The Penn State Nittany Lions women's lacrosse team is an NCAA Division I college lacrosse team representing Pennsylvania State University as part of the Big Ten Conference. They play their home games at Panzer Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania.

Coach

The Nittany Lions have been coached by Missy Doherty since 2011. Doherty was a 1997 graduate of the University of Maryland, where she won 3 national titles and amassed a 68–2 record playing lacrosse there. She spent time as an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, Brown, and Princeton from 1998 to 2003, playing an important part of Princeton's back-to-back national titles in 2002 and 2003. In 2004 she became head coach at Towson, and the next year led the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament appearance in school history, which resulted in a one-goal loss to #5 Georgetown in the first round. Doherty's Tigers made three more appearances in 2008, 2009, and 2010 before she moved to State College in 2011 to coach the Nittany Lions. While at Towson she amassed a 79–46 record.

After a rebuilding 2011 season, Doherty led Penn State to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years in 2012, and the quarterfinal for the first time in thirteen years as well. Penn State has made seven straight NCAA Tournament appearances under her watch from 2012 to 2018, including five quarterfinals and back-to-back Final Fours in 2016 and 2017.

Historical statistics OverallYears of Lacrosse 621st Season 1965Head coaches 10All-Time Record 603–323–5 Big Ten gamesBig Ten season W-L record (Since 2015) 34–31Big Ten Titles 0Big Ten Tournament Titles 1 NCAA TournamentNCAA Appearances 27NCAA W-L record 23–25Final Fours 11Championship Games 4NCAA National Championships 2*Statistics through 2026 season

Individual career records

Reference: RecordNumberPlayerYears Goals 271 Marsha Florio 1982–85 Assists 137 Maggie McCormick 2012–15 Points 380 Marsha Florio 1982–85 Draw Controls 278 Jenna Mosketti 2013–16 Saves 735 Lee Tortorelli 2002–05 Save % .725 Jody Field 1976–79 GAA 3.51 Jody Field 1976–79

Individual single-season records RecordNumberPlayerYear Goals 79 Marsha Florio 1985 Assists 51 Megan Smith 1990 Points 109 Marsha Florio 1985 Saves 219 Lee Tortorelli 2004 Save % .748 Jody Field 1979 GAA 3.10 Jody Field 1977

Seasons

Postseason Results

The Nittany Lions have appeared in 27 NCAA tournaments. Their postseason record, including third place games, is 23–25. Year SeedRoundOpponentScore 1983 – QuarterfinalSemifinalThird Place PennDelawareMassachusetts W, 12–2L, 5–7W, 7–6 (ot) 1984 – Quarterfinal Delaware L, 9–10 1985 – Semifinal Maryland L, 11–12 (3ot) 1986 – SemifinalFinal TempleMaryland W, 8–7L, 10–11 1987 – SemifinalFinal VirginiaTemple W, 14–9W, 7–6 1988 – QuarterfinalSemifinalFinal NorthwesternLafayetteTemple W, 12–6W, 8–6L, 7–15 1989 – SemifinalFinal TempleHarvard W, 9–3W, 7–6 1990 – Quarterfinal Temple L, 4–9 1991 – QuarterfinalSemifinal LafayetteVirginia W, 11–9L, 5–10 1992 – Quarterfinal Virginia L, 5–11 1993 – Quarterfinal Princeton L, 7–11 1995 – QuarterfinalSemifinal James MadisonMaryland W, 11–7L, 7–12 1996 – Quarterfinal Princeton L, 9–13 1997 – Quarterfinal Maryland L, 2–6 1999 – First RoundQuarterfinalSemifinal West Chester#4 Princeton#1 Maryland W, 23–7W, 9–7 (ot)L, 13–17 2001 #13 First Round #4 Dartmouth L, 7–9 2005 #7 First Round North Carolina L, 6–7 (3ot) 2012 – First RoundQuarterfinal #8 Towson#1 Florida W, 15–8L, 2–15 2013 #7 First RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinal CanisiusMassachusetts#2 Northwestern W, 14–13W, 12–9L, 7–15 2014 – First Round Princeton L, 13–16 2015 – First RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinal Johns Hopkins#7 Virginia#2 North Carolina W, 14–11W, 13–11L, 8–11 2016 – First RoundSecond RoundQuarterfinalSemifinal Winthrop#2 Florida#7 Penn#3 North Carolina W, 16–6W, 14–13 (ot)W, 8–4L, 11–12 2017 #4 Second RoundQuarterfinalSemifinal James Madison#5 Princeton#1 Maryland W, 19–14W, 14–12L, 10–20 2018 – First Round Penn L, 14–15 (2ot) 2023 – First Round Stony Brook L, 8–12 2024 – First Round James Madison L, 13–14 2026 – First Round Stanford L, 5–7

See also Lacrosse in Pennsylvania

References

External links