CARLISLE, Pa. — Adi Garges (Jr., Perkasie, Pa.) and Molly Goodman (So., Harleysville, Pa.) both scored five times to share Player of the Game recognition as No. 16-ranked/No. 10 position/Mid-Atlantic Division Champion Pennsylvania State University made the No. 18/No. 15 position/New York Division Champion Big Red of Cornell University blue in a 20-2 consolation game loss to the Nittany Lions at the 2026 Women’s National Collegiate Club Championship.
Competing at the Carlisle YMCA Aquatic Center, the Nittany Lions outscored Cornell 3-1, 7-1, 6-0 and 4-0 in the first-to-fourth quarters, respectively, to punch Penn State’s ticket to a 2:50 p.m. Eastern clash on Saturday, April 18, with No. 9/No. 14 position/Atlantic Division Champion the United States Naval Academy for a spot in the tournament’s Ninth Place game on Sunday, April 19. The loser of the PSU-Navy game will play for 11th place in the 30th and final game of the three-day, 30-game championship on April 19 at 3:30 p.m.
Cornell drops into a 13th/15th place game as the Big Red will go to war at 9:50 p.m. on Saturday, April 18, against Division III No. 2/No. 6 position/New York Division runner-up New York University. The Violets made the field as Rocky Mountain Division Champion the University of Colorado elected not to compete at the National Collegiate Club Championship in 2026.
The Big Red currently stand at 2-0 versus NYU in New York Division regular season and postseason action this year with 5-4 and 10-7 victories, respectively.
The winner of the Cornell-NYU game will tie for 13th in the final 16-team championship field, while the loser ties for 15th place.
Penn State wasted little time in curtailing Cornell’s victory hopes as Faith Pigeon (So., Blue Bell, Pa.) (5:45) fired in a go-ahead strike to stake the Nittany Lions to a 1-0 margin. Mallory Moore (So., Hillsborough, Calif.) evened the damage at one-all via a five-meter penalty shot with 4:57 remaining in the the first quarter before Garges (1:38) and Goodman (50 seconds, man-up) commenced an offensive onslaught which turned the tides exclusively in favor of PSU.
Leading 3-1 exiting the first quarter, the Nittany Lions put the contest out of reach in the second quarter as Garges (5:59; 3:39; 2:41, 1:26), Goodman (3:39) and Miki Boveri (Sr. Lake Bluff, Ill.) (4:36) combined for a 6-0 outburst to expand Penn State’s lead to 9-1.
Kylie Williamson (Sr., Pleasant Hill, Calif.) snapped the run with a score at the 1:03 mark to move the Big Red back to within seven at 9-2. However, Goodman put in a final blow during the first half by heaving in a strike with 40 seconds still on the clock for a 10-2 spread entering halftime.
From there, the contest was exclusively the domain of the Keystone State squad as Pigeon (6:37), Bernice Fu (So. Blue Bell, Pa.) (6:02; 4:33), Macie Hill (Fr., Carmel, Calif.) (5:16) and Goodman (3:21; 14 seconds) accounted for a 6-0 surge in the third quarter prior to Boveri (3:57), Fu (3:27), Piper Thiessen (Jr., Portland, Ore.) (2:36) and Eva McArthur (Fr., Philadelphia, Pa.) (31 seconds) combining for a 4-0 fourth quarter outburst to cap off a 20-2 victory.
Williamson and Moore accounted for Cornell’s offense with goalkeeper Abrielle Northgrave (Jr., Fullerton, Calif.) stopping 10 shots in taking the loss.
Garges (five), Goodman (five), Fu (three). Boveri (two), Pigeon (two), Thiessen, Hill and McAruthur combined to key the Nittany Lions’ attack. Juliana Carter (So., Aurora, Ill.) notched the win with eight saves.
Cornell University’s Cristina Terrones (#3) scans for an opening as Pennsylvania State University’s Faith Pigeon (#19) defends
Pennsylvania State University’s Molly Goodman (#2) drops off a pass in front of Cornell University’s Serena Wu (#8)
