Penn State women’s lacrosse (5-6, 0-3 Big Ten) fell to No. 9 Maryland (11-1) on Thursday night after a hard-fought defensive battle from both sides.

Penn State kept the game tight up until the last 11 minutes of the fourth quarter when Maryland went on to score four goals. The Nittany Lions’ goalie, Ashley Bowan, had an amazing game nonetheless and recorded a career-high 13 saves.

How It Happened

Bowan started in the net for Penn State after a tough loss last week against Northwestern. She made a huge stop against Maryland right off the bat, and Penn State had its first successful clear of the day.

Brooke Hoss shot wide on a free position shot for Penn State, which led to Maryland’s first goal of the game. Taylor Regan responded immediately to tie up the game 1-1 against the Terrapins.

Kate Sites scored Maryland’s second goal of the game after a Penn State turnover, and the Terrapins led 2-1 with just under ten minutes to go. Aurora Cordingley scored Maryland’s third just seconds later — her 39th goal of the season. Down 3-1 already, Penn State took its first timeout of the game with 9:14 left in the first quarter.

Naturally, the Terrapins scored the first goal between both teams since Penn State’s timeout. Maryland led 4-1 with 1:25 left in the first quarter. Regan recorded her second of the game, and the Nittany Lions trailed 4-2 heading into the second quarter.

Kayla Abernathy received a yellow card on the first draw of the second quarter for Penn State. Maryland was a man up and scored, now leading 5-2 with 14:12 left in the second quarter. Hoss received a green card, which led to another Maryland goal. All of a sudden, Maryland was up 6-2 with 12:14 left in the second quarter.

Megan Murray had a hard drive to the cage and scored Penn State’s first goal since the first quarter to stop the bleeding. Still, the Nittany Lions trailed by three.

Murray making an impact!

CC: @PennStateWLAX pic.twitter.com/1bODUAXued

— Penn State On BTN (@PennStateOnBTN) April 7, 2022

Grace Griffin scored on a deflected free position shot that tricked Penn State’s goalie. Maryland led 7-3 with 9:26 left in the second. Cordingley scored her 40th goal of the season four minutes after Griffin’s goal; the Terrapins led 8-3 with just over five minutes left in the second quarter.

Hoss scored for Penn State after some missed shots by the Nittany Lions. She had the last goal of the first half for both teams, and Penn State trailed Maryland 8-4 to end the half.

Have some work to do at No. 9 Maryland.

Taylor Regan leads the Lions with two goals.#WeAre pic.twitter.com/gfQwMXl5eZ

— Penn State Women’s Lacrosse (@PennStateWLAX) April 8, 2022

Cordingley opened up the scoring for the third quarter and received her hat-trick for the game. The Terrapins led 9-4 with 12:35 to go in the third quarter.

Gretchen Gilmore received a yellow card and put her team a man down, but Penn State took a timeout after Bowan had two beautiful saves. Gilmore made up for her yellow card and scored Penn State’s first goal of the third quarter to break the Nittany Lion’s scoring drought. Penn State trailed 9-5 with 3:14 left in the third.

Bowan had another great save with her leg and held Maryland to only one goal throughout the third quarter. Penn State trailed 9-4 heading into the fourth frame.

The Terrapins scored the first goal for both teams since the third quarter after a quick clear down the field. The Nittany Lions trailed 10-5 with 10:56 left in the fourth. Cordingley scored again and recorded her fifth goal of the game. She received her 43rd goal of the season.

Following another Maryland goal, Penn State received its third yellow card of the game, but Hoss scored a man-down goal for Penn State. The Nittany Lions had made just one of five free-position shots before this attempt, but this one was good. Penn State trailed 12-6 with 4:50 left in the game.

Maryland went on to score one more before the game ended. Penn State held strong for the first 20 minutes of the second half but succumbed to Maryland’s offense with about 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter. By the end, the Nittany Lions fell 13-6 to the Terrapins.

Bowan with a career high 13 saves between the pipes tonight in College Park.

We will be rocking lime green back at home April 12th to face Pitt in our HEADstrong game! pic.twitter.com/VgsNA0kXGr

— Penn State Women’s Lacrosse (@PennStateWLAX) April 8, 2022

Takeaways

• Following a very tough effort on draw control against Northwestern, Penn State was able to take more control of draws against Maryland. Penn State had eight draw controls compared to Maryland’s 15. Still, it is a huge improvement from the Nittany Lions’ previous game, and they held strong up until the fourth quarter.
• Ashley Bowan was on fire and recorded her career-high saves for a game. She saved 13 against Maryland and almost shut the Terrapins out in the third quarter.
• Freshman Ellie Hollin has really showed her defensive strength throughout the season and was a huge presence in today’s game against Maryland. She will be a player to watch throughout her career with the Nittany Lions.
• The Nittany Lions need to focus on shot accuracy and turnovers. Penn State scored only six goals on 23 shots and shot itself in the foot with 16 turnovers.

What’s Next?

Penn State will return home against Pitt on Tuesday, April 12. Catch the game on BTN+ at 4 p.m.