No. 10 Penn State (9-1) handed No. 5 Princeton its first loss of the season with a 13-8 victory.

Junior midfielder Katie O’Donnell led all Penn State scorers with four points, including a hat trick of goals, and junior Maggie Gallagher and sophomore Madison Carter followed closely with three points each. Senior goalie Cat Rainone made ten saves in the winning effort.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions got off to an extremely fast start at Princeton’s Sherrerd Field, jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first 3:15 of the game.

Senior Steph Lazo scored the first goal of the game just 36 seconds into the first half, and O’Donnell followed up with the Nittany Lions’ second goal just 55 seconds later. Lazo struck again just more than 30 seconds after to give her team a 3-0 lead with her 27th of the season caused.

Princeton burned a timeout, but fortunately for the Lions, the Tigers’ break didn’t help much; O’Donnell struck again after a turnover from Princeton, and shortly after, sophomore attacker/midfielder Kelly Daggett scored a free-position shot to extend the Lions’ lead to five goals.

The Tigers responded well to the early onslaught of goals from the Nittany Lions, scoring six consecutive goals to take a 6-5 lead with 6:49 remaining in the first half. However, senior midfielder Abby Smucker stopped the Tigers’ run of goals with a crucial goal that tied the game at six. In the last 90 seconds of the first half, Penn State got two goals in 20 seconds from Carter and Gallagher to give the team an 8-6 lead going into the intermission.

In the second half, Penn State further extended its lead to 10-6 through goals from Daggett and sophomore Kayla Brisolari. Princeton responded to these goals with two of its own from Tess D’Orsi and Anna Doherty to, once again, cut the deficit to just two goals. It turns out that Doherty’s goal would be the last conceded by the Nittany Lions.

Penn State tacked on a goal from senior Shelby Wells and two more from Madison Carter to put the finishing touches on a huge victory for Missy Doherty’s squad.

Player Of The Game

Madison Carter | Sophomore | Attacker/Midfielder

Although Carter didn’t lead the Nittany Lions in scoring today, her two goals with 4:32 and 0:57 left in the second half extended the team’s lead from 11-8 to 13-8 and secured a huge victory for the team. Carter’s two goals bring her season totals to a team-leading 34 goals. Additionally, the sophomore recorded her fifth assist of the season on Katie O’Donnell’s second goal of the game, which gave the Lions a lead they wouldn’t look back from.

What’s Next

The Nittany Lions play their second of three consecutive away games on Saturday afternoon, when they travel to Baltimore to take on Johns Hopkins at 4:30 p.m. The Blue Jays are currently unranked in the IWLCA coaches’ poll, but have a strong record of 7-2.