UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State women's lacrosse team announced its 16-game schedule for the upcoming 2015 season on Wednesday afternoon. The Nittany Lions will host eight home games and play their first season in the Big Ten Conference.
"We are excited to play our first year as a Big Ten team, and our conference provides us the opportunity to play some of the best teams in the country," said head coach Missy Doherty. "Our overall schedule is extremely competitive, and we are looking forward to an exciting 2015 season."
The 2015 slate includes seven games against teams that made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. Three of those seven opponents will visit Happy Valley this spring (Virginia, Feb. 28; Stanford, March 24; Ohio State, April 4), while the remaining four will be road games (Loyola Maryland, March 7; Princeton, March 18; Northwestern, April 19; Maryland, April 23).
Of the six members of the Big Ten, four made the tournament last year with Maryland taking home the title, Northwestern reaching the semifinals and Penn State and Ohio State earning bids to the first round. The inaugural Big Ten Women's Lacrosse Tournament (April 29-May 3) will be hosted by Rutgers with all six teams qualifying for the event.
Penn State will play three Keystone State foes to open the year with home games against Lehigh (Feb. 14, 1 p.m.) and Bucknell (Feb. 18, 7 p.m.) before heading to Pittsburgh to play Duquesne (Feb. 24, 4 p.m.).
The Nittany Lions welcome Virginia Feb. 28 for a 3 p.m. game and then travel to Loyola Maryland March 7 for a 1 p.m. game.
A pair of back-to-back games over Spring Break see the Nittany Lions host James Madison (March 11, 4 p.m.) and former ALC foe Vanderbilt (March 15, Noon).
Two successive road games have Penn State traveling to Princeton (March 18, 1 p.m.) and Drexel (March 22, 4 p.m.). Stanford visits Happy Valley for a mid-week clash (March 24, 4 p.m.) prior to Big Ten play.
The first Big Ten game will pit Penn State against Rutgers on Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J. The Nittany Lions welcome familiar conference rivals Ohio State (April 4, 1 p.m.) and Michigan (April 9) at Penn State Lacrosse Field.
The regular season concludes with three straight road games at Cornell (April 14, 4 p.m.), Northwestern (April 19, Noon) and Maryland (April 23).
Penn State will take part in the first Big Ten Tournament beginning with the quarterfinal games Wednesday, April 29 at Rutgers. The top two teams during Big Ten play will receive byes into the semifinals, which will be played May 1. The championship game is slated for Sunday, May 3.