Penn State women’s lacrosse (2-1) defeated St. Joseph’s (0-3) 13-11 on Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia for its first win on the road this season.

The Nittany Lions were led by Lauren Saltz on offense, who scored four goals, while goaltender Sydney Manning made five saves.

How It Happened

Penn State won the faceoff, but St. Joseph’s didn’t take long to take over. After MaryRose Berry scooped up a ground ball, Sarah Groark scored her fifth goal on the year to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead inside two minutes.

The Nittany Lions responded quickly, though. After Ellie Hollin forced a turnover, Penn State controlled the ball for the next two minutes and notched three shots. The third shot from Elise Smigiel tied the game with just under 10 minutes left in the first quarter.

Penn State took its first lead a few minutes later, as Saltz found the back of the net with five minutes left in the first quarter.

The Hawks took over possession after Saltz’s goal, firing off two shots in 10 seconds, both of which missed their mark. After two changes in possession, St. Joseph’s made another push down Penn State’s end of the field in the last minute, but couldn’t find the net.

Penn State started the second quarter off strong with a goal from Ally Lipkin from a free-position shot. Within 40 seconds, Saltz notched her second goal of the day to give the Nittany Lions a 4-1 lead.

After a yellow card to Erika Ho, St. Joseph’s pulled one back as Bella Miceli scored with 12 minutes left in the first half. A moment later, however, Penn State stretched its lead back out to 5-2 through another goal from Lipkin.

Ho scored from a free-position shot with nine minutes left as Penn State poured on the offense. Emma Yoder brought St. Joseph’s deficit back by one a few moments later, as the Hawks trailed 6-3 with seven minutes left in the half. Kate Fuhrman then scored one herself for the Hawks after assisting Yoder as the hosts made a push on offense.

After earning a free-position shot, Smigiel gave Penn State a goal with four minutes left in the second quarter before Alexa Capozzoli scored for the Hawks seconds later.

With just seconds left in the half, St. Joseph’s recovered a shot attempt from Ho, sent the ball up the field, and picked up a goal from Groark to make the score 7-6.

Ninety seconds into the third quarter, Yoder tied the game with a free-position shot. Another 90 seconds later, Saltz gave Penn State the lead back with a goal of her own. Within another minute, Ho made the score 9-7 for the Nittany Lions.

After several minutes of back-and-forth offense, Emma Kelly extended Penn State’s lead via a free-position shot with six minutes left in the quarter. After another five minutes, Lauren Iorio brought the Hawks’ deficit back to two goals to close out the third quarter.

Between several free-position shots and shots from open play, Penn State made a strong push in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to extend its lead. Kelly eventually broke through to make the score 11-8 with just under eight minutes left in the game.

Saltz seemed to seal the game with another goal with two minutes later, though Fuhrman responded seconds later.

Lipkin and Groark traded scores as Penn State led 13-10 with 2:35 left. Yoder scored again from a free-position shot with 1:38 left before the Nittany Lions burned a timeout. Despite Yoder’s goal, the Hawks couldn’t put anything together late as Penn State picked up the 13-11 win.

Takeaways

• Penn State’s initial offensive explosion was crucial to its win, as those opening goals proved the difference for the rest of the game.
• The Nittany Lions, despite a late push from St. Joseph’s held strong to their lead. While it lacked offense to start the fourth quarter, Penn State went blow-for-blow to end the game.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions head to the other side of the commonwealth on Tuesday to take on Pitt at 4 p.m. from Highmark Stadium. Folks can watch the game on ACCNX.