| The No. 1 Nittany Lions beat Michigan State to earn their eighth consecutive Big Ten Title. Tiffany Weimer scored her 83rd career goal to break the Big Ten record for career goals. |
EAST LANSING, Mich.; October 23, 2005 - In a record-breaking afternoon in East Lansing, Mich., the No. 1 ranked Penn State women??s soccer team captured its eighth-straight Big Ten title, while Player of the Year candidate Tiffany Weimer (North Haven, Conn.) broke the Big Ten career record for goals scored. The Nittany Lions downed the Spartans, 3-0, to stretch their unbeaten streak to a nation??s-best 17 games, and post a 9-0 Big Ten record with only Minnesota left on the conference regular season schedule. Michigan State falls to 10-4-4 (6-2-1 Big Ten).
??To win the Big Ten regular season continues to be a big goal for us year-in and year-out, and to accomplish that goal again this year for the eighth-straight time is obviously very special to us,?? said Penn State head coach Paula Wilkins. ??We set several team goals at the beginning of the year, and we??re happy to have achieved this one again. Each time we win the Big Ten it is special. Now that we??ve done it, however, we??ll need to stay focused on the rest of the things we said at the beginning of the year that we wanted to accomplish.??
Penn State took the lead in the 33rd minute when Weimer netted the game-winner, her ninth of the year. Weimer tied Penn State alumna Christie Welsh??s Big Ten record for career goals at Michigan on Friday, 82, and with Sunday??s goal at Michigan State set the Big Ten record, 83.
??It??s a pretty big honor to break this record,?? said Weimer after Sunday??s win. ??It??s even bigger because it??s Christie Welsh who held it and she was one of the best college soccer players in women??s history and now she??s enjoying great success with the U.S. National Team. A standard set by someone like her with her accolades and past history with both Penn State and now the national team seems pretty humbling to break.??
The goal also marked the 17th-straight game Weimer has scored at least one goal, tying the NCAA record once again for consecutive games with at least one goal each. Portland??s Christine Sinclair, also with a 17-game streak right now, will play at San Diego Sunday afternoon and is trying to extend her streak to 18 matches.
The Lions continued to roll in the second half, getting the second goal of the day from senior Carmelina Moscato (Mississaugua, Ontario). The score, off a free kick, to made the tally 2-0 Penn State with less then 25 minutes left to play. The goal was Moscato??s fifth of the season.
Defender Denay Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.) netted her second goal of the year off a corner kick in the 69th minute to make the final tally a 3-0 Penn State victory. Moscato tallied the assist on Riley??s conversion for her third point of the day and her 18th of the year.
With the win, Wilkins climbed one game closer to her 100th career win, and now holds a 95-14-6 (.852) record in less then five years as a Division I head coach.
The Nittany Lion men??s team is currently battling Michigan State??s men??s team in East Lansing. A win or a tie would signal the men??s team??s first Big Ten regular season championship, and would mark the first time in conference history that both regular season championships would go to the same school since the Big Ten began to sponsor both sports in 1994.
Penn State travels to Minnesota on Friday, Oct. 28, for the final game of a four-match road swing for the team. The top-ranked women??s team in the country returns home to Jeffrey Field for its regular season finale on Sunday, Oct. 30, at 3 p.m. The team will celebrate senior day and the game will be the second half of a doubleheader with the men??s soccer team. Admission to all Penn State regular season soccer games if free.