This week I will be writing about our Women’s Lacrosse team and their most recent match on Sunday the 23rd. Our 25th ranked Women’s Lacrosse team had dominant performances on the attack and in the goal on Sunday to earn a 19-9 win over Cornell at Panzer Stadium. The Nittany Lions blitzed out to a 12-4 lead at the half. Penn State improved to 4-0 on the season, while Cornell dropped to 2-1.

Sophomore Taylor Suplee was outstanding protecting the net, making 20 saves in 51 minutes of action. Suplee bettered her career high of 18 against Maryland in the 2019 Big Ten Semifinals. It marked her 12th career double-digit save performance and her third this season.

On attack, nine different Nittany Lions scored at least one goal. Senior Maria Auth led Penn State with six points, including four goals and two assists. She has at least three goals in all four games this season. Sophomore Lauren Craft and senior Yasmain Hamood each had three goals and an assist, while junior Quinn Nicolai scored three times. Sophia Triandafils recorded two goals, while Olivia Dirks, Shannon Moore and Mary Muldoon each had one. Senior Katie Schluederberg dished out two assists, while Meghan Murray and Regan Nealon each contributed one assist.

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Cornell was led by Caroline Allen’s three goals. Shannon Brazier collected two goals and two assists, while Katie Castiello scored twice. Grace Paletta and Isabel Zachara each had one goal. Katie McGahan made seven saves.

Penn State began the game on a 5-0 run, including a pair of goals each by Auth and Nicolai. Triandafils added a free-position tally. However, the Big Red slowed the run with back-to-back goals by Brazier and Castiello. But then, Craft ignited a 4-0 run off an assist by Murray. Triandafils and Nicolai both found the net again before Muldoon scored on a free-position look to give the Nittany Lions a 9-2 advantage with 12:23 remaining in the half.

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Cornell again answered with a pair of goals, this time by Allen and Brazier on free-position attempts.

The Nittany Lions closed the half on a 3-0 run, including a free-position goal each from Hamood and Auth. Craft scored again on a one-timer off an assist by Schluederberg. Penn State held a 12-4 lead at the half.

Penn State started the second half as it closed the first, with another 3-0 run. All three goals came off free-position attempts, including tallies by Auth, Dirks and Roberto.

Cornell answered with a goal by Allen, but Hamood and Craft found the net to extend the lead back to 17-5 with 18:43 remaining. A Big Red goal by Castiello preceded two more scores by the Nittany Lions. Hamood found the net off an assist by Nealon before Moore scored on a free-position attempt to give Penn State a 19-6 advantage.

Cornell scored the final three goals of the game, with one each by Allen, Zachara and Paletta.

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The Nittany Lions conclude their four-game home streak next Saturday, February 29 against 12th ranked Loyola. First draw is at 1 p.m. at Panzer Stadium with a live stream on BTN Plus. A group of Penn State players will be doing a post-game autograph session on the concourse.

Tickets will be available at the stadium, and I fully recommend going to watch another one of our many ranked Penn State sports in action. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth aged 12 and under.

This week I am going to be writing about the Penn State men’s volleyball team. On Friday evening, the Nittany Lions played Princeton at home at Rec Hall. I played volleyball in high school, so this was a lot of fun to look in to and read about. While I couldn’t go to this match, I plan on attending several more volleyball matches by the end of this year.

The 10th-ranked Penn State men’s volleyball team roared to a big comeback victory, winning three-straight sets to down No. 11 Princeton, 3-1. The scores in each of the sets were 20-25, 25-23, 25-20, and finally 25-19.

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After dropping set one and grinding out a set two win, the Nittany Lions hit .473 (33-7-55) in the third and fourth sets to roll to five and six-point wins in the last two games.

The Nittany Lions snapped Princeton’s three-match win streak with the win and ended the Tigers’ five-match win streak over PSU since the 2018 season.

In the first set, both teams were tied 9-9 when the Nittany Lions went on a 5-0 run, with four points coming behind the serve of Brett Wildman. The run included an ace by the sophomore and two kills from senior Jason Donorovich.

Princeton slowly worked its way back with a four-point run later to pull within one at 16-15 and the Tigers eventually took lead at 19-18 and did not look back, ending the first game on a 16-6 run after taking a timeout all the way back when Penn State led at 14-9.

In set two, Penn State got a service ace from Henrik Falck Lauten to make it 7-4 as a part of a three-point rally that gave PSU an 8-4 lead.

Princeton pulled the margin within as close as two at several points and even managed to pull within one late a couple of times with both teams in the 20s, but Penn State persevered to win the game after a big block from Sam Marsh and Wildman plus a Princeton error gave the Nittany Lions its final two points needed.

Penn State made a lineup change in the third set by inserting Bobby Wilden to the rotation and the Nittany Lions found a much smoother offensive rhythm. Princeton led 6-2 early, but the Nittany Lions clawed their way back to tie the score 11-11 and take a 13-12 edge on a Wilden kill.

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PSU hit .481 (16-3-27) after posting hitting percentages of .097 and .154 in the first two sets. Back-to-back kills from Wildman and Wilden at 16-14 put momentum on Penn State’s side and the Nittany Lions never looked back, taking the set by five, 25-20.

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The Nittany Lions came out with a closers’ mentality in the fourth game to put the match away. Penn State had three kills in a row from Wildman, Wilden, and Donorovich to lead 13-8 and force a Princeton timeout.

Penn State’s lead swelled to nine points at 19-10 after two more Wilden kills and a Princeton attack error and the Nittany Lions wouldn’t allow the Tigers to recover, ending the match with a 25-19 win in game four.

