Aug. 25, 2007
Norfolk, Va. - Shaun Banta scored a goal and had an assist to lead No. 7 Penn State past No. 6 Old Dominion 3-1 in the season opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at a hot and humid Foreman Field. Fellow senior Mallory Weisen joined Banta in the scoring column for the Lions as did junior Britney Long. Kiersten Wood, Allison Scola and Jen Long all added assists for the Lions.
Playing in sweltering temperatures in the 90s, the Nittany Lions earned their first win over Old Dominion since the 2003 season and also the first over the Monarchs for the current senior class. The teams, which have played every season since 1989, opened the season against each other for the fifth straight year. The Monarchs had won the past three meetings until Saturday. Penn State's last win over Old Dominion prior to Saturday was a 6-2 decision, also in Norfolk, in the 2003 season opener.
Penn State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead just over six minutes into the game at the 6:16 mark as they capitalized on their second penalty corner of the game. Mallory Weisen scored the first Penn State goal of the year as she one-timed a shot into the cage as Jen Long and Scola were awarded assists.
Penn State then made it a 2-0 lead at the 14:59 mark as Shaun Banta, who led the Big Ten in goals last season, took a well-placed pass from Kiersten Wood in transition ahead of the defenders and beat Old Dominion keeper Kelly Driscoll to her lower right for her first tally of the year.
It remained 2-0 until well after halftime as the Nittany Lions limited the Monarchs to just two first half shots. However, ODU got on the board with just their fourth shot of the game at the 45:22 mark when Anna Kern took a pass from Jo Ann van Aswegen as she was running into the circle toward the goal and beat an outstretched Jen Beaumont to her lower right for the goal to make it 2-1.
 Britney Long notched her first goal of the year in the win over Old Dominion.  | |
However, the Nittany Lions got back their two-goal lead just over eight minutes later at the 53:39 mark as Britney Long notched her first goal off the year to give Penn State the 3-1 lead. Banta started the play when she dribbled up the left flank and into the circle before dumping off a pass from the left side of the endline to the front of the goal, where Long finished with a high shot into the cage and over Driscoll.
The defense of the Nittany Lions effectively shut down any remaining scoring chances by the Monarchs for the remainder of the game after the goal. ODU did outshot Penn State in the second half, 5-4, but were outshot by Penn State 11-7 for the game.
Beaumont made three saves to pick up the win in goal for the Nittany Lions.
The Nittany Lions will look to make it a 2-0 start on the season when they take on Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. tomorrow at noon. It will be the season opener for the Cavaliers. The game can be seen on a tape delay basis on ACCSelect TV, a web-based, on-demand premium service. Fans can access the game beginning on Sunday night at ACCSelect.com. The exact link is below.
http://acc.playonsports.tv/pr/event/1742/index.html?eventId=1742
Notes: The three goals were the most scored by Penn State in a season opener since the aforementioned six goals in the 2003 opener. The Nittany Lions had scored just one goal in each opener since 2003, all against Old Dominion....The game against Virginia tomorrow will be the first game against the Cavaliers since 2000....