| Annelise Legel scored one of Penn State's six goals vs. Northwestern. |
Box Score
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. September 24, 2005 - After a near-perfect non-conference regular season, the No. 8 Penn State field hockey team stayed right on track in its Big Ten opener vs. Northwestern, putting the Wildcats away, 6-2, on Saturday at Astroturf Field.
Natalie Berrena (State College, Pa.) came up big for Penn State with two scores, her sixth and seventh of the season. With her five assists this year, Berrena is tied with junior Annelise Legel (Morgantown, Pa.) for the team lead in points with 19.
The six goals moves Penn State's goal total this year to 43, already surpassing last year's tally of 40. The Lions (10-1, 1-0) also won their 10th straight game, the longest single-season win streak since 2000 when the team won 11 in a row.
Northwestern (6-3) scored first when Jill Putnam knocked in a rebounded shot in front of the cage in the 9th minute. The Wildcats held the Lions back until the 21:22 mark when Bekah Hostetler (Hershey, Pa.) dribbled in to the top of the circle and pounded the ball past goalkeeper Sherri Anne Nyberg. A little over six minutes later Nyberg was called for a foul, and the referees awarded Penn State a penalty stroke. Head coach Char Morett inserted Mallory Weisen (Middleburg, Pa.) into the game for the stroke, which she converted into Penn State's second goal of the game.
The Lions kept the pressure on, and Kiersten Wood (Lititz, Pa.) made it 3-1 just under three minutes later at the 30:33 mark when she dribbled in from the right for the score. Less than one minute after that Sara Cahill (Virginia Beach, Va.) found an open Annelise Legel (Morgantown, Pa.), who slapped the ball in to give Penn State a 4-1 lead at the break.
Penn State and Northwestern played evenly for the first 15 minutes of the second half but the senior Berrena knocked her first goal of the game in at the 60:48 mark. At 65:01 Berrena dribbled in off the endline for her second and Penn State's final goal of the contest. Northwestern was awarded a penalty corner in the waning seconds of the game and converted with Meghan Small picking up the goal off a pass from Christine Nannicelli.
Even with the late goal, Penn State dominated offensively, tallying 18 shots to Northwestern's five. Senior goalkeeper Megan Akstin (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) tallied one save in the game. Nyberg recorded three saves for Northwestern, while Kelly Augustine, who came in at halftime in goal for the Wildcats, picked up two more. The penalty corner tally came out fairly even, with the Lions taking six to Northwestern's five.
Penn State will stay at home for a Wednesday matchup vs. Syracuse at 4 p.m. The team will then return to the road for matchups at Michigan (Oct. 2) and Iowa (Oct. 8) before returning for a final three-game homestand vs. Michigan State (Oct. 15), Bucknell (Oct. 18) and Ohio State (Oct. 22). Admission to all Penn State field hockey home games is free.