Nov. 8, 2007
UNIIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
Complete Release in PDF Format
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS
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SEMIFINALS NEXT FOR DEFENDING BIG TEN TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONS... No. 1 seed Penn State (16-3-1) took the first step to defending its Big Ten Tournament title with a 3-1 opening round win over. No. 8 seed Iowa (8-8-4). The sixth-ranked Nittany Lions will face the No. 5 seed Ohio State Buckeyes (12-8-0), who beat No. 4 seed Indiana, 1-0, in overtime Thursday.PSU and OSU will play the first semifinal game at 6 p.m. ET Friday.
Both of Friday's semifinal games will be aired on the Big Ten Network on a tape-delay basis early Saturday morning at 1 and 3 a.m. The Big Ten championship game on Sunday will be aired on both the Big Ten Network (live at 2 p.m. ET) and CSTV (taped delay at 5 p.m.). All games will be available through livestats on the Gametrack PSU page.
The Nittany Lions are the defending Tournament champions after wins over Northwestern (3-2), Michigan (2-0) and Illinois (3-1)?last year at Jeffrey Field. The 2006 Tournament title was the fourth in program history.
NEXT UP... The NCAA selection show will be broadcast live on ESPNews on Monday, Nov. 12 from 8-8:30 p.m. A PSU selection would be its 13th-straight in the program's 14-year history. Penn State has made the NCAA?quarterfinals eight of the past nine years, including last season when they eventually lost in the round of eight at national runner-up Notre Dame. In the current NCAA?RPI, Penn State is No. 1 again after a slip to No. 4 in the last rankings.
LAST GAME... In the Big Ten quarterfinals, Penn State downed No. 8 seed Iowa 3-1 off goals from Aubrey Aden-Buie?(Allentown, Pa.), Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) and Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.).
SERIES HISTORY VS. OHIO STATE... Penn State looks to stretch its win streak vs. the Buckeyes to four-straight games when they meet for the second time this year in the Big Ten Semifinals. Sophomore striker Katie Schoepfer had the game-winnning goal vs. the Buckeyes exactly seven days before their semifinal match-up on Friday. PSU owns a 13-4 advantage in the all-time series, including a 1-0 victory earlier this year in Columbus to clinch its 10th-consecutive Big Ten title. PSU has notched three-straight wins against the Buckeyes following its last loss, a 2-0 decision in the 2004 Big Ten Tournament final defeat at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.
NAEHER GARNERS BIG TEN DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR; SIX NITTANY LIONS EARN ALL-BIG TEN... Six Nittany Lions earned all-Big Ten honors after helping their team to a 10th-straight conference title including sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.), who garnered Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. Naeher is Penn State's 10th Big Ten Player of the Year (Offensive or Defensive) and is the Nittany Lions' first goalkeeper to be honored with conference Player of the Year recognition. Sophomores Naeher and striker Katie Schoepfer, as well as redshirt-junior midfielder Zoe Bouchelle (Cockeysville, Md.) were all named to the first team, while senior defender Denay Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.), senior forward Aubrey Aden-Buie, and junior defender Jessie Davis (Fairfax, Va.) received second team honors. Penn State's six selections pushes its number of All-Big Ten picks to 65 in the 14-year history of the program. Additionally, Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) was also named to the all-freshman team. Bouchelle received the team's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
NITTANY LIONS' BIG TEN STREAK NOTEWORTHY... After clinching the 2007 Big Ten title on Nov. 2 at Ohio State, Penn State pushed its conference championship run to nine-straight. The streak is tied with Indiana women's tennis and Northwestern women's tennis for the second-longest in the 26 years of Big Ten women's championships.
ADEN-BUIE, SCHOEPFER INCREDIBLE 1-2 PUNCH FOR PSU... Off to another successful year, Penn State has enjoyed the steady contributions of two elite strikers in senior Aubrey Aden-Buie and sophomore Katie Schoepfer. The Nittany Lions are 14-0-1 when at least one of the two scores a goal, but is 2-3 without a score from one of the pair. Schoepfer and Aden-Buie have 11 gamewinners between them, Schoepfer has six and Aden-Buie has five.