Sept. 7, 2007
University Park, Pa. - Despite holding a commanding 23-12 edge in shots, including 16 of which that were put on goal, the sixth-ranked Penn State field hockey team was unable to put a ball in the back of the cage during regulation or in two overtime periods and James Madison won the stroke-off by a 4-1 score to defeat the Nittany Lions by a 1-0 final score. James Madison keeper Kelsey Cutchins made an astounding 16 saves as she turned away each and every Penn State scoring opportunity and also made an important save during the shootout to help the Dukes gain the advantage. Penn State falls to 3-2 with the loss while the eleventh-ranked Dukes improve to 3-1.
Penn State also had a 20-5 advantage in the penalty corner department but were not able to convert on any of them, including one that came at the end of regulation in the second half. In the first half, the Nittany Lions held a 7-5 advantage in shots, putting six of them on goal, but Cutchins saved all six of them, including four in a span of just over a minute about halfway through the half off penalty corners and follow-up shots following the initial shot off the corners. Beaumont kept pace for the Nittany Lions by making three saves of her own.
In the second half, the Nittany Lions turned up the offensive pressure even more, taking eight shots to JMU's five but Cutchins made five more saves in the second half to keep the Lions scoreless while Beaumont countered by making four saves of her own off of the Dukes' five shots. Penn State also had a 7-2 advantage in penalty corners in the second period. At the end of regulation, Penn State was awarded a penalty corner just as time expired. The Lions called timeout before taking the corner but Mallory Weisen's shot was once again saved by Cutchins to send the game into overtime.
The overtime periods were also dominated by the Nittany Lions on the offensive end, even more so than regulation, with Penn State taking eight shots to just two for James Madison and the Lions holding an 8-0 advantage in penalty corners. They were still not able to get anything past Cutchins, who made five saves in the overtime periods. Jen Long made a nice defensive save to preserve the deadlock toward the end of the first overtime as she hustled to knock away a soft shot by JMU's Ashley Walls after the Dukes had a breakaway and got Beaumont off her line.
After the scoreless extra frames, the teams went to penalty strokes. Similar to penalty kicks to decide postseason soccer games that end in a tie, five players from each team are designated to take a penalty stroke. JMU's Melissa Walls went first and converted hers while Weisen, who is perfect in her career on penalty strokes, converted the first Penn State shot. However, after the Dukes' Melissa Stefaniak made their second stroke, Cutchins turned away an attempt by Allison Scola to give the Dukes the advantage. After JMU also made their third attempt and Kiersten Wood missed wide for the Nittany Lions, Lauren Walls ended the stroke-off and the game by converting on JMU's fourth attempt. Different from soccer, Walls was credited with the game-winning goal as the final score goes down as 1-0.
Weisen took 11 shots to lead the Nittany Lions, most of which came following penalty corners, and put seven of them on goal. Wood put all three of her shots on goal while Bethany Marvel put both of her two shots on goal as well and Britney Long put three of four on goal. No JMU player had more than three shots in the game.
Penn State will next play next Wednesday, September 12 when it hosts Temple at 4:00 p.m. on AstroTurf Field.