Sept. 21, 2008
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - On a clear, sunny afternoon in front of a home crowd of just under 3,000, the No. 17 Nittany Lions fell in a 3-1 decision to No. 1 Notre Dame. Penn State now drops to 5-4 on the season while Notre Dame stays undefeated at 8-0.
Penn State came out hard and had the better of the play early on. They were able to find Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) behind the Notre Dame defense a couple of times, but were unable to capitalize on opportunities. Just past the 17 minute mark Notre Dame's Melissa Henderson notched the first goal of the day against the run of play on a Julie Schlieder cross. As Penn State was trying to get their rhythm back, Notre Dame's Kerri Hanks had a shot blocked in the box by Jessie Davis (Fairfax, Va.). Hanks collected her own rebound and tucked the ball in the far right corner of Penn State's goal. Not willing to go down quietly, Penn State continued to fight and create more opportunities. They play opened up and both teams had chances. The Irish took advantage of their chances just past the 32 minute mark as Erica Iantorno sent a ball across the box to a well-marked Michelle Weissenhofer who was able to just get a foot on it and sent it into Penn State's net.
Moments later, the Nittany Lions responded with a goal of their own. Nikki Watts (Hungerford, England) found herself in a wide position and served the ball deep into the Notre Dame six-yard box. Freshman Carly Niness (Berwyn, Pa.) was able to push through traffic and connect the cross for her first collegiate goal.
The second half was a very physical and largely defensive battle. Penn State goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) came up with some big saves and Carrie Dew and the Notre Dame defense made things difficult for the Nittany Lion attack. There were few real quality chances on either end in the second half.
"We knew we were going in for a battle today and we did a good job competing. Unfortunately fighting hard does not necessarily translate into success. They had three chances in the first half and finished all of them. That's the difference between being No. 1 and everyone else in the country," said head coach Erica Walsh.
Penn State had 15 shots compared to Notre Dame's 11 while Naeher collected six saves.
The Nittany Lions will begin their campaign for an eleventh straight Big Ten championship traveling to Indiana, Friday, Sept. 26, at 7:30 p.m. ET.