Aug. 24, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 2007 women's soccer season gets underway this Saturday when Nittany Lion fans can get their first peek at their nine-time defending Big Ten champions. Penn State hosts Delaware at 4 p.m. at Jeffrey Field followed by a men's exhibition soccer game vs. St. Francis.
The contest will give fans their first look at the Nittany Lions under new head coach Erica Walsh. Walsh and the team have been in preseason mode since the players reported on Aug. 14.
Two Penn State players are on the preseason player of the year list, junior midfielder Sheree Gray (Tom's River, N.J.) and senior defender Denay Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.), and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) is coming off a Pan-Am Games silver medal with the U.S Under-20 team this past summer. All-Big Ten striker Aubrey Aden-Buie (Allentown, Pa.) returns as does fifth-year senior Jean Rettig (Hummlestown, Pa.), who redshirted last year due to an early-season concussion.
The exhibition contest is the only tune-up of the year before Penn State starts its season with a Top 25 contest at the First Tennessee Lady Vol Classic on Aug. 31 and Sept. 2. No. 7 Penn State meets No. 24 Tennessee on Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. and then takes on Central Florida on Sept. 2 at 10:30 a.m.
Road action continues with the Nittany Lions unofficial BIG EAST challenge, starting at No. 16 Connecticut on Sept. 6 at 8 p.m. and continuing at No. 21 West Virginia on Sept. 9 at 1 p.m. The Penn State/UCONN game will air live on Fox Soccer Channel as this year's first NSCAA College Match of the Week.
Penn State returns comes home for the Penn State Invitational on Sept. 14 and Sept. 16. Action begins with No. 5 Texas A&M meeting No. 21 West Virginia at 5 on the 14th before Penn State hosts James Madison at 7:30 p.m. The Top 10 match-up between the seventh-ranked Nittany Lions and the fifth-ranked Aggies is then slated for a 1 p.m. start on Sunday, Sept. 16.
The Nittany Lions are fresh off an 18-5-3 Big Ten championship year in 2006. The squad also captured the Big Ten Tournament championship and made its eighth NCAA quarterfinal appearance in the past 10 years.