In a back and forth battle that saw 11 lead changes and required sudden victory overtime to settle the game, the 11th ranked Penn State women’s lacrosse team came away with a 14-13 upset at No. 2 Florida to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals for the fourth time in five years.
Nittany Lion junior Steph Lazo scored the game-winner 15 seconds into the second half of the first overtime to send Penn State on to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 7 Penn on Saturday at Penn State Lacrosse Field.
Lazo had four points on the day, including the game-winning goal and three assists. Sophomore Katie O’Donnell led with five goals and senior Madison Cyr had six points with four goals and two assists. Cyr has scored in every game this season and moved into sixth place all-time at Penn State with 152 career goals. Her 195 career points are 13th all-time at Penn State.
Senior Jenna Mosketti’s unassisted effort with 11:21 remaining knotted the game at 13. For the final 6:30, the Gators stalled to control for the last shot. On the last play of regulation, Floriday’s free-position chance was stopped by senior goalkeeper Emi Smith. The ball then struck the post and rolled to the goal line with Smith coming up with the save to send the game to overtime.
‘Our defense ended up making some great stops to finish the game and did an awesome job of coming up with the stops when we really needed it,’ Penn State Coach Missy Doherty said after the game. ‘That’s how you win those games, putting those shots away and making those saves at critical times. On that last shot [of regulation] I don’t really know what happened there but [Smith] saved it and we were able to come up with the big goal at the end.
The win was Penn State’s second in seven tries against the Gators. It was also Penn State’s second win in seven games at Gainesville’s Dizney Stadium, with the first win coming Friday in a 16-6 win over Winthrop in the NCAA first round.
