Women's Lacrosse: Regular season to wrap up with visit from No. 6 Penn State

The No.18 women's lacrosse team will have one final tune-up before the Ivy League tournament with its last regular season game against No.6 Penn State this weekend. If they win, the Tigers (9-5 overall, 6-1 Ivy League) will finish the season undefeated at home, and can improve their record to increase their chances of obtaining an at-large bid in the NCAA tournament should they fail to win the Ivy League tournament.

Princeton and Penn State (11-4, 4-1 ALC) have a series history dating back to 1982. The Tigers currently lead the series 20-12 and have dominated the Nittany Lions in recent years, winning the previous four meetings. Last year, the two teams also faced off in the regular season finale, and the Tigers left University Park with a 13-12 overtime win.

This year, both teams enter Saturday's matchup coming off of narrow road victories. Princeton beat Dartmouth by a score of 15-13, while Penn State scored a last minute goal to edge out a Johns Hopkins team that the Tigers also defeated earlier in the season. In addition to the Blue Jays, Princeton and Penn State have each played Cornell, Maryland and Virginia and come away with a 1-2 record in those games. Princeton's win came against Cornell, while Penn State's victory was over Virginia. The scores across these games were similar, suggesting that this Saturday's game will be a hard-fought battle despite Penn State's higher ranking. Playing the game at home will likely be to the Tigers' advantage as the Nittany Lions are also undefeated at home, but are only 4-4 on the road.

Penn State is riding a four game winning streak and has the 13th best scoring offense in the nation, with an average of 13.8 goals per game. Leading the offensive charge is attack Maggie McCormick who netted three goals and dished out three assists in her team's previous game. Her 39 goals, 30 assists, and 39 points are all team-highs. While McCormick is the main offensive threat, Penn State also has several consistent scorers as five other players have scored at least 22 goals.

Due to its scoring depth, Penn State has a slight advantage on offense over Princeton, which averages just under two fewer goals per game. The Tigers, however, have a much higher free position conversion rate and a stronger defense. Compared to the Nittany Lions', the Tigers' defense has given up almost one less goal per game. Princeton will need a consistent defensive effort in order to ward off the attacks of Penn State's potent offense, which scores nearly as many goals in the second period as in the first.

"Last week we did a really good job at the end of the game, but we need to do a better job throughout the whole game especially at the defensive end and sticking to our goals as a team," junior midfielder Sarah Lloyd said.

Lloyd later added that maintaining one-on-one defense, as well as winning extra possessions from 50-50 balls and draw controls will be especially crucial to the team's success this weekend. The importance of winning draw controls was evident in Princeton's game against Dartmouth as the Tigers were able to jump out to an early 5-1 lead by winning possession in the first seven draws.

Princeton and Penn State will square off at 1 p.m. on Saturday at 1952 Stadium. In addition to it being Senior Day, the Tigers are dedicating the game to Autism Awareness and will be selling t-shirts and tanks to raise money for the Eden Autism Services.