Penn State (6-7, 4-2 Big Ten) took down No. 22 USC (9-4, 2-4 Big Ten) 16-8 on Sunday afternoon in Panzer Stadium.

The Nittany Lions started off strong against the Trojans by scoring early and maintaining pressure on the Trojans throughout the first half of the game. Coming out of halftime, the Nittany Lions looked like a brand-new team with a new level of aggression and composure to score 10 goals in the second half and pull off another win.

How It Happened

The Nittany Lions decided to switch things up by starting senior Ashley Bowan in cage over sophomore Sydney Manning. Erika Ho headed to center field to take the opening draw for Penn State.

Ho secured the ball on the opening draw and immediately went into Trojan territory. Ally Lipkin attempted to take a shot on goal, but her attempt went high, allowing for the Trojans to recover the ball.

USC capitalized on this recovery and carried the ball down the field and past Bowan for the first goal of the afternoon.

Penn State answered quickly by securing the following draw and clearing the ball into Trojan territory. After passing the ball around with the shot clock winding down, MacKinney finally put the ball in the back of the cage.

Once again, Ho secures the following draw but quickly loses it to USC. The Trojans recovered the ball in a ground ball pick up and clear it into Nittany Lions territory. However, the Trojans quickly lost the ball due to a forced turnover by Lilly Spilker, and Lauren Salz recovered the ball for Penn State.

Saltz lost the ball, but Ho recovered and took a shot on goal. Ho’s goal soured past the Trojan goalie, and the Nittany Lions pulled ahead 2-1.

Feeling the pressure, USC decided to add more pressure to Penn State’s offense and force turnovers. After Ho secured the following draw and dished the ball to Brooke Hoss, Hoss was forced into a turnover and fouled. USC won the ball and took a shot on goal. Bowan saved the attempt but couldn’t recover the ball. A foul on Spilker allowed USC to score off of a free-position attempt.

USC kept the momentum going by scoring less than a minute later after securing its first draw control of the match.

Trailing by one, the Nittany Lions tried to maintain composure. Ho secured the ball off of the draw, and a foul on USC gave Penn State a free position attempt, and Ho tied the match 3-3.

The following seven minutes of the quarter are a back and forth between both teams, with multiple missed shots and four fouls on USC with neither team able to get a shot off.

Entering the second quarter with a tied game, the Nittany Lions started slow and couldn’t stop USC. The Trojans scored twice within the first three minutes of the quarter, and the Nittany Lions took a timeout.

The timeout seemed to help the Nittany Lions gain composure as Salz gained possession from the draw control. However, for the next five minutes, the Nittany Lions didn’t do much with the ball. Finally, after a foul on USC, Penn State took a free-position shot. Brooke Long ended the scoring drought for the Nittany Lions and brought the match to 5-4.

USC answered quickly, though, after recovering a turnover by MacKinney and clearing the ball into Nittany Lion territory, allowing Kaylee Fravert to create a two-point deficit and score the sixth goal for the Trojans.

This goal seemed to snap the Nittany Lions back into reality, as they dominated the following five minutes.

Saltz snatched the ball off of the following draw and immediately sent the ball down the field into the Trojan territory. Ellie Wisch tried to get a shot off, but the attempt went high. A foul on USC allowed Penn State to take a free position attempt, allowing Maddie Greco to secure her first goal of the season.

Ho also secured the following draw, but a turnover by Payton Wainman allowed USC to clear the ball down the field. A foul on Penn State gave USC the opportunity to score off of a free position attempt, but Bowan made the save. The failed shot was recovered by Penn State, and Ho took a shot on goal when reaching the Trojan cage.

Ho’s attempt hit the post but was recovered by Greco, who passed to Wisch for the sixth goal of the match, tying the game before heading into halftime.

Manning switched in for Bowan to start the third quarter.

Coming out of the half, the Nittany Lions looked like a new team with more energy and composure. Within the first quarter, Ho secured the draw, and a foul on USC made it easy for Saltz to work her way past Trojan defenders to open the scoring for the second half.

The Nittany Lions continued to score back to back and looked as though they were running circles around the Trojan defense. With the Nittany Lions pulling ahead 9-6, the Trojans began to scramble to get another goal on the board.

On the next draw, Ho couldn’t get there in time, which allowed USC to secure the ball. After securing the ball, the Trojans found a way to quickly move past the Nittany Lions’ defense and end their scoring drought.

Penn State seemed unfazed by this goal as it scored a minute later off of a save from Manning, despite multiple fouls on Spilker.

The following six minutes of the quarter showcased a dogfight between the Nittany Lions’ defense and the USC offense. After a failed shot on Manning, USC forced a turnover on the Nittany Lions.

Unable to do much with the ball, USC took a timeout.

The timeout seemed to only hurt USC as Long forced a turnover on USC with a Penn State recovery. This allowed the Nittany Lions to move the ball back into Trojan territory and for MacKinney to take a shot on the cage. The attempt went wide, and a shot clock violation allowed the Trojans to recover the ball. This possession didn’t last long, though, as Long forced yet another turnover, and Maggie Golder was there to recover.

Hoss took a shot on cage, but the attempt went high. Emma Kelly was there to recover the failed attempt and quickly took another shot and scored Penn State’s 11th goal of the match before heading into the final quarter.

The Nittany Lions entered the fourth quarter looking like the best version of themselves thus far in the match.

Starting off the quarter strong, Ellie Hollin secured the opening draw and immediately sent the ball down the field to the Nittany Lion offenders in Trojan territory. Both Saltz and Ho tried to get a goal, but their attempts failed. A foul on USC, though, allowed Kelly to get a goal and start the scoring spree for the Nittany Lions.

Over the following five minutes, the Nittany Lions scored thrice more, with goals from Wisch, Long, and Ho. With six minutes left in the match and Penn State up 15-7, things started to slow down for both teams. There was continuous back and forth between both teams until the two-minute mark, where a green card on USC gave the Nittany Lions an advantage to score while a man up.

USC seems to get a spurt of energy with a minute left and forces Ho into a turnover. The Trojans recovered the ball and scored their eighth goal to close out the final quarter of the match.

Takeaways

• The Nittany Lions absolutely dominated this game, mostly because of their draw possession. Ho, Saltz, and Hollin didn’t just win draws, but they maintained possession after securing the draw.
• Penn State capitalized on its shots on goal in a huge way compared to USC. Penn State scored 16 of its 20 shots on goal as opposed to 8 for 18 for USC.
• The Nittany Lions are truly starting to find their groove in their end-of-season games, with Golder and Manning being a strong pillar for the defense and working with Ho to effectively move the ball into the opposing territory.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions head on the road to take on No. 5 Johns Hopkins at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in Baltimore, Maryland