Saturday afternoon the Towson University women's lacrosse team opened the 2020 campaign with a game against Penn State, falling 12-9. The Tigers move to an 0-1 start with a road game next week at Saint Joseph's. Towson was led by Shelby Stack with three goals and an assist. Carly Merlo finished with six saves in the goal. How it Happened In her first-ever collegiate appearance, freshman Blair Pearre scored the first goal of the day unassisted. Towson took an early 1-0 lead before Penn State scored three unanswered taking a 3-1 lead with 18:04 to go in the first half. Pearre scored once again, on a free position attempt before Shelby Stack scored back to back and took a one goal lead. With 16:53 to go in the first half, Towson led 4-3. Back and forth scoring continued as the Nittany Lions took a two-goal lead. Stack struck again with a free position goal and put the Tigers within reach of tying the game. Once again Penn State extended the gap with two straight goals, taking an 8-5 lead with 4:46 to go in the half. Entering the locker room the Tigers trailed 9-6 with two goals and an assist from Stack. Coming into the second half, sophomore Kerri Thornton scored her first goal of the year and cut the lead to two. The second period was much quieter, with five total goals scored in the first 25 minutes. With 4:30 to go Penn State was leading 11-9. Beyond the Box Freshman Carly Merlo earned her first career start in her first collegiate appearance, finishing with six saves. Blair Pearre, a local high school standout, also earned her first career start today, and recorded her first two collegiate goals. Gabby Garrett saw her first collegiate action and scored her first collegiate goal as well.