Women's Spring Opener
The Nittany Lions saw major growth this past weekend at their spring opener in Washington, D.C.. The team stepped up and showed tremendous improvement since the fall.
Saturday's first game resulted in a 26-0 loss to the Capital Selects - a women's mid-atlantic all-star team based out of D.C.. Being the first game back, it took a couple hits for the Nittany Lions to get back into the swing of things. This match was followed by close loss of 17-7 to USA South, another women's all-star team based out of Atlanta, GA. In this game, the Nittany Lions tweaked their mistakes from their first match overall and played a better game.
"I was very impressed with the squad's ability to make adjustments between the first and second game on Saturday," said head coach Kate Daley. "Our players' attitudes and adaptability really pushed our more inexperienced players to come into the second game with a clearer game plan and mindset."
On Sunday morning, the Nittany Lions faced off against Life University, another collegiate team who they previously lost to 44-12 during the fall season. This rematch was a true test to see how far they've come in the off-season. After finding themselves level at 7-7 going into halftime, Life came out firing and the fatigue of a round robin weekend started to set in for Penn State. When it was all said and done, Life walked away with a 28-12 victory. However, the difference in scores from the fall matchup to this past weekend has shown how hard the team has been working to close the gap and improve their skills over the break. Another positive was the return of Corina Kaiser, who missed the entire fall season due to injury. She made her presence known right off the bat, scoring the opening try for the team in the Life game.
Starting off the spring season with a round robin tournament was great for players to find out where their squad stood and to see where they still need to improve. The Nittany Lions' next competition will be across the pond in March, when they face Cambridge and Exeter in England as they travel abroad for spring break.