Up next, Penn State will be playing at Sacred Heart University, Friday at 6.

This week I am going to be writing about the Penn State men’s wrestling team. Admittedly, I do not have an extensive knowledge of wrestling, but for this blog I am trying to learn what I can. On Sunday, the Nittany Lions wrestled against the Minnesota Gophers, securing a big win of 31-10. The Penn State Nittany Lions are 10-2, 7-1 in the Big Ten. In comparison, the Minnesota Gophers are 9-4, 4-3 in Big Ten matchups.

Penn State won seven of ten bouts in this win, never letting Minnesota see the light of day. There was never a doubt in this one, and the Nittany Lions just used it to display their dominance. Penn State is wrapping up of a run of four-of-five road duals in 16 days, including action at Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota. All rankings listed are InterMat, the official wrestling rankings of the Big Ten Conference.

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The dual began at 125 where freshman Brandon Meredith, from Limerick Pennsylvania, received a forfeit victory to give the Nittany Lions an early 6-0 lead. Sophomore Roman Bravo-Young, from Tucson, Arizona, ranked No. 2 at 133, put on a takedown clinic in a 23-8 tech fall over Boo Dryden.

Junior Nick Lee, from Evansville Indiana, ranked No. 2 at 141, took on No. 5 Mitch McKee in one of the dual’s most anticipated matchups. The Nittany Lion junior took care of things quickly however, taking McKee down midway through the first period, locking up a cradle and pinning the fifth-ranked Gopher at the 1:56 mark to put the Nittany Lions up 17-0.

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Junior Luke Gardner, from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, moved up to 157 for the dual and nearly took down gopher Ryan Thomas, but a late counter takedown was the difference in a 5-4 Thomas victory. Penn State led 17-6 at intermission.

Senior Vincenzo Joseph, from Pittsburgh, ranked No. 1 at 165, dominated Gopher Bailee O’Reilly to open up the second half. Joseph rolled up five takedowns in a 14-5 major decision to put Penn State up 21-6.

Senior Mark Hall, from Apple Valley, Minnesota, ranked No. 2 at 174, then took on No. 8 Devin Skatzka and continued Penn State’s trend of winning. Hall used three takedowns to win 7-4 over the eighth-ranked Gopher and Penn State led 24-6.

True freshman Aaron Brooks, from Hagerstown, Maryland, ranked No. 7 at 184, the clinched the dual meet with a dominant 13-3 major over Minnesota’s Owen Webster. Brooks’ win put the Lions up 28-6 with two bouts remaining.

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Senior Shakur Rasheed, from Coram, New York, ranked No. 18 at 197, held off a late rally from Gopher Garrett Joles and posted a 7-5 win with 3:32 in riding time.

True freshman Seth Nevills, from Clovis, California, ranked No. 15 at 285, took on No. 1 Gable Steveson in the dual’s final matchup and dropped a 13-5 major.

The Nittany Lions walked away with a second dominating road win in three days, 31-10 over the Gophers. Penn State rolled up a lopsided 27-11 advantage in takedowns.

Up next, Penn State hosts No. 3 Ohio State in the 2020 BJC Dual on Saturday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. The second ranked Nittany Lions will have a great matchup with the rival Buckeyes, and I would recommend watching it for any students, whether you are familiar with wrestling or not.

Even though last week I wrote about Penn States’s mens basketball team’s win against Michigan, I couldn’t resist writing about the mens basketball team twice in a row. On Tuesday night, our Nittany Lions played the sixteenth ranked Michigan State Spartans, winning with a final score of 75-70. Penn State came into the game ranked twenty second. After this game, it will be interesting to see how the rankings change and hopefully how much Penn State rises.

The Nittany Lions (17-5, 7-5 Big Ten) have won five straight games in the Big Ten for the first time and have become contenders in the conference during the second half of the regular season.

“It’s great that we’re in the position we’re in, but if you focus on that, that’s when you start to slip,” Chambers said.

The Spartans (16-7, 8-4) dropped consecutive games for the first time this season. They also lost to a Big Ten team at home for the first time this year.

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Michigan State’s Cassius Winston scored 25 points, but could not convert on two chances to pull into a tie in the closing seconds. Lamar Stevens had 24 points and Myreon Jones made a career-high six 3-pointers and scored 20 points. Stevens made two free throws to give Penn State a three-point lead with 16 seconds left. Winston had an opportunity to tie the game with a three-point play on the ensuing possession, but missed the free throw. Stevens then made two free throws to restore the three-point lead with 9.1 seconds left.

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The Spartans were then forced to foul Curtis Jones, who made two free throws to seal Penn State’s first victory at Michigan State since 2009 and just the second in 25 games.

Penn State was in control for much of the game, leading by as much as 11 in the first half and by six at halftime. The Nittany Lions played with composure in the second half when the Spartans tried to rally.

The program has already matched its total of Big Ten victories last season and should surpass its school record of 10 Big Ten wins. The Nittany Lions have set a school record with four road wins in the Big Ten.

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After this great win over a ranked Big Ten rival, the Nittany Lions seem to have unlimited potential, and the players and fans are surely looking ahead to March with high hopes. The Nittany Lions are in a position to earn an NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 in their final season under coach Ed DeChellis (knock on wood). However, it is still February and I don’t want to get ahead of myself. Just have to take it one game at a time.

On Saturday, Penn State will host Minnesota in another Big Ten matchup. Tickets will be sold for $5 in the HUB on Thursday and Friday from 3-5. I highly recommend buying tickets and attending it should be a great game (it’s also whiteout so wear anything white you can find). The game will tip off at 4 pm.