By Michael Renahan, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lions showcased their offensive power in a 20-14 win against conference rival Vanderbilt, Sunday afternoon.

Vanderbilt jumped out to an early two-goal lead, but the Nittany Lions fought back to take the lead and would not trail the rest of the way.

Penn State has not lost at home this season, out-scoring opponents 51-28. Holuba hall was filled for the Saint Patrick's Day showdown.

Maggie McCormick had six points to lead the charge offensively for the Nittany Lions. She netted five goals and assisted on one other. McCormick, a sophomore attacker, is leading Penn State with 25 goals and 16 assists. She lead the Nittany Lions in points in 2012 as a freshman, and is on pace to do so again.

Along with McCormick, freshman midfielder Jenna Mosketti continued her early season success with three goals of her own and an assist. Mosketti is part of a freshman class that head coach Missy Doherty has been very impressed with. She has 14 goals through the first eight games and has been a huge part of a young defense getting their feet set.

The Nittany Lions out-shot the Commodores 30-28.  The victory was a complete team effort for Penn State. Coming off losses against top teams like Cornell and Maryland, Doherty stressed to her team they needed to put together a full 60 minutes. They achieved that goal Sunday afternoon.  

"I thought it was good. I thought it was good play, our team stayed aggressive they looked a lot faster than they looked before, which was great. I think we just need to start making some more solid defensive stops, but overall we played great today. They hustled well, they stayed in it competitively and it was a nice win," Doherty said.

Twenty goals is the season high for the Nittany Lions (5-3, 1-0). Doherty and her team have been able to rely on the heavy offensive pressure they put on teams to help get victories. Penn State already has six players with over ten goals in 2013.

"It's great. Our offense has been a strength for us all season, having a lot of people score has been great. They really play well together, they see each other well, which you could kind of see today," Doherty said.

The American Lacrosse conference is known for its toughness and top tier teams. Vanderbilt (1-8, 0-2), who always plays Penn State hard, is a good confidence boost for the Nittany Lions. The team starts with a conference win for the third year in a row and looks to build on the success.

"It was great. Vanderbilt is always tough, they had some close losses this season and we knew they are a top program. It was great to come in and give them our all, and it was what we had to do to win against them. You can't come in with half effort and expect to win against a team like that," Doherty said.

The Nittany Lions also stepped up their defensive play. As a team, they created 14 turnovers and freshman goalkeeper Emi Smith had 6 saves in the victory. They also had several key stops late in the game to stop a Commodore comeback attempt.

"Katie Guy had some great turnovers there towards the end, really making a difference," Doherty said. "Our offense was working on all cylinders today which was good to see and they worked great together got a lot of goals from a lot of people so it was nice to see them gel."

Guy finished her day with four caused turnovers, four groundballs and two draw-controls. Also playing well defensively was Madison Cyr, who created four turnovers of her own and grabbed two groundballs.

"When you're facing two competitive teams the 50-50 balls are 50-50. We wanted to work harder in the second half to come up with some of those but Vanderbilt was working hard for them too. We always want to continue to get better at that," Doherty said.

The win marks their ninth all-time against Vanderbilt. Their next conference showdown is against No. 2 Florida on March 30.

The Nittany Lions now turn their attention to a showdown with Drexel on Friday. The Dragons entered the weekend 6-1 on the season. This will be the first time the two teams are meeting up under Doherty.

The game is set for a 7 p.m. start at Drexel.