Penn State Drops Third in a Row in 12-9 Loss to Michigan

Story posted March 19, 2021 in CommRadio, Sports by Kathryn Tague

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Coming off of a two-loss series against Northwestern, Penn State couldn’t pick up a win against Michigan, extending its streak to three in the 12-9 defeat.

The first half was back-and-forth, as the Nittany Lions had an answer to each of Michigan’s first three goals. The home team led at the end of the first half 4-3.

Olivia Dirks, coming off a Big Ten Player of the Week performance, dominated draw control in the first half, and freshman Kristen O’Neill found the net four different times throughout the game.

This was not, however, enough to overcome Michigan’s dominant second half; Penn State’s lead did not last long.

The Wolverines scored four fast goals in under three minutes following halftime with the first two coming from Maggie Kane less than 20 seconds apart.

Penn State slowed down Michigan’s momentum but could not recover from the beginning of the second half. The Nittany Lions remained scoreless in the half for seven minutes before finally cutting the lead to two.

The Wolverines gave up a total of eight free positions throughout the game, but the Nittany Lions couldn’t capitalize, scoring only twice on these opportunities.

Junior Mary Muldoon and senior captain Maria Auth both had two goals each with one of Auth’s cutting the lead in the second half to one.

But Michigan answered with three goals in the next few minutes, extending its lead to four—its largest of the game—with 12 minutes remaining.

All in all, Penn State’s defense held Michigan to only three goals in the first half but allowed nine goals in the final 30 minutes. Goalie Taylor Suplee recorded half as many saves as Michigan’s Arielle Weissman, who finished with 14.

The Nittany Lions will look for consistency to help clean things up when they face the Wolverines again on Sunday at 10 a.m. in Panzer Stadium in hopes of turning their now-losing record around.

 

Kathryn Tague is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email kgt5061@psu.edu.