Aug. 23, 2008
HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Nittany Lion field hockey squad lost a 5-3 decision to Duke Saturday in Penn State's final tune-up of the preseason in Harrisonburg, Va. Penn State was down 3-1 at half, but battled back to a 5-3 final decision in which Penn State Head Coach Charlene Morett and her staff played numerous players and even changed some positions around throughout the game to further prepare the squad for its opener next Saturday, Aug. 30, vs. Old Dominion in Collegeville, Pa.
"We learned a lot from this exhibition game, " said Morett. "Duke was a strong, fast opponent for us to start with. We improved from the first half to the second half. We saw a lot of positive things in the second half and the three goals was a positive. It's good to get a scrimmage like that in."
Penn State drew first blood when junior midfielder Bethany Marvel (Newtown, Pa.) scored an unassisted goal. Duke scored the next three tallies sending the game into halftime with a 3-1 Blue Devil advantage.
Duke scored again to start the second half before Penn State answered with another goal from Marvel, this time on a corner with an assist from senior midfielder Ali Scola (Hummelstown, Pa.) to make the score 4-2 Duke.
The Blue Devils got one more goal on the day with Penn State finishing the scoring with a neat goal from sophomore back Daneen Zug (Manhiem, Pa.). Zug's goal was assisted by junior defender Jen Miller (North Caldwell, N.J.).
Penn State's team starts classes on Monday, Aug. 25, and kicks-off the 2008 season on Saturday in Collegeville, Pa. with their season opener versus Old Dominion at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions return to Happy Valley on Labor Day for their home opener vs. Maryland, which will be a 5 p.m. start. Last postseason, Penn State beat two-time defending champion Maryland 1-0 to advance to the NCAA semifinals. The Nittany Lions lost in the national championship game, finishing as the national runner-up.
--NITTANY LIONS--