Oct. 29, 2009
BLOOMINGTON, Ind.--With a constant rainfall and a persistent home team, the No. 25 Penn State women's soccer team used a Christine Nairn (Bowie, Md.) 80th-minute goal to defeat Indiana, 2-1, at Armstrong Stadium on Thursday night. Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) tallied her 10th goal of the year in the 21st minute and Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) provided both assists to move the Nittany Lions back into a tie for first place in the Big Ten standings with No. 15 Ohio State.
"It's something else to win on the road, in the rain and win in a situation where you have to win," said head coach Erica Walsh after the match. "To do all three is awesome. We've been saying that `Penn State finds a way to win.' The team has kept saying that, we have a white board where it says it and we have been finding a way to win games [like these]."
Penn State (10-5-3, 6-1-1 Big Ten) looked to lose its stride, while Indiana (10-4-2, 2-3-2 Big Ten) was cruising after an equalizing goal in the 70th minute. In typical Nittany Lion fashion, the teams showed a great resolve as Nairn put away a beautiful Schoepfer through ball across space for the game winner.
The Hoosiers tied it up as Jocelyn Moses scored on a cross from Carly Samp. It was Moses' third goal of the season and provided Indiana all the momentum. Nevertheless, Schoepfer corralled a loose ball 45 yards from net and sent a pass to Toney, who was positioned near the top of the penalty arc. Toney and the IU defense let the ball go through and Nairn ran onto it unmarked and she blasted the ball into the right-side of the net for a lead Penn State would never let go.
"Part of me didn't think [Toney] was going to leave it," Nairn recalled. "But we've been practicing runs in the box and it paid off. I had it right there and made it count."
As for whether or not this was the most important goal of the year so far for the freshman midfielder she agreed.
"I'd say so, this part of the season," Nairn added. "We have to get points and keep winning. As a team it wasn't our best performance tonight but we came away with the points that we had to get. We've been working all week and working on long range shots. We couldn't get them on frame, when we had opportunities we made the most of them."
Make the most of the opportunities the Lions did. For the first time since a 2-0 win over Wisconsin in 2007, Penn State made both shots put on net, leaving the opposing goalkeepers without a save.
In a tight game that was mostly played between the two respective penalty areas. Just 15 shots were taken by both squads as Penn State fired a season-low nine shots and Indiana attempted six on a slick Armstrong field.
"The stats were weird, we had 70 percent of the possession in the second half," Walsh said. "But we weren't dangerous enough in the final third. It was kind of like the Michigan State game where we came alive in the second half at the right time."
With Indiana holding much of the possession in the first half, PSU went ahead when Toney and Schoepfer connected on a one-touch play that saw Toney blast the ball through the hands of Indiana's Lauren Hollandsworth and off the crossbar and in. The play was set up by Schoepfer off a Nikki Watts throw in on the near side touchline.
The win by Penn State's was the first by a visiting team in Bloomington this season in 10 tries, while it was the 17th win in 19 matches overall in the series over the Hoosiers. Additionally, PSU moved to 21-2-2 all-time when Toney scores a goal.
Although PSU continued one streak (eight-straight unbeaten games over Indiana at Armstrong Stadium), another came to an end on the individual level. Despite two assists, Schoepfer's seven-game scoring streak game to a halt. She was tied her at third all-time in Penn State history with Christie Welsh.
Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) earned her 10th win of the year by making four saves in net for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State's victory moved the Nittany Lions back into a tie for first place in the Big Ten standings with Ohio State. Both teams are 6-1-1 in conference play with 16 points. Ohio State faces Indiana in Columbus on Sunday.
The Nittany Lions were without the services of starting central defender Lexi Marton (Aurora, Ontario) who is with the Canadian U-20 squad in El Paso, Texas for two games against Mexico. Joining on the trip is reserve midfielder Rachel Lamarre (Montreal, Quebec). Both should return Sunday morning in time for the home finale vs. Purdue.
The Nittany Lions will when return to Jeffrey Field Senior Day. Penn State's seven seniors will be honored 15 minutes prior to the match with Purdue (Noon ET). Live stats will be available through GameTracker on GoPSUsports.com as will live streaming video with Greg Boyce on the call with Tom Ferguson with color analysis.
--NITTANY LIONS--