UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 24 Penn State Nittany Lions (2-0) welcome the Bucknell Bisons (2-0) to Holuba Hall for a Sunday matinee game on February 15 at 11 a.m. Penn State is coming off a midweek victory over UMass and the Nittany Lions are looking to improve to 3-0 for the first time since 2023.

LAST TIME OUT

The Nittany Lions under Head Coach Kayla Treanor secured the team’s first home win of the season in a comfortable win over UMass, 17-9. Freshman Rocquette Allen and Tewaaraton Watch List member Erika Ho put on an offensive show inside Holuba Hall. Allen, in her second collegiate game, posted a game-high five goals with an assist while Ho had a career day. The senior captain notched a hat trick and dished out a career-high four assists for another career-high seven points with four draws on the afternoon. Junior captain Kelly MacKinney recorded her first career hat trick and a pair of assists for five points against UMass and to move to 96 career points. Sydney Manning had a great day on goal with the former Big Ten Freshman of the Year securing 11 saves, her tenth double-digit save effort of her career, and picked up three ground balls. Freshman Susannah O’Connell saw twos all around with two ground balls, two caused turnovers and two draw controls with Lauren Tinson seeing similar results, picking up two ground balls and causing two turnovers.

MILESTONE WATCH

Ho needs to tally 19 more goals to reach 75 in her career and 5 points to reach 75 career points. The senior captain also needs 16 draw controls to surpass 150 in her career.

Driver is two caused turnovers away from 25 in her career and needs to pick up 12 more ground balls for 50 in her career.

Wainman needs to score eight points to total 50 in the senior’s career.

MacKinney is only four points away from 100 in her career.

Manning needs eight more saves to reach the 250 career saves mark.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENT

Bucknell is headed into Holuba Hall off a couple of wins over UMBC, 18-10, and Youngstown State, 20-6. The Bison offense is led by senior attacker Megan Krestinski with 10 goals, eight assists and 18 points while shooting an astounding 71.4%. Thanks to her efforts in Bucknell’s opener against Youngstown State, Caleigh Cummiskey earned Patriot League Rookie of the Week honors after a six-goal performance and has totaled nine goals and 11 points so far this season. Senior defender Jess Leon leads the defensive unit with six ground balls, tied with Catherine Dineen for the team lead, and seven caused turnovers, four ahead of Regan Sansiviero. Bella Crowley has been the primary woman in the cage with 17 saves and a save rate of 58.6% on 40 shots faced. She has allowed 12 goals this season and has averaged 6.86 goals per game during her time played this season. Bucknell is helmed by Jackie Dano alongside assistant coaches Emily Mitarotonda and Emma Telatovich.

TEWAARATON WATCH

The Tewaaraton Foundation announced on February 10 that Ho, the senior attacker, was named to the Women’s Watch List for the 2026 Tewaaraton Award Presented by Stifel. The women’s list includes the top players in college lacrosse and highlights the early contenders for the 2026 Tewaaraton Award.

In her breakout junior season, Ho became one of the nation’s top draw takers and developed into an incredible offensive force. The senior captain won 112 draw controls during the 2025 campaign, becoming the third Nittany Lion to eclipse 100 draw wins. Ho ranked 23rd nationally and fourth in the Big Ten with a 7.00 draws per game on average. The Frankfort, Illinois, native led the Nittany Lions with 46 goals, 56 points, 14 free-position goals, three game-winning goals and had the third highest amount of picked up ground balls with 26 on the year. Outside of the draw circle, Ho ranked inside the top-10 in the Big Ten in goals, goals per game, free-position goals per game, points per game, shots per game and shots on goal per game.

During her first two games of the 2026 campaign, Ho has continued the momentum. The Illinois native has accounted for four goals and four assists to tie for a team-high eight points with 11 draw controls so far in the season. The Lincoln-Way East product also secured new career-highs in the home opener against UMass.

THE TREANOR ERA

On May 21st, Treanor was named the 10th coach in Penn State Women’s Lacrosse history. As the head coach at Syracuse, Treanor compiled a 59-24 record and guided the Orange to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including back-to-back National Semifinal bids in 2023 and 2024. Under her watch, Syracuse played the No. 1 strength of schedule in the country in 2024 and 2025. Among the many accolades received by Syracuse student-athletes under Treanor, Meghan Tyrell was a two-time Tewaaraton Award finalist in 2022 and 2023.

Treanor brought in Abby Rehfuss as her associate head coach after a year-long stint as the offensive coordinator at Colgate where she also helmed the draw unit. Under her leadership, the Raiders were one of the best teams in the conference at taking care of the ball. The team turned the ball over less than 14 per game, a mark that ranked 23rd nationally. Her offensive unit saw five student-athletes with 30 or more points, including two who eclipsed the 50-point mark. She has worked with Treanor before as the offensive coordinator of the Orange in 2024.

Treanor also brought in Amy Moreau and Kerrigan Miller as assistant coaches and Jay Dyer as the assistant director of athletic performance. Katie Haus continues her stint as director of operations under Treanor.