UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 24, 2007 - A yearlong wait for payback proved to be well worth it for the Penn State women's lacrosse team, as the No. 14 Nittany Lions defeated visiting Delaware, 15-10, in their season and home opener Saturday afternoon in Holuba Hall. The win avenges Penn State's last-minute, one-goal loss suffered at the hands of the Blue Hens in 2006; a setback that would ultimately harm the Lions' aspirations for a postseason bid.

Today's victory also gives Penn State's its third straight in season openers. The previous two years, the Nittany Lions knocked off American Lacrosse Conference foe Vanderbilt to start the season.

Lindsay Dutch (Ellicott City, Md.) stole the Holuba Hall spotlight, putting together a career day. The senior attacker led the Lion offense with five goals and four assists. Senior tri-captain Karen Long (Ellicott City, Md.) added three scores and sophomore Kerry Shea (Baltimore, Md.) proved she is undoubtedly back at full strength with a two-goal, two-assist performance.

Long, Dutch, Shea, and sophomore Marisa Lozano (Pittsburgh, Pa.) all netted goals before Delaware got on the board, as Penn State took a 4-0 lead halfway through the first period. Delaware scored a goal in the 15th minute of the first half to cut the deficit to three but it was the closest UD would be all game.

The Blue Hens offense struggled early without their 2006 leading scorer Casey McCrudden, as the Nittany Lions then scored six straight goals to make the score 9-1. Penn State outshot Delaware 36-24 for the game, including a 20-9 advantage in the first half. Dutch had two goals and an assist during the run. All the bounces were going Penn State's way, as Lozano had a pass go off the Delaware goalkeeper's back and into the net. The Blue Hens scored two goals at the end of the first half, making the score 9-3 at the break.

Karen Long scored less than a minute into the second half and the two teams would begin trading goals for the remainder of the game. Neither team scored more than two consecutive goals in the second half. The highlight of the second half for Penn State was freshman Mary LeNoir (Timonium, Md.) scoring her first career goal for the Nittany Lions. Her goal gave Penn State an 11-4 lead with 22 minutes to play in the game. Delaware would then score the next two goals, but Penn State would answer with Jessi Lieb (Villanova, Pa.) slashing to the net and scoring her second goal of the game. Lindsay Dutch had two more goals and Karen Long had one more to round out the scoring for Penn State.

Senior Cammie Jurkowsky (Annapolis, Md.) recorded five saves in goal, picking up her first win of the season.

The Nittany Lions remain at home for their next contest, a 1 p.m. match-up with regional rival Bucknell on Wed., Feb. 28 in Holuba Hall. Penn State owns a perfect 11-0-0 all-time record versus the Bison, including last season's 19-5 rout in Lewisburg.

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UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- Senior Katie Muth tallied a team-high four goals, but the University of Delaware was unable to battle back from a big halftime deficit and fell to No. 14 Penn State in its season opener Saturday afternoon.

The Blue Hens (0-1), who finished 5-12 overall last season, were led by Muth's career-high tying four goals, and by freshman Nicole Flego, who added three goals and two assists in the loss.

Penn State (1-0), who finished 8-8 last season, scored the first four goals of the game before Delaware got on the board at the 14:13 mark of the first period on Flego's firsts career goal. The Nittany Lions then responded by scoring the next five goals, including two by Lindsay Dutch, who scored a game-high five goals, to give Penn State a commanding 9-1 lead. Muth and sophomore Alexis Curcio added consecutive goals but the Hens still trailed 9-3 entering halftime.

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2007-02-24