STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The No. 19 Towson University women's lacrosse team staged a furious second half rally but it was not enough as No. 7 Penn State held on for a 13-11 victory on Saturday afternoon. Junior midfielder Kaitlyn Montalbano and senior attacker Samantha Brookhart led the Tigers with three points each.

THE BASICS
No. 7 Penn State 13, No. 19 Towson 11
Holuba Hall, State College, Pa.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Penn State (2-0) opened the scoring with a goal from Steph Lazo at 28:32 of the first half. That goal started a 7-0 run by the home team to open the game.
• Lazo had three goals during that run, two of which came on free position shots.
• The run was capped by Katie O'Donnell goal at 14:35.
• The Tigers got on the board at the 13 minute mark. Senior defender Kelly McQuilkin forced the turnover by Penn State and the Tigers brought the ball up the field. Senior midfielder Michaela Duranti then passed the ball to Brookhart, who fired it home for the goal.
• Sophomore attacker Natalie Sulmonte scored the Tigers' second goal at 9:44.
• Penn State tallied the final two goals of the half and took a 9-2 lead at the half.
• Towson won the opening draw and went right to goal. The Tigers scored as junior midfielder Emily Gillingham found the back of the net off a pass from Montalbano.
• That goal was part of a 6-0 run by the Tigers (0-2) to start the second half and pulled the Tigers to within one, 9-8 with 9:12 to play.
• Montalbano scored both of her goals during that run while freshman midfielder Shelby Stack scored her first career goal on a free position shot.
• Penn State answered the Towson run with a 4-0 scoring spurt of its own. The Nittany Lions pushed their lead back to five, 13-8 with 3:41 left on the clock.
• Towson got goals from Gillingham and Duranti within 32 seconds of each other, which made it a 13-10 game with 2:16 to go in the game.
• Sulmonte scored her second of the game with 1:21 to play, which pulled the Tigers to within two 13-11. - - Towson got a shot off in the final 40 seconds but could not complete the comeback as Penn State earned the 13-11 win.

 
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• The game was the second straight for the Tigers against a team ranked in the top 10 of the coaches poll.
• Penn State held a 29-18 edge in shots, though the Tigers outshot the Nittany Lions 15-12 in the second half.
• Towson made nine saves to Penn State's four in the game. Angie Benson started the game and made four saves while Kiley Keating made five saves in relief action.
• Montalbano and Brookhart led Towson with two goals and an assist each. Brookhart added two groundballs and two draw controls while Montalbano had a groundball and a draw control.
• Freshman defender Sami Chenoweth led the defensive efforts with four groundballs and three caused turnovers.
• Lazo led Penn State with five goals and one assist.

The Tigers are back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 15 as they travel to local rival UMBC. Opening draw in that contest is set for 4 p.m.