Penn State women’s lacrosse (3-4, 1-0 Big Ten) went down to the wire and upset No. 22 Rutgers (5-2, 0-1 Big Ten) in overtime to snap a three-game losing streak on a rainy Saturday afternoon in Piscataway.

The Nittany Lions went down 4-0 in the first quarter but used a Gretchen Gilmore hat trick to crawl back into the game and take their first lead in the third quarter. After a low-scoring second half, Gilmore netted the game-winner on the first possession of overtime.

How It Happened

Rutgers won the opening draw and earned the game’s first possession, which resulted in a Payton Tini shot saved by Sydney Manning. On the other end, Penn State turned the ball over on a shot clock violation on its first chance.

The Nittany Lions killed off a pair of early offside penalties, but just over five minutes into the game, Victoria Goldrick found a cutting Cassidy Spilis who netted her 27th goal of the season to put Rutgers up 1-0.

Rutgers wasted no time on the ensuing possession as Ava Kane freed herself in front of the net, received a pass from Jess Beneducci, and put the ball past Manning for the Scarlet Knights’ second goal in under a minute.

The offensive struggles continued early for Penn State, unable to attempt a shot and turning it back over to the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers marched slowly down the field where Ashley Moynahan was fouled, giving her an eight-meter attempt, which she took herself and converted.

After going down 3-0 with six and a half minutes left in the first quarter, the Nittany Lions called their first timeout. After the break, Kayla Abernathy won the faceoff via a violation, but Penn State turned the ball over for a fifth time.

Ellie Hollin was given a yellow card to give Rutgers another player-up opportunity, which it used to take a 4-0 lead after swinging the ball around and finding Spilis for her second goal of the game. Emalie Clothier caused another blue-and-white turnover on the other side with under three minutes remaining in the opening frame.

With 1:04 left in the quarter, Gilmore finally put a shot on goal for Penn State from the top of the circle, but Sophia Cardello made the stick save look easy. Rutgers was unable to build any offensive chances before the conclusion of the quarter but took a 4-0 lead into the second quarter.

Just over one minute into the second quarter, Gilmore took a free position shot to beat Cardello to the top right corner and got Penn State on the board, cutting the Rutgers lead to 4-1.

The three-goal deficit didn’t last long, as Lily Dixon scored to extend the lead back to four just one minute later. However, the back-and-forth second quarter continued when Brooke Hoss bounced the ball into the bottom right for a goal on a straight-away free position.

Penn State crawled closer, cutting Rutgers’ lead to 5-3 with 9:44 to play in the first half, as Kristin O’Neill scored in the same way Hoss did to force the first Rutgers timeout of the game.

Thirteen seconds after breaking the huddle, Spilis netted her third of the game after adjusting her body to catch a pass from Tini, tip-toeing the crease, and finding the back of the net to make the score 6-3.

Gilmore had another answer, scoring an unassisted, left-handed goal while moving to the right side of the crease. After a cross-checking penalty against Emalie Clothier, Kara Nealon looped around the net and put in her first goal of the season to make the score 6-5.

With 3:25 left in the first half, Gilmore assisted Payton Wainman in front of the left post, who let a contested shot fly into the twine to tie the game at 6-6 with a man-up goal.

Sixteen seconds before heading to the locker room, Rutgers went back on top after a scoring drought of more than eight minutes. Kayleigh Coughlin ran through the Penn State defense and shot it just inside the right post for a goal.

After replacing Manning, Ashley Bowan made her first save on a Tini shot with the clock winding down, and Rutgers took its one-goal lead into halftime.

Bowan made two more saves on Spilis in the opening moments of the second half, including one on a free shot, to keep Penn State’s deficit at one.

On an eight-meter attempt just over five minutes into the third quarter, Meghan Murray went from the right side to the center of the field, putting it off the crossbar and in to even the score at 7-7 with the half’s first goal.

Less than one minute later, Gilmore sliced her way to the front of the net with the ball in her stick. She hit the top half of the goal to earn a hat trick and give Penn State its first lead of the day at 8-7.

Both teams had a scoring opportunity in the closing seconds of the quarter, but neither of them could capitalize, and Penn State entered the final 15 minutes with a one-goal advantage following a third-quarter shutout.

Cardello faced a test two minutes into the final frame with Cam Evitts’ head-on free position but made the save. O’Neill had an equal chance a couple of minutes later but shot it wide of the net.

With 10:16 remaining, the blue and white took a timeout after a Rutgers turnover was picked up by Sammy Dupcak.

The two teams went nearly three minutes without any offensive production before Murray gave Penn State a cushion. After receiving a pass high on the wing, Murray ran left to right, pumped twice, and scored her second of the game to take a 9-7 lead.

MEG

Q4 07:19 | PSU 9, Rutgers 7 pic.twitter.com/CDsmqcWRRe

— Penn State Women’s Lacrosse (@PennStateWLAX) March 9, 2024

Murray almost scored again a minute later but had her close attempt blocked while falling to the turf. After going the other way, Murray knocked the ball out of Kate Carolonza’s stick to force a turnover. However, she gave it right back to Spilis and Rutgers, which called a timeout immediately.

The timeout proved to be a good one, as Spilis scored her fourth of the game and 30th of the season on a free position with 4:37 left to cut the Penn State lead to one with the Scarlet Knights’ first second-half goal. Moynahan won the draw for Rutgers, but Rachel Spilker caused a turnover and cleared the ball to the offensive zone.

Rutgers got a stop with two minutes to play and quickly transitioned to an offensive set. From behind the net, Dixon rifled it into Spilis, who took in the pass and dropped it past the inside post for her fifth goal to make it a 9-9 game with 1:24 to go.

A scoreboard malfunction sent both teams to their respective benches before then being told to go to the locker room for several minutes. The entire control system was replaced, and the SHI Stadium operations staff resolved the issue.

On the final possession of the game, the Penn State defense didn’t allow a shot on goal, sending the game to a golden-goal overtime with the score knotted at 9-9.

Abernathy won the draw to begin overtime and assisted Gilmore for the game-winning goal 1:28 into the period, giving Penn State an upset victory over the Scarlet Knights.

Takeaways

• There was very limited passing cohesion in the first quarter for Penn State, as it was unable to set up any legitimate scoring opportunity and went almost 14 minutes without a shot on goal.
• The Nittany Lions’ defense stepped up in a big way in the third quarter, not giving the Rutgers attackers any room to put much power under their shots and holding them to zero goals in the 15 minutes.
• Gilmore found a stride for the Nittany Lions late in the first half and was the key piece in the win, scoring four goals on nine shots.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions will search to reach .500 when they travel to Lehigh at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, March 12.