Penn State Stays Unbeaten After a Defensive Struggle with Arizona State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Friday afternoon’s matchup for the No. 25 Penn State women’s lacrosse team (4-0 overall) was a stark contrast from the team’s first three games of the season.
A team that had scored no less than 15 goals in each of those contests was held to just eight on this occasion, but the Nittany Lions leaned on their defense to topple Arizona State (1-1 overall) by a final score of 8-4.
The victory kept Penn State undefeated entering March and also allowed the Nittany Lions to surpass their home-game win total from all of last season, which was three.
While defense was the name of the game, the offenses showed life throughout the first quarter. After only recording one goal in the previous game against Duquesne, Kristin O’Neill started the scoring on a second-chance goal just three minutes and 10 seconds into the game.
On the very next possession, Gretchen Gilmore found the back of the net, giving the Blue and White a quick 2-0 lead.
But the Sun Devils answered quickly, as Teagan Ng quickly found paydirt after recording a hat trick in her collegiate debut against St. Bonaventure.
Kaylon Buckner fired a free position shot into the net shortly after, before Penn State got back on the board courtesy of an Alania Hamood goal, which made it a 3-2 contest after the opening quarter.
Gilmore scored again in the early stages of the second quarter, but a fast-break goal from the Sun Devils’ Kaitlyn Skamas and Lydia Oldknow’s slicing goal through two defenders knotted the game back up at 4 with 6:34 remaining in the first half. Unforeseen to anyone at the time, that goal would be the last that Arizona State would score for the remainder of the contest.
What proved to be the go-ahead goal came with 15 seconds left in the half, as Hamood rocketed one over the head of goalie Katie Vahle to give the Nittany Lions a one-goal lead at the break.
The beginning of the third quarter saw an explosion from O’Neill, as she grabbed control of the opening draw and took it all the way for a goal just 10 seconds into the half. Just over a minute later, O’Neill made a beautiful cut to set herself up for another clean look that she connected on, giving her a hat trick and her team a 7-4 lead.
The story then shifted to the defensive end for almost the entirety of the second half, as both teams clamped down around the goal, and both goalies corralled some amazing saves. All told, Vahle recorded 16 saves on 24 shots, while Penn State goalie Ashley Bowan collected five saves on nine shots as the goalies stifled both attacks.
After 25 minutes and 30 seconds without a goal on either side, Lauren Saltz fired home the clincher with 2:53 to go in the game, allowing Penn State to cruise comfortably from there to an 8-4 victory.
The task of holding a team scoreless for more than 35 minutes of lacrosse was no small feat and one that head coach Missy Doherty had to commend her team for after the game.
“I think we did a good job of kind of taking the wind out of their sails in the second half,” Doherty said. “Shots – certainly today – were not falling for us during the game. But I think we stayed relatively disciplined, we limited our turnovers too which was nice.”
“We’re playing really well as a defensive unit right now and everyone’s contributing,” defender Sammy Dupcak said following the win. “We got great goalie play today, and then all of our midfielders and defenders all had great games. We were just really communicating well.”
Penn State will wrap up its home-game stretch to begin the season with a matchup against currently-unbeaten Loyola next Saturday, March 4.
Kasey Kreider is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email kmk6865@psu.edu.
