Nittany Lions Stun Two-Time Defending Champion Terps 1-0 to Reach NCAA Final FourNittany Lions Stun Two-Time Defending Champion Terps 1-0 to Reach NCAA Final Four

Nittany Lions Stun Two-Time Defending Champion Terps 1-0 to Reach NCAA Final Four

Nov. 11, 2007

Box Score

Host Maryland's NCAA Tournament Central Page

Char Morett special exclusive postgame podcast (mp3)

Postgame press conference (w/Coach Morett, Kiersten Wood and Mallory Weisen) (mp3)

College Park, Md. - Britney Long scored a first half goal in the 22nd minute and the Penn State defense played its best game of the year as Penn State stunned two-time defending national champion Maryland 1-0 on its home field in Sunday's NCAA Tournament second round game to advance to next weekend's NCAA Final Four. The Nittany Lions will return to College Park for its seventh NCAA Final Four in school history and its 10th all-time trip to the final four, counting the former AIAW national semifinals as well.

The Nittany Lions knocked off the Terrapins despite being outshot 14-6 for the game. Maryland also had more penalty corners, 6-2, but the Nittany Lion defense and goalkeeper Jen Beaumont played superb in killing off several Maryland scoring chances and disrupting the offense to make sure it didn't get any chances on some attacks as well.

With just under 19 minutes remaining the first half, Penn State had an excellent chance to score when Penn State stole the ball around the midfield and had a breakaway with Britney Long out in front of the defense but Long's shot went wide to the left of the cage.

Long had another opportunity with about 15 and a half minutes left in the half but her shot from the right side was saved by Maryland keeper Kathryn Mason and went out of bounds.

Penn State converted on its next opportunity at the 21:54 mark to take a 1-0 lead, which would be all it would need for the rest of the game. The Lions were awarded a free hit from just outside the circle on the right side of the cage on the endline. Shaun Banta took the hit and send a hard ball into the circle, where Britney Long was waiting on the weak-side post to tip in the pass for her 14th goal of the year and her second of the NCAA Tournament.

Shaun Banta recorded the assist on Long's goal, sending a ball into the circle from the right side of the field near the endline.


Maryland outshot the Nittany Lions 5-4 in the first half but Penn State did an outstanding job of marking sure Maryland was not able to run its offense and disrupting its timing. The Terps only got off one shot off of three first half penalty corners as the Nittany Lions cut off several passes and potential shots by Maryland. Jen Beaumont also made four saves in the half, including three of a succession of three straight shots from point blank range early-on in the half.

Early in the second half, Maryland had two good opportunities on one sequence but Penn State came up with two outstanding saves to maintain the lead. The first shot was saved by Beaumont and the ball caromed over to the weak-side post where another Maryland striker was waiting to seemingly put the ball into an open cage but Jen Long slid over and made a nice defensive save.

The Terps kept the ball on Penn State's side of the field for the vast majority of the final 10 minutes of the second half but what shots they were able to get off were either saved by Beaumont or went wide. Penn State was able to clear the ball and send it down the field several times to avert any damage. Beaumont made nine saves in an outstanding effort in the cage.

Following the game, the Nittany Lion bench stormed the field in celebration of knocking off the host Terrapins.

Penn State, which will be the only Big Ten team in the final four this year, becomes the first Big Ten team since Michigan State in 2004 to advance to the final four. Penn State's last trip to the national semifinals was in 2002, when they knocked off Old Dominion in the semifinals before falling to Wake Forest in the championship game. Penn State's next opponent will the same Demon Deacons of Wake Forest, who topped Michigan in Ann Arbor to advance to the final four. The Nittany Lions will play in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night, November 16. Connecticut and North Carolina will tangle in the first game at 5:00 p.m. Next Sunday's NCAA Championship game will be at noon.

Head Coach Charlene Morett Postgame Quotes

On today's game plan
"I felt it was real important for us to get pressure on the ball against Maryland. Every time I've been here playing Maryland, they do a good job of possessing the ball and transferring the ball and I thought if we could just pick some moments to get pressure on the ball and force some turnovers and attack in transition that we would be in good shape."

Laura Cahill was just one of several defenders that played their best game of the season in knocking off the Terrapins.


On if the team played differently on defense once they got the lead
"You don't want them to hang back (on the defensive end) but Maryland picked up their game a little bit. It was a game of two motivated teams. They (Maryland) were so motivated to obviously get to the final four being a host and that was such a motivation for our team to want to get the final four.

On this year's senior class and its goal of getting to the final four
"This class that came in, from their freshman year, they always had that goal. We felt that it was a strong class that could get us to a final four and we've had some close misses in the previous years and I think that they just had a lot of heart and drive. You could see it in the play out there. In our defensive corner circle, we just came out with some unbelievable balls to get it out."

On how the team has improved this year
"There are very, very few times that we were outplayed (this year). We might not have won the game but we played well enough to win it. The second part of the season, in October and going into November, the level of intensity, the level of play, the level of skill, the level of determination just continued to take on a higher level with each game we played. So that made me confident. With the players, even if we walked off the field and it wasn't our day in the scoring column, it was like `you guys played well and you should be proud of how you played and it's going to happen for you (in the future). It's going to turn around and you're going to get some of these breaks.' I think we got breaks today. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky at times but we earned the luck."

Senior back Mallory Weisen Postgame Quotes

On whether the team was expected to win this game and advance to the final four
"It wasn't that we weren't expecting it, it's just that this has been one of our goals ever since we ended the season last year. We just kept keeping that in mind through all of the ups and downs during the season. We wanted to get to the final four and this is just an unreal feeling that we finally made it happen."

Senior midfielder Kiersten Wood Postgame Quotes

On what it means to knock off the two-time defending national champions on their home field
"It's huge. We're always here (in the NCAA Tournament). Maryland is our second home. Maryland's a tough team to beat especially at home and I think we had nothing to lose today. We talked about just putting it all out on the line. Our team is just very motivated. It means the world to us. We had an up-and-down season but we worked hard to get here and it showed today.

Postgame Notes

- Britney Long has now scored five goals in the postseason (Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments)

- Penn State has now played seven straight NCAA Tournament games in College Park and will make it at least eight straight on Friday.

- The win is Penn State's 20th all-time NCAA Tournament win.

- This was the third time in the last five years that Penn State played Maryland in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

- The win was Penn State's first over Maryland since the 1993 season and was the first for Penn State ever over Maryland in the NCAA Tournament. Despite Maryland's recent dominance of the series up until Sunday, Penn State leads the all-time series with the Terps 20-9-1.

- Penn State's previous appearances in the NCAA Final Four were in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993 and 2002. The Lions played in the championship game in 2002. They also made three previous appearances in the AIAW Final Four, winning two AIAW national championships.