Penn State women’s lacrosse (4-2) easily handled St. Joseph’s (3-4) in a 17-8 win Saturday. The two teams met for the first time in program history, and Penn State now has two wins at home after defeating James Madison in its home opener a few days ago.

Penn State went on a 14-goal scoring streak before the Hawks scored their second goal at the end of the third quarter. The Hawks gave a valiant effort and scored six goals in the fourth quarter, but the Nittany Lions were too far ahead to catch up.

How It Happened

Saint Joseph’s started off winning the first draw of the game, and the Hawk’s Emma O’Neill scored in the first minute of the quarter against Penn State’s goalie Ashley Bowan.

Penn State’s Kristin O’Neill answered the Hawks by scoring her 15th goal of the season and Penn State’s first goal of the game to tie things up at 1-1 with 12:44 to go in the quarter.

Captain Rachel Spilker generated a turnover and picked up the ground ball for the Nittany Lions. The turnover was then followed by a goal by Mary Muldoon, assisted by Sammy Dupcak. The Nittany Lions took the lead 2-1 with 10:43 to go. This was Muldoon’s 11th goal of the season.

After the Hawks shot the ball three times and did not convert on any attempt, Bowan got a ground ball and completed a clear down the field, which led to another goal for the Nittany Lions, this time by Taylor Regan. Penn State led 3-1 with 6:31 to go in the first.

Hawks goalie Jorden Concordia saved a shot against O’Neill but failed to clear the ball which led to a goal by Kayla Abernathy. Penn State then led 5-1 with 4:17 to go in the first quarter, and Saint Joseph’s took its first timeout after the goal in an attmept to break Penn State’s momentum.

Muldoon scored with 14 seconds left, and just 10 seconds later, Lauren Saltz scored for the Nittany Lions to take the lead 7-1 to start off the second quarter.

Penn State’s O’Neill wasted no time to start off the second quarter and scored two goals within the first two minutes. The Nittany Lions scored nine unanswered goals, leading 9-1 against the Hawks.

After some turnovers on both teams, Gretchen Gilmore scored for Penn State to continue its goal streak. The Lions led 11-1 with 7:06 to go in the second quarter.

The Nittany Lions shut out the Hawks in the second quarter and held a 13-goal scoring streak.

Penn State changed goalies to start off the third quarter, as Cayden Jarvis took over in the net for Bowan. Regan scored the first goal of the third and Penn State took the lead 14-1 with 11:14 to go in the third.

Saint Joseph’s Riley Evans scored the first goal for the Hawks since the first minute of the first quarter with just under four minutes to go in the third quarter.

The third quarter came to an end with a goal by Kara Nealon to get her first of the season. The Nittany Lions led 15-2 by the end of the third quarter.

The Hawks entered the fourth quarter by scoring their third goal of the game with 14:10 to go in the fourth quarter. Minutes later, Evans scored another goal for the Hawks with 11:40 to go and trailed the Nittany Lions 15-4.

Nealon scored for Penn State and received her second goal of the game. The Nittany Lions led 16-5 with 6:01 to go in the fourth quarter.

After a good fourth-quarter push by the Hawks, they still fell short to the Nittany Lions after Regan scored, and the Nittany Lions closed out the game 17-8.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will travel to play Towson in Maryland on Tuesday, March 15 at 3 p.m.