Sept. 6, 2009
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 13/10 Penn State women's soccer team lost to Rutgers, 1-0, in front of 1,876 fans at sun-soaked Jeffrey Field on Saturday. The Nittany Lions were led by Alyssa Naeher who made four saves on the afternoon.
Rutgers' (4-0-1) goal came when Ashley Jones netted a marker with 6:12 remaining for the game-winner. She split the defense and went one-on-one, beating Naeher on the inside-right post from 12 yards out.
Penn State (2-3-0) held possession for most of the second half, but didn't get many good chances on goal. Rutgers countered and finally got a break when Jones split the PSU defense and was all alone in front of the net.
The Nittany Lions pressed after the go-ahead goal, but couldn't pull one back and send the match into overtime, suffering a second straight-loss.
A scoreless first half was not without its highlights, as Penn State was dangerous early and many times, nearly had the go-ahead goal. A great pass by Christine Nairn leads to a Danielle Toney breakaway chance in the ninth minute, but the junior's shot was saved by RU's Erin Guthrie (three saves).
Just a minute later, Katie Schoepfer went in on net with the goalie out, but her shot went wide and was cleared by the RU defense. Two minutes later, Nikki Watts' shot was saved underneath the crossbar from 20 yards out.
The best Rutgers chance of the first half came in the 21st minute when Karla Schacher's header off an early ball was saved by Naeher. Rutgers held a 7-4 edge in shots and both teams registered two attempts on goal.
The shutout was the first Penn State suffered in 2009, as Guthrie ups her school-record scoreless streak to four games.
Rutgers out-shot Penn State 12-9, while PSU made four saves to RU's three. The Nittany Lions took three corner kicks to the Knights' two. Twenty-one fouls were called in the game, 12 against Penn State alone, including a yellow card given to Toney in 62nd minute.
The Nittany Lions will return to action on Friday when they travel to Storrs, Conn. for the UConn Soccer Classic. Penn State takes on Wake Forest at 5:00 p.m. and play Boston University on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.
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--