Sept. 30, 2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - With a 2-1 victory over Illinois, nine-time defending Big Ten champion Penn State began its quest to make it 10-straight with a victory in its conference opener vs. the Illini. The Nittany Lions are now 7-2-1 on the year, 1-0 in the Big Ten, while the Illini fall to 5-4 this season with a 0-2 conference start for the 2006 Big Ten runners-up.
The win was the first Big Ten victory for Penn State's first-year head coach Erica Walsh. "It feels great to win this game and have it under my belt not just because it's my first Big Ten win, but also because of what a great team Illinois is."
Penn State started the game off quickly with an early goal by sophomore Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) in the fifth minute. Midfielder Sheree Gray (Toms River, N.J.) passed the ball through the middle of the field, and Schoepfer took it past the last Illini defender allowing her to deposit the ball low in the goal for the 1-0 Penn State lead.
The Nittany Lions continued to put pressure on the Illini defense and goalkeeper Lindsey Carstens all half long, even putting one shot off the post and another one off the crossbar.
With less then two minutes to go in the half Penn State midfielder Zoe Bouchelle (Cockeysville, Md.) intercepted the ball at midfield and passed to freshman Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.), who beat the goalkeeper for the team's second goal.
The score remained a 2-0 Nittany Lion advantage until the Illini got on the board in a corner-kick sequence in the 52nd minute. Freshman Danielle Kot got her first collegiate goal when she headed the ball into the goal on the far post after a corner kick from teammate Ella Masar.
The teams played the rest of the game fairly even with both getting some chances down the stretch. Shots were 14-12, with Illinois holding the slight advantage. Penn State goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) played another solid game, tallying four saves for the win.
"We're really excited to get started with the Big Ten season," said Naeher after the game. "The previous eight or nine games have all been leading up to this. We're really trying to focus on playing well with what we've learned from those non-conference games. It's also important to us to keep up Penn State's championship tradition. To do this, we need to take control from the very beginning of the season. That's really important with how great of a conference the Big Ten is."
The Nittany Lions next play away at Wisconsin on October 5 at 7:00 p.m. Penn State travels to Northwestern on Sunday, Oct. 7 for a noon match before the Nittany Lions come home in two weekends to meet Michigan State (Oct. 12, 7 p.m.) and Michigan (Oct. 14, noon).
--NITTANY LIONS--