Through its first eight home contests this season, No. 2 Northwestern built Ryan Fieldhouse into an impenetrable fortress, knocking off four opponents from the ranks of undefeated and handing then-No. 1 North Carolina its first regular-season loss in 1,149 days.

However, a valiant challenger in No. 18 Penn State rode into Evanston on the back of a five-game winning streak, seeking to put the first damper on a high-flying home campaign for the Lake Show. While the Nittany Lions (9-3, 2-1 Big Ten) catapulted into contention via a second-quarter siege, the Wildcats (11-1, 3-0 Big Ten) vanquished any shadow of a doubt in a 19-9 victory behind gothic-garbed graduate student attacker assassins Hailey Rhatigan and Izzy Scane.

“(The win) means a lot,” coach Kelly Amonte Hiller said. “We want to fight for a Big Ten Championship — we want to get a top seed in the conference tournament.”

After five minutes of gutsy defensive play by both teams, Penn State attacker Brooke Hoss drew first blood in the contest. But Rhatigan punched back just 42 seconds later to level the score at one apiece. Scane received her first clean look on the ensuing NU possession and made no mistake on the go-ahead goal, handing the Cats a 2-1 advantage with 8:37 left to play in the first frame.

Scane, Rhatigan and senior attacker Erin Coykendall bludgeoned the typically stout Nittany Lion defense, chalking up NU’s first five scores. After sophomore midfielder and defender Samantha White got in on the scoring blitz, Scane completed her first-quarter hat trick, giving the Cats a 7-1 edge after 15 minutes of action.

“(Scane) is doing an amazing job,” Amonte Hiller said. “She’s an extremely humble player — she’s doing all the little things to share the ball and make things happen.”

While sophomore midfielder Samantha Smith converted from point-blank range just 28 seconds into the second frame, stretching the NU margin to seven goals, Penn State suddenly caught lightning in a bottle. Hoss grabbed her second score of the game before Nittany Lion attacker Gretchen Gilmore notched consecutive tallies to slice the deficit to four. After an errant NU clear attempt, Penn State midfielder Kristin O’Neill fed midfielder Kayla Abernathy for the Nittany Lions’ fourth-straight goal.

However, just when the Cats needed to call her number, the “Scane Train” revved her Tewaaraton-sized engine. The graduate student attacker executed a swift spin cycle and fired a missile to the top of the cage at the 5:35 mark in the second frame.

Although a media timeout gave the packed crowd a chance to revel in the caliber of Scane’s conversion, it also afforded Penn State coach Missy Doherty a shot to shore up the Nittany Lions’ comeback effort. Penn State pounced on two late chances and headed into halftime down 9-7.

Amonte Hiller’s team left the intermission with a renewed fire, and Rhatigan rose to grab the reins of the wrangle. She used her blistering speed to rattle off three goals in a 1:04 span, single-handedly extending the lead to five with 11:18 left to play in the third frame.

“We started playing aggressive and with more heart … we started playing for each other in the second half,” White said. 

Smith and Gilmore traded goals before senior attacker Dylan Amonte rifled in a shot from the eight-meter. A minute later, Scane hurled a howitzer beyond Nittany Lion goalkeeper Ashley Bowan, settling the score at 15-8 after three quarters.

Freshman midfielder Madison Taylor tiptoed in front of the net to open the final frame’s scoresheet, and Amonte added another goal just 27 seconds later. Taylor struck paydirt a second time with 9:28 left in the fourth period, activating the running clock.

As the cherry on top, Scane eclipsed the 60-goal mark for the season around the midway point of the final quarter with her sixth goal of the night, and NU cruised to a 19-9 victory.

“We have to take every game one by one,” White said. “Coming in May, we’ve really got to bring the fight.”

Next up for the Cats is the first stop of a three-game road trip: a matchup with No. 25 Rutgers on April 6 in Piscataway, New Jersey. The Scarlet Knights (4-5, 0-3 Big Ten) have posted back-to-back games with single-digit scoring outputs, meaning NU’s high-flying offense may barrel through its next opponent.

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