UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 19, 2007 ¨C After finishing its longest road stretch of the season with a 2-1 record, the No. 6 Penn State women¡¯s lacrosse team (5-1) returns home to Holuba Hall for a 6:30 p.m. contest with intrastate foe Temple (2-3) on Tues., March 20. The Nittany Lions remain undefeated at home this year after opening the 2007 campaign with consecutive wins over Delaware, Bucknell, and Colgate.
Penn State notched its biggest win of the season on Saturday when the Nittany Lions knocked off No. 8 Princeton, 8-7, in come-from-behind fashion. Down 4-2 at the break, Penn State rallied in the second half to score six straight goals while holding the Tigers scoreless for over 20 minutes to gain the key non-conference victory. Senior Lindsay Dutch (Ellicott City, Md.) led the Lions with three goals and an assist. Junior Jessi Lieb (Villanova, Pa.) and sophomore Mariel Bryan (Folsom, Pa.) added two goals each.
Temple began the season with consecutive losses to ranked teams Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Virginia. The Owls have reversed that trend of late and enter Tuesday night¡¯s match-up winners of two straight after downing Marist (17-4) at home and Brown (13-10) on the road.
Senior midfielder Allison Frengs is Temple¡¯s top offensive threat, as she leads the team in goals (13), points (15), and draw controls (9). Her game-high five points lifted the Owls to their win over Brown. Junior Nicole Caniglia and senior Casey Cech are also key contributors on the attack. Goalkeeper Bridget McMullan has started all five games for Temple, compiling a 11.95 goals against average.
Penn State owns a 14-12-0 record in its all-time series with Temple, including a 9-6 victory over the Owls in Philadelphia in 2006. If recent history is any indication, the Penn State-Temple contest will be low scoring, as each team has failed to score in double figures in their last three meetings.
The Nittany Lions will wrap up their week-long, two-game home stand on Sun., March 25 when they take on their first ALC opponent of the season, No. 18 Vanderbilt (4-3). The crucial intraconference contest will be played at its originally scheduled time of 12 p.m. in Holuba Hall. A year ago, Penn State got a late goal from then-freshman Kerry Shea (Baltimore, Md.) to edge Vanderbilt, 9-8, in Nashville, Tenn. in its season opener.
