ITHACA, N.Y. -- A 5-0 surge over 3:28 put the Big Red within one, but Cornell women's lacrosse ran out of time, falling to Penn State, 12-11, on Saturday afternoon from Schoellkopf Field. The Nittany Lions improved to 5-4, while the Big Red fell to 5-2. 

Senior captain Bridget Babcock led the charge for a Big Red offense that outshot PSU 34-26 in the final scorebook, tallying four goals on eight shots to snag her first career hat trick. Sophomore Dillyn Patten pushed the envelope, extending her goal streak to four straight contests by having two find the back of the net. Junior Kylie Gelabert and senior Sophie Ward also had a goal and assist each to lead Cornell, who has netted ten or more goals in five of the last six battles with Penn State.

Freshman Payton Wainman and senior Kristin O'Neill each had four goals on a combined ten shots on goal between the two to lead the visitors. Lauren Saltz closed out the top scorers for Penn State with two goals, and Ashley Bowan earned the victory in net with a season-high ten saves to move to 4-2 on the year and extend PSU's winning streak over the Big Red to seven consecutive games. 

Penn State would draw first blood about two minutes into the contest on Wainman's seventh of the year to put Penn State ahead early. Cornell would respond quickly from Caitlin Slaminko, as the senior captain took a wide angle and surged past Haley Urgo to snap a three-game goalless streak and tie things at one. The Nittany Lions responded once again, as a foul by Alexis Reinhardt. allowed Wainman to sling home her second goal of the quarter on a bouncer past Horner to retake the lead. O'Neill also got on the scoreboard less than a minute later with her 22nd of the year to put PSU up by two. Another response from the Big Red offense followed from Horner, who denied an entry pass intended for Gretchen Gilmore to allow a Cornell runout. Ward made sure the caused turnover did not go to waste with her 12th of the season despite being sandwiched between two defenders to put Cornell back within one before Wainman captured her third of the quarter with under a minute to go to push PSU up by two after the opening fifteen. 

That late goal by Wainman carried over the momentum for Penn State early in the second with another free position shot goal from O'Neill to give the Nittany Lions a three-goal cushion. PSU continued to pressure Cornell by testing Horner with four more shots, compared to two for the Big Red offense. The fourth shot for PSU found the back of the net by Emma Kelly off another free position attempt, allowing the navy and white to continue piling up their lead. Cornell's offense started to muster up some production with three shots combined on back-to-back trips into the offensive end but could not find the back of the net. Penn State would find its seventh goal of the year off its seventh free position attempt of the quarter to take a 7-2 lead heading into halftime.

PSU stretched its lead about four minutes into the second half off a connection goal between Wainman and O'Neill to go back up by six. That goal seemed to wake up the Big Red offense, with Babcock and Josie Vogel connecting on free position shots on consecutive possessions to push Cornell back with four. Both teams continued to trade possession after possession until late in the third when Meghan Murray came up with a head off steam and passed it off to Kelly MacKinney right before absorbing a check from Alexis Reinhardt. MacKinney did the rest, sliding it to the left of Horner to put PSU up 9-4 after three. 

Cornell's offense started the fourth with a sense of urgency by testing Bowan with three shots over the opening three minutes. Bowan stood composed in the crease on those attempts, logging two saves and having the third blocked back into the field of play. The Nittany Lions drew first in the final quarter off another free-position goal to get back to a six-goal cushion and hopefully put the nail in the coffin for Cornell. Dillyn Patten had other plans for the goal-stricken Big Red, immediately winning the draw and sliding a shot right under the five-hole of Bowan. Penn State answered again with Saltz's second of the contest with 6:55 to go to make the score 11-5 and force a media timeout. Patten answered again off the draw with her second goal in nearly two minutes to continue the back and forth. But a free position goal by O'Neill with 5:01 left massively woke the Big Red. Gelabert started by notching her 11th of the year to put Cornell within five with 3:28 to go. That goal by Gelabert helped Cornell's offense jump into overdrive, as back-to-back goals by Babcock and Alexa Donahoe put the Big Red within striking distances. Babcock continued to feed off the roar of the Big Red wave, tallying two more goals over 39 seconds to get within one with four seconds left. But the comeback was not in the cards, as Penn State took the final draw win and ran out the final seconds to escape with its fifth straight win over the Big Red in Ithaca.

BIG RED NOTABLES

• Senior attacker Bridget Babcock secured her first career hat trick for the Big Red on Saturday. She now has 14 goals through seven goals this season, over doubling her previous season high (6) set last season. The New Hampshire native also extends her points streak to seven consecutive contests.
• Junior Alexa Donahoe entered the starting lineup for the first time in her Big Red career, logging a goal alongside a caused turnover and a draw-control victory.
• Josie Vogel's goal in the third period kept her goal and points streak intact, which sits at a team-high 21 straight games. 
• Senior Annie Thomas now sits two draw controls away from being the first Big Red women's lacrosse athlete to have 200 or more draw control wins in a career. 
• Cornell's offense tallied 30 or more shots attempted for the fourth time and logged north of 20 shots on goal for its fifth consecutive game. Also, its .731 shots on goal percentage is second this season to its .769 tallied in its season-opener against California.

UP NEXT
Cornell hits the road for its first of three consecutive games away from Ithaca with a return to Ivy League play against Princeton on Saturday, March 23 at noon from Sherrerd Field at Class of 1952 Stadium. Game action will be available on ESPN Plus, NBC Sports Philadelphia, and SNY.