#3 Terps Return Home to Face #15 Penn State
4/18/2018 12:00:00 AM | Women's Lacrosse
vs 
For starters
• The No. 3 Maryland women's lacrosse team (14-1, 4-0 B1G) will return home for the final two regular season games of 2018. First up, the Terps will face No. 15 Penn State (9-5, 3-1 B1G) on Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. on the Big Ten Network. Jason Knapp and Sheehan Stanwick Burch will have the call.
• Maryland heads into this weekend's contest with a 14-1 record and No. 3 ranking. Last week, the Terps grabbed two wins over No. 20 Princeton and Ohio State. Maryland came from four goals down to knock off the Tigers, 11-10, before dominating the Buckeyes in Columbus, 20-5.
• Megan Whittle (56 goals, 12 assists) leads the team with 68 points, while Caroline Steele (41 goals, 14 assists) stands in second with 55. Whittle leads the Big Ten in many offensive categories, including goals per game (3.73), points per game (4.53) and free position percentage (69.0%) and is second in the country in free position goals per game with 1.93, after scoring a career-best six against UMBC. Steele ranks second in the conference in points (55), fourth in free position percentage (55%) and fifth in goals (46).
• Playing one of the nation's toughest schedules, Maryland has gone 8-1 against ranked teams and 5-1 against teams in the top-ten, only falling narrowly in overtime at #8 North Carolina. The Terps still have two ranked contests remaining, against Penn State and Northwestern.
• Maryland is on a 72-game win streak at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex and hasn't lost in College Park since March 10, 2012.
last time out
• Megan Whittle notched her 268th career goal with 24:16 remaining in the first half to become Maryland's all-time goal leader, as the Terps routed Ohio State, 20-5 on Sunday afternoon.
• As a whole, Maryland had a season-best five players notch hat-tricks to lead the offensive charge. Caroline Steele led the way, tying a career-high with seven points that she set earlier this season in a win over then-No. 8 Syracuse. Steele had five goals and two assist and Jen Giles each had four points, with Hartshorn notching four goals and Giles picking up three goals with an assist. Whittle and Meghan Siverson each posted three goals.
scouting the NITTANY LIONS
• Penn State stands at 9-5 (3-1 B1G) this season, falling to Northwestern, 17-13 on Saturday.
• The trio of Maria Auth, Katie O'Donnell and Madison Carter lead Penn State, totaling 52, 50 and 45 points apiece.
terps-NITTANY LIONS history
• Maryland leads the all-time series with Penn State, 39-14-1.
• The two programs met twice last season, with the second meeting coming in the National Semifinal. Jen Giles notched a career-high eight points on four goals and four assists to pace Maryland to a 20-10 victory. Kali Hartshorn and Taylor Hensh both added four goals for the Terps, while Megan Taylor made 10 saves to propel Maryland to its fifth straight NCAA Championship game. Maryland's 20 goals set a new NCAA semifinal game record.
WHITTLE BECOMES ALL-TIME GOALS LEADER
• Last week, Megan Whittle both tied and passed Maryland great Jen Adams for the all-time goal lead at Maryland.
• Whittle tied Adams with a second half goal against Princeton, which kickstarted a game-ending 7-2 run to cap off a Terrapin comeback. On Sunday against Ohio State, Whittle broke the record on free position in the first half, going on to score three more goals for a current total of 270.
• Whittle is currently fourth all-time in NCAA history in goals and stands only one behind Marsha Florio (Penn State, 1982-85) for third all-time.
CONTROLLING THE DRAW
• As a team, Maryland stands third in the the nation and leads the Big Ten in draw controls per game, with 16.67, with Kali Hartshorn, Meghan Siverson and Lizzie Colson leading the charge.
• Hartshorn has posted a career-best 12 draw controls twice this season, against #8 UNC (2/24) and Ohio State (4/15). Siverson then had a career-high of her own, 13 draw controls against UMBC (2/28). Against Michigan (3/31), Colson stepped up and recorded a career-best seven draw controls, as Maryland won the battle 17-10.
• Maryland has 250 as a team through 15 games, with Siverson, Hartshorn and Colson combining for 190 of those (76.0%).
MAGNIFICENT MEGAN
• In the second half of the season, Megan Taylor has been a force in the cage. The junior has 71 saves, with only 61 goals allowed, a .538 save percentage and only 7.32 goals allowed per game over the last nine games.
• In a 13-7 win over No. 8 Penn, Taylor tied her season-high with 13 saves and recorded her highest save percentage of the season at .650 in the win at Penn.
• Against Virginia and Rutgers, Taylor only allowed 10 goals while recording 15 saves, a .600 percentage. Taylor was essential on a Maryland defense that held the #6 team in the country to just eight goals. Against Rutgers, Taylor came in 19 minutes in and only allowed two goals in 41 minutes, while recording seven saves.
• The junior had her second best mark of the season with 12 saves against No. 19 Princeton, including only allowing two goals over the last 20 minutes down the stretch.
• Taylor has been key on a Maryland defense that has only allowed its opponent to reach double-digit goals twice over the last nine games.
HARTSHORN HEATING UP
• Kali Hartshorn has been on fire over the past few games, spurring the offense. Hartshorn has 11 goals over the last four games, while winning 31 draw controls.
• The reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year is second in the Big Ten with 6.13 draw controls per game and leads the Maryland team which ranks third in the country in draw controls per game with 16.67.
rack up the honors
• This season, Maryland has received a lot of recognition, both on the conference and national level.
• The Terps have won 11 Big Ten honors this season, with Lizzie Colson winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week four times, Megan Whittle winning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week four times, Megan Taylor winning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week three times and Grace Griffin earning Big Ten Freshman of the Week recognition once.
• On the national level, five Terps were named to the initial Tewaaraton Watch List on March 1st. Senior attacker Megan Whittle and a quartet of juniors: defender Julia Braig, midfielder Jen Giles, attacker Caroline Steele and goalie Megan Taylor were all selected for the watch list.
• Lastly, Megan Whittle has garnered two national honors this season, being named the IWLCA National Player of the Week on 3/28 and the Brine/US Lacrosse National Player of the Week for her efforts this past week..
Where the terps rank
• As a team, Maryland ranks top-ten in the nation and first in the Big Ten in six major categories, including leading the nation in shots per game:
| Stat | NCAA Rank | B1G Rank | Value |
| Free Position Percentage | 3rd | 1st | 53.6% |
| Draw Controls Per Game | 3rd | 1st | 16.67 |
| Shots Per Game | 4th | 1st | 35.93 |
| Scoring Margin | 7th | 1st | 69.3 |
• Individually, Megan Whittle leads the Big Ten and ranks top ten nationally in two categories:
| Stat | NCAA Rank | B1G Rank | Value |
| Free Position Goals Per Game | 2nd | 1st | 1.93 |
| Goals | 6th | 1st | 56 |
