Aug. 17, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--The Penn State women's soccer team announced its 2009 promotional schedule on Monday, which includes a special promotion for Friday's match against No. 9 Virginia. Friday's game against the Cavaliers is a CODE BLUE event that will coincide with the opportunity to be part of the largest crowd in Jeffrey Field history.
The 12th-ranked Nittany Lions open the season against Virginia at 7:00 p.m. Friday. The event, dubbed "Be Loud, Be Proud, The Largest Crowd," is looking to stir up all the Penn State soccer fans to join the team to upset the ninth-ranked Cavaliers.
The largest crowd to date came in a match against UCLA on August 25, 2006, the only game ever to eclipse the 3,000 mark. That match ended up with 3,208 fans, which witnessed a thrilling 2-1 win over the No. 2 ranked squad in the country on opening day. The 2009 team looks for similar results on Friday.
All 10 home games for the women's team have promotions including two for the upcoming Penn State Invitational August 29-31. A Dollar Dog Night will take place during a doubleheader between BYU and Connecticut at 5:00 p.m. and followed by a 7:30 p.m. match with No. 14 West Virginia against the Nittany Lions. Two days later, Kids Day will take place on Monday, August 31 for a pair of afternoon matches between BYU/West Virginia and PSU/UConn starting at Noon. The $100 shot will also take place that day.
The September 6 Rutgers match will be U.S. Youth Soccer Day at Jeffrey Field, while Cap Day and Camp Day will coincide with one another for a Sunday, September 20 afternoon tilt with James Madison.
October 4 welcomes Ohio State into Happy Valley for Pink Day. The following Friday, October 9, will be another CODE BLUE and Greek Night for the Northwestern game at 7:00 p.m. The October 11 match against Iowa is Faculty/Staff Day.
One of the most important Big Ten home clashes will take place October 25 for a Sunday afternoon match with Illinois. The game, featured live on the Big Ten Network is a White Out afternoon. Kick-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. The last regular season home game of the year is on November 1, when Senior Day will take place against Purdue at 1:00 p.m.
The Nittany Lions were voted 12th behind Florida (10th) and Oklahoma State (11th) and ahead of San Diego (13th) and West Virginia (14th) in the 2009 NSCAA preseason rankings. Penn State is 4-1 all-time against Virginia, winning the last four matches, including the last two at Jeffrey Field in which the Cavaliers were ranked in the top 10.
Penn State opened its season on Saturday with an exhibition game against Pittsburgh at Jeffrey Field. Although no official stats were kept, nearly 500 fans came on to cheer the two squads on in their final tune-ups to the regular season.
For complete coverage of all the Nittany Lion soccer this season, go to www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-soccer.
Follow Penn State women's soccer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PSUWomensSoccer.
--NITTANY LIONS--