UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State women’s lacrosse continues its hot streak in Big Ten play to earn the No. 25 rank in the Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association’s newest rankings.
The Nittany Lions struggled early in the season but have now won their last five conference games, including wins against No. 13 Michigan, No. 22 USC and Ohio State.
The most recent match was against USC at Panzer Stadium on Sunday, April 13, for senior night. Penn State took a dominant 16-8 win, led by four goals from Erika Ho, Brooke Long, Ellie Wisch and Emma Kelly also scored multiple goals in the win.
Lauren Saltz was awarded the Big Ten Midfielder of the Week for her all-around performance. She recorded one goal and an assist, while also picking up three ground balls and winning three draw controls.
Long also earned recognition with the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. It was her first career hat trick from the midfield, also adding two caused turnovers and two ground balls.
The win streak came to an end on Wednesday, April 16, against No. 7 Johns Hopkins. The Nittany Lions fought hard losing 11-12 after a game winning goal in the fourth quarter.
The men’s team has also started a little win streak with its second in a row against Johns Hopkins on Saturday, April 12.
From the jump it was the Matt Traynor show. The senior attackmen scored seven of the teams 10 goals and assisted on the eighth. For his accomplishments, he was named AXIA Time Men’s DI Player of the Week.
Traynor has been rising as a PLL prospect in many people’s eyes this season and this game is sure to help.
Hunter Aquino also received recognition for his efforts with Big Ten Freshman of the Week. The midfielder had a goal, a caused turnover and two ground balls.
Another positive was the defense, which was able to effectively switch from a zone to man throughout the game to confuse the Blue Jays. Kevin Parnham led the way with three caused turnovers while Alex Ross helped out in the transition game a ton.
The men’s team kept the momentum rolling against No. 19 Rutgers on senior night. An all-around team game saw no one score more than two goals in a 12-4 win. This gave the Nittany Lions the third seed in the Big Ten tournament.
They will face off against Johns Hopkins once again in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at noon on Saturday, April 26, in Happy Valley.
