Two Penn State women’s lacrosse stars have earned Big Ten postseason honors.
Olivia Dirks was named Big Ten Midfielder of the Year and Kristin O’Neill claimed the conference’s Freshman of the Year, the Big Ten announced Monday.
Dirks, an All-Big Ten First Team selection, recorded a total of 31 goals, 12 assists, 25 ground balls, 78 draw controls, and 18 caused turnovers throughout the 2021 season. Her draw controls helped take the Nittany Lions down the field to make big plays on offense.
A B1G Congrats to Olivia Dirks, the Big Ten Midfielder of the Year!!! She has made a big impact on both ends of the field with 43 points (31 goals), 78 draws and 18 CT! She leads the Big Ten with 6 draws per game! #WeAre#HipHipLetItRippic.twitter.com/4vAXYO0KO7 Penn State Women’s Lacrosse (@PennStateWLAX) May 3, 2021
2021 All-Big Ten Women s Lacrosse Teams Announced - Big Ten Conference
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Penn State roundup: Women’s lacrosse falls in Big Ten quarterfinals, men’s lacrosse preps for Big Ten tourney and more
Today 8:02 AM
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STATE COLLEGE The Penn State women’s lacrosse team fell to Johns Hopkins in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals, 11-9, on Thursday evening.
The No. 6-seed Lions (4-9) suffer an early exit from a Big Ten tournament that was being held at Panzer Stadium, but they did make it interesting against the No. 3-seed Blue Jays (8-5).
Johns Hopkins carried a 9-2 lead into halftime behind a strong first half from Mackenzie Heldberg, who had four goals. But Penn State battled back behind five second-half goals from senior Quinn Nicolai.
Penn State’s women’s lacrosse had four players earn All-Big Ten selections on Thursday, bringing the Nittany Lions up to 26 All-Big Ten selections since joining the conference in 2015.
The four All-Big Ten selections were midfielder Olivia Dirks, attacker Maria Auth, defender Sammy Helgeson, and midfielder Kristin O’Neill.
Dirks was selected unanimously as a first-team All-Big Ten selection after having a huge impact on the Nittany Lions’ success in the regular season. Dirks leads Penn State with 71 draws, 17 caused turnovers, 28 goals, and 11 assists entering Thursday’s NCAA Tournament matchup against Johns Hopkins.
During the regular season, Dirks had nine multi-point games and four games with five or more points. She currently ranks at eight in the Big Ten with 39 points and ninth in goals with 28. She has been a huge presence this season on the draw as well and has won 10 or more draw controls in four games this season.
Penn State women’s lacrosse (4-8) lost to Johns Hopkins (5-5) 13-11 in its last game before the Big Ten Tournament Sunday afternoon at Panzer Stadium.
The Nittany Lions battled hard throughout the entire game, but couldn’t hold the lead in the second half, despite forcing multiple turnovers and hat-tricks for both Maria Auth and Kristin O’Neill.
How It Happened
Goalie Taylor Suplee started in the net today for the Nittany Lions after senior goalie Lucy Lowe was the pick for the last two games.
Olivia Dirks scored the first goal of the game. She had her career-best in points (nine) and assists (four) against Rutgers on Thursday. She also tied her career-best of goals (five) and won 10 draw controls, her fourth time this year with double-digits. The Nittany Lions led 1-0 with 29:13 left in the first.
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