Penn State survives quarterfinal clash against the Buckeyes

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- The Nittany Lions survive a close match in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament on Saturday afternoon by a score of 15-13.

Both teams remained well within reach of each other throughout the game, as both sides maintained a lead at certain points of the day, but neither could hold their lead for long.

The Buckeyes opened up the scoring three minutes in with a goal from Emily Magalotti as the team showed an all-around effort to open up the game.

Penn State coach Missy Doherty talked about the slow start, “I think that we were playing just a little bit flat in the first half, we needed to step up and get in front of more plays, whether it's offensively or even defensively getting ahead of the ball. They picked up the pace with the things they were doing and were able to make some really nice plays.”

On the defensive side for Penn State, they were able to limit the number of free position shots for the Buckeyes, only giving up four free position goals on eight attempts. This was ultimately a huge factor in the game as the Nittany Lions scored on eight out of their 20 free position attempts.

The Nittany Lions also out-battled the Buckeyes in other key stats such as ground balls (17-7) turnovers (9-10) and draw controls (18-13), with Kayla Abernathy earning her 200th draw control of her career.

The game remained close throughout the rest of the first half and into the third quarter. Though the Buckeyes came out firing in the fourth, scoring two goals to make it an 11-9 game.

This seemed to have lit a fire under the Nittany Lions, as they answered back with five unanswered goals of their own.

Coach Doherty noted the uptick in aggression as one of the catalysts for that scoring run in the fourth, “I think they just got a little more decisive, quicker ball movement to open some things up.”

Meghan Murray started the run with back-to-back goals within a one minute span, each on free position shots for her second and third goals of the day.

Gretchen Gilmore then followed with her fourth goal of the day, and Kara Nealon scored her fourth goal of the season to extend the lead by two going into the final six minutes of play.

While Kristen O'Neill was held in check for most of the day, she finally found the back of the net for her team-leading 42nd goal this year, coming on her sixth shot attempt of the day to make it 14-11.

After that, it felt like all of the wind had been taken out of the Buckeyes’ sails, and with just four and a half minutes remaining, they were unable to claw their way back into it.

Both Murray and Emma Kelly were perfect in their free position shot attempts (2-2), and it proved to be the deciding factor in this high-scoring thriller.

Penn State scored one more for insurance from Abernathy with just over a minute and a half on the clock and the Nittany Lions eked out a close win sending them to the semifinals of the Big Ten tournament.

Carson Schuler is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him please email cts5357@psu.edu.