Penn State women’s lacrosse (5-0, 0-0 Big Ten) handled Drexel (2-2, 0-0 CAA) 16-3 early Sunday morning.

The Nittany Lions were unopposed for the majority of the game, scoring thirteen unanswered goals through just over two quarters of play. Drexel managed only four shots on Penn State goalkeeper Sydney Manning, who made all four saves. Payton Wainman sank five of Penn State’s 16 goals and tallied an assist.

How It Happened

Penn State won the opening faceoff, and within fourteen seconds, Maddie Greco gave it a 1-0 lead. Possession changed between teams from multiple turnovers, and just five minutes after its first goal, Ellie Wisch tacked another on for Penn State.

Drexel won the following draw control, but Penn State’s Maggie Driver caused a turnover and put her team in transition. At 8:44, Delaney Radin scored Penn State’s third goal, and thirty seconds later, assisted on the fourth goal, which was scored by Rocquette Allen.

Penn State scored four more goals to close out the first quarter, two by Anna Salerno on free position shots, and the other two scored by Wainman and Elizabeth Anne, respectively.

It entered the second quarter with an 8-0 lead, and Drexel had yet to manage a shot on goal.

The second quarter slowed down for Penn State, at least from a scoring aspect. Manning collected her first save of the game from Drexel’s Ellie Wall just over a minute into the frame. Penn State capitalized on a man-up opportunity at the 11-minute mark, and Anne collected her second goal of the game.

Defenses prevailed in the next five minutes. Drexel had a few good opportunities, but ultimately shot wide or into Manning, who tabbed two more saves. Following a successful clear, Penn State established an offense, and Allen dished a pass to Kelly MacKinney, who put the Nittany Lions into double-digits.

Wainman scored the next two goals for Penn State, securing a hat-trick with just a few minutes remaining in the first half.

Two minutes into the second half, Drexel’s Katie Maloney was called for a yellow card. Emma Kelly converted a free position shot for Penn State, and extended its lead to 13-0.

Drexel finally got on the board with nine minutes left in the third when Anne Madden scored on the newly-installed keeper, Arden Jansen. It took seven more minutes for Kate Quinn to put Drexel’s second goal on the board.

Penn State entered the final quarter with a 13-2 lead, but did not let up. Wainman sank her fourth and fifth goals of the game in the first five minutes and tallied her sole assist for the final goal of the game.

Drexel managed to score halfway through the quarter, but the Nittany Lions kept it out of the offensive territory long enough for any hope to dissipate.

Takeaways

• Payton Wainman lit up the stat sheet with five goals, and an assist, leading the Nittany Lion’s offense to a successful Sunday morning.
• Sydney Manning earned her first shutout of the season, needing to play only 30 minutes before Arden Jansen took over the goal.
• A collective effort by Ellie Wisch, Delaney Radin, Maddie Greco, and Rocquette Allen put Penn State ahead four goals just seven minutes into play.

What’s Next?

Penn State heads to Ithaca, New York, to take on Cornell at 3 p.m. on Saturday, February 28.