May 5, 2011
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| ALC Honorees: Coach Amanda O’Leary, Rookie Alyssa Leonard, Goalkeeper Dana Cahill and Player Kitty Cullen. |
NASHVILLE – Ohio State and Penn State advanced through the first round of the 2011 American Lacrosse Conference Tournament Thursday with a pair of quarterfinal victories. The Buckeyes will face top seeded Florida on Friday, May 6, at 3 p.m. CT, while the Nittany Lions take on Northwestern at approximately 5:30 p.m. Both games will be played at the Vanderbilt Lacrosse Complex
The Buckeyes advanced with a narrow 14-13 victory over the homestanding Commodores, VU’s second one-goal loss to OSU this season. Last month in Columbus, Ohio State won a 17-16 decision over Vanderbilt.
Thursday’s game saw Ohio State take a 9-4 lead into half after scoring twice in the last 22 seconds of the period. Vanderbilt would climb back into the game behind five straight goals to open the second half, tying the score at 9-9 with 22:48 to play. But the Commodores would never take the lead and OSU score three of the game’s next four goals.
Vanderbilt got back with one with 2:57 to play on a goal by freshman Abby Wheeler, but could not find the back of the net again. OSU keeper Annie Carruthers made 15 saves, including nine in the second half.
Buckeye Brittney Zerhusen led all scorers with seven points on five goals and two assists. VU was paced by senior Katherine Denkler and junior Courtney Kirk with three goals apiece.
In the day’s second game, Penn State jumped out to an 8-2 halftime lead and won, 17-11, though the teams played even in the second half. PSU’s Jen Steadman had four goals and two assists while Hopkins’ Colleen McCaffrey had four goals.
The winners of Friday’s semifinal matchup will meet at 1 p.m. CT on Saturday for the ALC Championship. Links to live video streams and Gametracker statistics of all tournament games are available HERE.
