Nov. 18, 2007
College Park, Md. - For the third straight game in the NCAA Tournament, the Penn State defense did a very good job on defense of limiting its opponent's scoring chances by cutting off passes and blocking shots against one of the seeded teams in the NCAA Tournament. In the first two games, the Nittany Lions were able to shut out their seeded opponent despite being outshot.
On Sunday, however, despite another valiant effort by the Nittany Lions, North Carolina took advantage of three of its scoring opportunities and that was just enough as the Nittany Lions were shut down offensively by the North Carolina defense as the Tar Heels topped Penn State 3-0 in the national championship game.
North Carolina (24-0), which had outscored its opponents by a 99-14 margin entering Sunday's championship game, was limited in its scoring chances by Penn State stingy defense which had already shut out the second and third seeds in the tournament in the quarterfinals and semifinals. However, a 12-3 advantage in shots and a 6-2 advantage on penalty corners proved to be too much for the Nittnay Lions to overcome against the top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Tar Heels.
The Tar Heels got on the board just 3:10 into the contest as, after working the ball around the offensive end of the field for most of the first three minutes of the game, some sharp passing led to an open shot and the goal. From just inside the top of the circle, the ball was passed by Jesse Gey to the left and Katelyn Falgowski one-timed a hard shot into the cage.
Penn State averted further damage with just over 14 minutes left in the first half when, on a North Carolina penalty corner, UNC's Rachel Dawson's shot went high and over Jen Beaumont but Mallory Weisen made a diving defensive save and slapped the ball out of the cage area. Dawson's shot was allowed to be high off the penalty corner because she did not take a backswing but rather lifted the ball directly off her stick.
Beaumont made two more saves in the final 30 seconds of the first half to keep the game a one-goal game at the half. Both shots were from close range. North Carolina outshot the Nittany Lions 8-1 in the first half, with Penn State's only shot, which came off its only penalty corner of the half, being blocked before it could find its way to the cage.
Shaun Banta ends her career as one of the most prolific scorers in Penn State field hockey history. |
A ball that was redirected off the foot of a Penn State defender off a North Carolina shot off a penalty corner just over eight minutes into the second half made it 2-0 in favor of North Carolina. After a set play on the penalty corner that included some misdirection by the Tar Heels, Dawson's shot bounded off the foot of a defender and into the goal, which was assisted by Falgowski.
Penn State's best chance to score came with just over 20 minutes remaining in the second half on a fast break. Britney Long sent the ball into the circle from the right side of the endline and it got all the way through to an open Bethany Marvel on the left side but she was unable to get the shot off right away and the time she took to gather the ball allowed UNC keeper Brianna O'Donnell to slid over to the strong side of the cage and close down the angle and eventually make a save.
After the second UNC goal, the Tar Heels did not have any other good scoring chances until their third and final goal of the game. With just under seven minutes left in the game, North Carolina was awarded a free shot from just outside the circle. Dawson took the free hit and found an open Danielle Forword, who gathered the ball, turned around and unleashed a one-timer that beat Beaumont to her lower right and she was guarding the left post at the 6:44 mark.
Penn State, which was the first Big Ten team to appear in the final four since 2004 this year and made its second-ever appearance in the national championship game, finishes its season with a 16-8 record. All eight of its losses this season were to nationally-ranked teams.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Charlene Morett
Opening Statement
"I just want to reiterate again how proud I am of the team for playing in the national championship game and also their effort out there today. When you get to this level, it's going to be a battle. I think we possibly started out a little nervous and then we settled in a little bit and had a great effort towards the last 20 minutes of the game. Give Carolina credit, they are a good team."
On the NCAA Tournament run
"It was exciting. It was very exciting. To have to beat four ACC teams to win the championship, it says a lot about the strength of their conference. I think it says a lot about the strength and heart and determination of this Penn State team. But, it was a lot of fun and a great experience for our younger players. It's very difficult to see our seniors play their last game, especially this group. These seniors came in with the confidence and the goal to want to get to this, where we are today. I don't think we could have done it without them and their hard work to get here. They set the standard for the rest of the team. I give them a lot of credit and thank them for that."
Senior Back Mallory Weisen
On going down early
"We've been in that situation before. We've been in almost every situation, being up, being down early and tying it up. I don't think we really played down a level after they scored. We've been in that situation before. We were confident. We didn't get down on ourselves that early in the game."
On any differences between the first game vs. North Carolina and today
"It was physical but it was also clean. I thought they were a really clean team. We've faced other teams (this year) that weren't as clean. It was just a competitive atmosphere the entire game."
Junior Back Jen Long
On North Carolina's defense
"I think it was more that we needed to possess the ball a little bit better inside the 25 and just connect on passes more. I think that was just kind of a breakdown that we had early on but we towards the end of the half, we just kept attacking and attacking and kind of broke them down eventually."
On any differences between the first game vs. North Carolina and today
"It's a championship game out there so it's going to be hard fought and both teams are going to go hard for it. I think it was just playing the best we could and just the aggressiveness of going out there and putting pressure on the other team and part of our game plan was to put pressure on early so I don't think it was that much more of a physical game (that the first meeting)"
On Penn State's NCAA Tournament Run
"It's been amazing. It's been a great experience for all of us, just the level of play that we've seen since we've got here. Halfway through our season, we pretty much turned it around and each and every game, every practice, every time we stepped on the field, our play got better. Just to see our hard work and effort and everything we put into it and the team bonding you see. It was a great experience, especially for our young girls coming into the program. They have a look at what's ahead of them and we have a look at what's ahead for us next year. As hard as it is to have our seniors leave, they were great leaders."