Oct. 5, 2009
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Amy, Meves Garner Weekly Big Ten Awards
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Freshman Kelsey Amy scored her second go-ahead goal in as many games and junior goalkeeper Ali Meves turned in another strong performance as the Penn State field hockey team downed No. 14 Stanford, 3-1 on Monday, for its second straight win over a ranked foe. Sophomore Jessica Longstreth got the scoring started with a penalty stroke tally while redshirt freshman Hannah Allison added insurance to hand the Cardinal only their second loss in 12 games.
The win means that Penn State has defeated two straight ranked opponents for the first time since last Oct. 10 and 12 when it beat No. 5 Iowa and No. 10 Virginia. It also improves its home record to 4-1 on the season.
Penn State got on the board first at 11:39 when Longstreth capitalized on a penalty stroke opportunity created by senior Christine Dudek. Longstreth's shot beat Stanford goalkeeper Alessandra Moss high for her second penalty stroke goal in three chances this season.
Stanford tied the score late in the first half when Camille Gandhi found the back of the cage off a penalty corner. Jaimee Erickson made the feed to Nora Soza, who made the stop for Gandhi's rocket that got past Meves at 32:00.
The Nittany Lions responded only 1:33 later off a penalty corner of their own. Redshirt freshman Kristen Schaefer made the stop to set up Amy, whose blast hit off the inside of Moss' pad before redirecting into the top part of the cage. Schaefer picked up her first-career point on the play while Dudek extended her career-high assist total to four, this coming after none in her first three seasons combined.
The Cardinal controlled play early in the second half with a number of quality chances, but Meves stood tall and when she was out of a play, her Penn State defenders backed her up with three defensive saves (and four for the game) by a trio of seniors. Brooke Hoffsmith had one at 38:39, followed by Laura Cahill at 43:44 and Amy Bonenberger at 59:18.
Allison scored her third goal of the season and first since the home-opener when her long blast beat Moss five-hole. The marker came at 69:26 to end hopes of a Stanford comeback.
Final shots were 14-13 in favor of Stanford while Penn State had the edge in penalty corners, 7-6. Eleven of the Cardinal shots were on goal with Meves making six saves to go along with the four defensive stops. Moss finished with five saves.
Penn State returns to conference play on Friday when it hosts No. 17 Northwestern at 6 p.m.. It will be "Pink Day," so check back to GoPSUsports.com this week for updates on this special promotion.
Follow Penn State field hockey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PennStateFH.