Sept. 12, 2008
STORRS, Conn. - The first half was scoreless, but not without ample effort from both teams. Penn State put immediate pressure on Brown with Katie Schoepfer getting off two shots in the first minute of play. Although the Nittany Lions kept the ball in Bear territory for most of the half as defender Charlotte Rizzi broke up key scoring opportunities while goalkeeper Brenna Hogue made many diving saves to keep PSU scoreless.
The first scoring threat from Brown came 16 minutes into play, and shortly after, Sar Herbert-Seropian narrowly missed the cross bar. Emma Thomson and Maura Ryan were key in breaking up further Brown scoring opportunities. Penn State out-shot Brown 11-5 in the first half as Alyssa Naeher made two saves while Hogue picked up eight.
It looked as if PSU would score at the 56:32 mark as Danielle Toney forwarded the ball to Schoepfer. She passed the keeper looking at an open net, but narrowly missed left. The Bears continued peppering shots, but all were saved by Naeher. Hogue and Brown's feisty defense kept Penn State scoreless in the second half as they thwarted many dangerous Penn State scoring opportunities.
With 29 minutes left to play, Schoepfer took a strong free kick that Hogue pounced on, but it slipped out to the right side of the goal. Continuing the pressure on the Brown net, Watts got off an impressive shot that was deflected off the keeper.
Brown went on the offensive as Marybeth Lesbriel snuck by Jessie Davis as Naeher came out strong and took the ball off of Lesbriel's foot. The rest of the half went scoreless as the game advanced into overtime.
Penn State got off to a fierce start in overtime showing a desire to score forcing two saves by the Bears keeper. However, in the final minute of the first segment of overtime, Herbert-Seropian struck a ball well from the left hitting the upper 90 and ricocheting into the lower right corner of the goal.
"Tonight wasn't our night," said head coach Erica Walsh. "We were unable to finish on a lot of scoring opportunities. Brown came out with a lot of energy, fought hard and scored a great goal."
Penn State will return to Joseph J. Morrone Stadium Sunday to face off with the host Huskies of No. 25 UConn at 2:30 p.m.