Penn State Tops Johns Hopkins in OT

Story posted March 23, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Joe Skinner

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - On a frigid night at Panzer Stadium, the Penn State Nittany Lions (7-4, 2-0 B1G) looked to get back to their winning ways after having a four game winning streak snapped against Princeton on Monday.  In a tale of two halves, the Nittany Lions beat the Johns Hopkins Blue Jays (7-3, 0-2 B1G) in a top-25 matchup, 13-12 in overtime. 

“One of [senior Katie O’Donnell’s] nicknames is game-winner, she always comes up with a huge play at a huge time,” Penn State head coach Missy Doherty said.

The game got off to a fast start as the two teams combined for eight goals in the first ten minutes of the first half.  Sophomore Maria Auth scored her first of four goals on the night for Penn State, a team-leading stat for the night, and the Nittany Lions went on a 7-1 scoring run to give them a four goal lead at the 9:21 mark of the first half.

The final 10 minutes went back-and-forth the Blue Jays and the Nittany Lions tried to take the lead into the locker room. 

“It feels great for our players because there’s been so many one point games this year where I feel like we’ve played well,” Doherty said.  “To have that again tonight with two teams playing really, really well and come up with a win is just a great feeling.”

Johns Hopkins was able to fight their way back into the game by grabbing five of the first seven goals in the second half.  Three of the goals came from sophomore Maggie Schneidereith, who had a team-leading five goals on the night. 

Heading into the final four minutes of a tie game.  Penn State freshman Lucy Lowe made several key saves in big situations to send the game to overtime.  On one of the few stats that Penn State held the advantage in, Lowe was able to make more saves than Johns Hopkins junior Haley Crosson at a 12-9 clip.

“Just to get this win tonight means the world to me,” O’Donnell said.  “We’ve had very up and down [games], those one goal losses are heartbreakers and to come on the other side of that has been absolutely amazing.”

As the game head into overtime, Penn State needed a boost after giving up six of the final eight goals in regulation.  As the senior captain, O’Donnell brought the team together to pull out another big conference win.

“We’ve always had great team chemistry, but for it to come together in a win tonight is huge,” O’Donnell said.  “Everyone’s positive attitude is unbelievable and I couldn’t ask for more as a captain.”

Only 27 seconds into the first overtime, O’Donnell was able to beat Crosson for her 31st goal of the season and third of the night to finish off Johns Hopkins.

The win pushed Doherty to the century mark in wins on her eight year career as the head coach of Penn State.  At 100, she sits at third in all-time coaching wins in the history of the women’s lacrosse program.

The Nittany Lions hit the road for another Big Ten game in Columbus as they take on Ohio State, as the Blue Jays return home to Baltimore for a conference game against Northwestern.

 

Joe Skinner is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism.  To contact him, email jcs6108@psu.edu.