No. 25 Penn State women’s lacrosse (3-0) dominated Duquesne (0-3) in a 19-5 victory at Panzer Stadium Tuesday.

Senior Meghan Murray tallied a hat trick to add another strike to the Nittany Lions’ win column and continue its undefeated streak.

How It Happened

Penn State started the scoring early when Alaina Hamood netted her fifth goal of the season just 90 seconds into the game. Duquesne responded about three minutes later with a tying goal from Delaney Rodriguez-Shaw.

Cam Evitts won the draw for Penn State and ran the ball into Duke territory and right into the back of the net to put Penn State back on top. Brooke Hoss quickly followed with a free position shot past goalie Mady Piersielak to make things 3-1 midway through the quarter. The Nittany Lions kept control of the game and Gretchen Gilmore found herself wide open and connected with the back of the net.

Mackenzie Leszczynski found a breakthrough past Nittany Lions goaltender Ashley Bowan and the Dukes notched their second goal of the game to trail Penn State by two.

In the closing minutes of the quarter, Hamood found herself in a one-on-one attack with the Piersielak and converted to extend the Nittany Lions’ lead to 5-2.

After a few minutes of a back-and-forth to start the second quarter, Regan Nealon converted her free position shot for Penn State. Penn State won the draw and sent the ball down the field for Brooke Barger to score. The Nittany Lions again won the draw and kept possession as Hamood connected with Kara Nealon to put another shot through Piersielak’s reach with 10:02 left in the half. By this time Penn State led the Dukes 8-2.

Penn State kept possession in its attack and Murray beat Duquesne’s defense to find the back of the net once again. The Dukes responded as Rodriguez-Shaw scored off a free-position shot for their first goal of the quarter to end the half 9-3.

The Nittany Lions won the opening draw in the second half and fought on the attack for sophomore Lauren Saltz to win a ground ball and immediately convert. Thirty seconds later, Hoss snuck one by Piersielak.

Penn State continued to dominate and Evitts bounced a shot in. Murray secured enough space to throw it past the defense and scored two in a row to secure her hat trick. Kristin O’Neill joined the scoresheet to end the third quarter 15-3 in a high-scoring quarter featuring six goals.

Penn State won the draw to start the fourth quarter and took a mere 16 seconds for Barger to find the back of the net. Penn State’s lead continued to increase as Ally Lipkin scored her first goal of the season to tack on to the Nittany Lions’ 17-3 lead.

Duquesne found a breakthrough for its first goal of the half with 9:36 left to play. The Nittany Lions answered back and allowed Elise Smigiel to notch the 18th goal of the afternoon. The Dukes came back and Rodriguez-Shaw put one past Bowan to secure her hat trick, and despite the accomplishment, it was an ugly outing for the Duquesne.

Kelsey Kimmel won a free-position shot with 30 seconds left and hit it high into the net for Penn State to end the game 19-5.

Takeaways:

• Fourteen different Penn State players scored in the game today as the team’s offense continues to dominate. Even when opponents try to silence big players like Kristin O’Neill, Penn State has enough talent across the board to step up. If the Nittany Lions’ opponents’ game plans include marking one player in attempts to shut down Penn State’s offense, they have quite a few other offensive sparks to worry about.
• Penn State held Duquesne to only six shots on goal as it dominated possession in the game. The team is moving as a unit and outplaying its opponents, but its real test will come against Big Ten opponents. Penn State’s defense hasn’t truly been tested yet with such a strong offense in opening play.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will take on Arizona State for the first time in program history at 3 p.m. on Friday, February 24, at Panzer Stadium.