COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 23, 2004 - The 19th-ranked Penn State women¡¯s lacrosse team defeated Ohio State, 13-10, Friday night in Columbus, Ohio. The Nittany Lions improve to 5-9 for the season and 2-2 in the American Lacrosse Conference while the Buckeyes fall to 4-9 and 1-4 in the ALC.
Junior Kristen Burke (Severna Park, Md.) scored a career-high five goals on nine shots in the contest while sophomores Shari Maslin (New City, N.Y.) and Lori Havrilla (Devon, Pa.) each scored two. Seniors Katie Jeschke (Ellicott City, Md.), Katie Hartman (Annapolis, Md.) and Steph Curnoles (Baltimore, Md.) and junior Emily Chambers (Valley Cottage, N.Y.) each scored one goal in the contest with Maslin adding two assists and Jeschke and senior Jamie Donahue (Oreland, Pa.) notching one each.
Junior goalkeeper Lee Tortorelli (Havertown, Pa.) recorded 12 saves in the game, also notching two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior Janique Craig (Doylestown, Pa.) posted a team-high three ground balls and three caused turnovers in the win.
Burke opened scoring less than two minutes into the game before Ohio State tied the game at 1-1 at the 6:18 mark. Chambers put the Lions back on top at 7:19 before taking a hard hit and leaving the field on a stretcher as a precautionary measure (she is ok). After a 20-minute medical break, Hartman gave Penn State the 3-1 advantage, scoring on a free position shot before Ohio State¡¯s Caroline Weatherill scored her first of six goals in the game. A Maslin score made the tally 4-2 at the 17:32 mark before back to back Weatherill goals in the next two minutes tied the game at 4-4. A Jeschke free position goal with less than 10 minutes remaining in the half put Penn State on top, 5-4 and a Burke goal off a pass from Maslin made the score 6-4. Havrilla put the ball in the back of the net after rebounding a shot off the pipe from freshman Karen Long (Ellicott City, Md.) just two seconds before halftime to give Penn State the 7-4 lead going into the break.
OSU¡¯s Weatherill opened up scoring in the second half and the Buckeyes¡¯ Regina Oliver scored off a free position shot at 37:03 to trim Penn State¡¯s lead to one at 7-6. But Burke responded with consecutive goals less than a minute apart and Curnoles added a tally 30 seconds later to give the Nittany Lions the 10-6 advantage. Weatherill and Oliver notched back to back goals with just over 12 minutes remaining in the contest to pull Ohio State within two at 10-8. Burke combined with Maslin for her fifth goal of the game at the 50:27 mark before Weatherill posted another score at 51:57. Havrilla scored off the ensuing draw and Ohio State¡¯s KC Carter brought the score to 12-10 in Penn State¡¯s favor with just under eight minutes remaining but Maslin¡¯s goal at 54:12 sealed Penn State¡¯s 13-10 victory.
Penn State travels to face Ohio on Sunday, April 25 at noon before returning home to host Johns Hopkins at noon on Saturday, May 1.
For more information on the Penn State women¡¯s lacrosse team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.
