-9). Penn State finished the season ranked No. 21 in the IWLCA Poll, after being ranked the entire season and rising as high as No. 5.
Penn State had four All-Big Ten selections, including Olivia Dirks (First Team) and Maria Auth, Sammy Helgeson and Kristin O’Neill (Second Team). Auth led the Nittany Lions in points (46) and goals (34), while Helgeson had 14 ground balls and nine caused turnovers as a leader of the defense.
Dirks was named Penn State’s second Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, leading the blue and white in draw controls (78) and caused turnovers (18) and adding 31 goals and 12 assists. O’Neill was tabbed Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Penn State’s second to win the award. O’Neill recorded 29 goals, eight assists and 15 caused turnovers in her first season in Happy Valley.
In 2020, the Nittany Lions earned a 5-2 record in 2020 before the season was canceled on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The blue and white began the season with four straight wins, defeating Towson (12-9), Lehigh (13-9), Duquesne (20-6) and Cornell (19-9). Penn State finished the season with a 14-13 victory at Vanderbilt.
The Nittany Lions were very strong on the defensive end, led by sophomore goalie Taylor Suplee, who earned honorable-mention All-American honors from Inside Lacrosse. Suplee led the Big Ten and ranked second in the nation averaging 12.43 saves per game. She held fifth in the nation with 87 saves and seventh with a .527 save percentage. Suplee ranked fourth in the Big Ten with a 12.27 goals-against average.
On the offensive end, the Nittany Lions averaged 13.71 goals per game, good for third in the Big Ten. Senior attacker Maria Auth ranked fifth in the Big Ten with 22 goals and third with 3.14 goals per game. She finished fourth in the conference with 33 points and 4.71 points per game.
In 2019, the Nittany Lions went 8-9 including a 3-3 mark in Big Ten play and reached the Big Ten Semifinals. Penn State earned wins over No. 11 Towson and No. 21 Johns Hopkins. The Nittany Lions won four of their final six games of the regular season. Penn State played its first season in Panzer Stadium.
Three Nittany Lions earned All-Big Ten honors, including junior Maria Auth and seniors Kayla Brisolari and Reilly Masterson. Brisolari and Masterson collected IWLCA All-Region selections. Brisolari was selected for the IWLCA Senior All-Star Game and was drafted No. 12 overall in the WPLL Draft by the WPLL Brave.
In 2018, Penn State earned an NCAA Tournament appearance for the seventh straight year. The Nittany Lions went 10-10 (3-3 in the Big Ten) and reached the Big Ten Championship game. The Nittany Lions knocked off four ranked opponents, including No. 17 Cornell, No. 22 Johns Hopkins, No. 6 Virginia and No. 7 Northwestern. The Nittany Lions tied the team record with 303 goals on the season.
Three Nittany Lions earned IWLCA All-America honors, including senior Katie O'Donnell (First Team), junior Madison Carter (Second Team) and Kayla Brisolari (Third Team). O'Donnell, the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, was a Second Team All-America selection by Inside Lacrosse. Brisolari, Carter and O'Donnell were all named All-Big Ten and All-Region.
In her playing career at Maryland, Haus was a two-time Tewaaraton Award Winner (2012, 2013) as the top women's lacrosse player in the nation. She led the Terrapins to four straight NCAA Semifinals, three National Championship games and a National Title in 2010.
Haus was a four-time IWLCA All-America selection, including three First Team honors. She was a three-time IWLCA Midfielder of the Year, a four-time All-ACC honoree, a two-time ACC Championship MVP, ACC Rookie of the Year and a four-time All-NCAA Tournament Team selection. As of 2017, Haus ranked fourth at Maryland in career goals (228) and points (304).
She has been a member of the United States Women's National Team since 2010, helping guide them to the 2013 World Cup and the 2017 FIL Women's World Cup.
The Sykesville, Md. native graduated from Maryland in 2013 with a degree in Business Management and Marketing. Her husband, John Haus, is an assistant coach for the Penn State Men's Lacrosse team.
Katie Haus