Nov. 12, 2009
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--The fourth-seeded Penn State women's soccer team opens NCAA Tournament play at home on Friday when it takes on the Colgate Raiders at 7:30 p.m. The 16th-ranked Nittany Lions are hosting the four-team regional pod as Virginia and St. John's open the proceedings at 5:00 p.m. All games will be streamed live through GoPSUsports.com All-Access.
Penn State (12-5-2) is looking to advance to the second round for the 12th time in 15 NCAA Tournament appearances. The Nittany Lions garnered a No. 4 seed in their portion of the bracket in which UCLA is seeded first. Portland is the No. 2 seed, while Virginia Tech has the No. 3 seed.
Penn State received more individual awards on Thursday morning when TopDrawerSoccer.com named three Nittany Lions to the website's Teams of the Year. Freshman midfielder Christine Nairn (Bowie, Md.) was tabbed the Rookie of the Year and heads the All-Freshman Team of the Year, while Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) and Katie Schoepfer (Waterford, Conn.) garnered National Second and Third Team of the Year recognition.
On Wednesday, the Big Ten Conference announced that Schoepfer and fellow senior Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) were named the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively. Nairn was named Freshman of the Year, while head coach Erica Walsh was honored as the Coach of the Year for the first time.
The Nittany Lions hold a 2-0-0 all-time record against Colgate, having last faced the Raiders in 2007, a 5-0 win at Jeffrey Field for Penn State.
All games will be streamed live through Penn State's All-Access on GoPSUsports.com. Trevor Turner and Eric Reed will bring fans all the live play-by-play and color analysis, which can be accessed through the University Park NCAA Tournament Central by clicking here.
The winner of the Penn State-Colgate game at 7:30 p.m. will play the victor of the 5:00 p.m. game, which features Virginia (9-5-5) and St. John's (13-6-1), on Sunday at Jeffrey Field. Kick off for that game is slated for 1:00 p.m.
Colgate Raiders
(11-6-3)
at
#16 Penn State Nittany Lions
(12-5-2)
Game #20: November 13, 2009 • 7:30 p.m. • Jeffrey Field • University Park, Pa.
GAME DAY
VENUE (CAPACITY): Jeffrey Field (5,000)
SURFACE: Grass
STREAMING COVERAGE: GoPSUsports.com All-Access
TALENT: Trevor Turner (pxp), Eric Reed (color)
SERIES RECORD VS. COL: Penn State leads 2-0-0
LAST MEETING: Penn State 5-0, 9/26/07
NEXT GAME: If PSU wins, Sun. 1 p.m. vs. St. John's/Virginia
GAME STORIES
• Penn State hosts the First and Second Round play of its 15th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance this Friday
• PSU will try to extend its unbeaten streak vs. Colgate to 10 on Friday; winner moves on to face winner of St. John's/Virginia match
• The Lions won their 12th-straight Big Ten title outright with a 2-0 win at Michigan
• Penn State sweeps end-of-year Big Ten Awards--Erica Walsh (Coach), Alyssa Naeher (Defensive), Katie Schoefper (Offensive), Chrsitine Nairn (Freshman); Danielle Toney (1st Team), Lexi Marton (2nd Team/Frosh.) earn accolades
GAME NOTES
LAST TIME OUT: Penn State faced a staunch defensive effort from Michigan but persevered for a 2-0 win over the Wolverines on Sunday. The Nittany Lions had goals from Katie Schoepfer, her 11th of the year, while freshman Jackie Molinda notched her first collegiate goal of the year to wrap things up in Ann Arbor. Jess Rosenbluth provided the helper on Schoepfer's tally while Nikki Watts' cross set up Molinda. Alyssa Naeher didn't see a single shot and earned her sixth solo shutout of the year as PSU's defense limited Michigan to just three attempts all game. Penn State is now 10-1-2 in its last 13 games dating back to Sept. 13.
SCOUTING THE RAIDERS: The Colgate Raiders (11-6-3) arrive at Jeffrey Field the Patriot League Champions thanks to narrow one-goal overtime wins over Navy (2-1) and American (1-0) on their home turf. Colgate is accustomed to playing tight games this season as 16 of them have been decided by one goal or less with the Raiders going 9-4-3. Colgate lost went 0-4-2 in its first six one-goal matches before reeling off a 9-0-1 record the rest of the way in said games. Nevertheless, the Raiders have not shown a prowess for scoring, failing to notch more than two goals in any match, in fact, only scoring two goals six times this season. The Raiders were out-shot by their opponents 347-270. Helping to stave off the onslaught is netminder Ashley Walsh who started all 20 games, sporting a 0.75 goals-against average with a .891 save percentage. She made 131 saves, while allowing just 16 goals. Up front, Jillian Kinter leads the attack with 12 points behind four goals and four assists, leading the team in both categories.
SERIES HISTORY: The Nittany Lions and Raiders have faced off just twice before in women's soccer. Last time the two teams met it was at Jeffrey Field and Penn State taking a 5-0 win. That day, Katie Schoepfer scored twice and Danielle Toney added another as the Lions rolled to victory. Maura Ryan assisted one of Schoepfer's goals and Alyssa Naeher wasn't forced to make a save in 65 minutes of play, earning the win in net. Penn State out-shot the Raiders by a substantial 30-3 margin. Going back to the second year of the program's existence, the Lions and Raiders faced off again, but by a much closer score. Penn State took the 2-1 affair, played at the Cornell Classic in Ithaca, N.Y.
NCAA TOURNAMENT: Penn State earned its 15th consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament thanks to the automatic bid for winning the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions are 28-13-1 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, but Penn State is on a two-game losing streak in the tournament having dropped a first round match last year at Rutgers (2-1) last year and a 1-0 decision to West Virginia in 2007. The last win for the Nittany Lions in the big dance, was a thrilling 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Hofstra in 2007 at Jeffrey Field. Carly Bedesem played the part of her by scoring with just 10 seconds left in regulation. Just a minute into the extra frame, Katie Schoepfer put away Maura Ryan's pass, capping a two-goal, 75-second stretch to put the Pride away. The Nittany Lions have three previous appearances in the Women's College Cup (1999, 2002, 2005) as well as eight quarterfinal appearances, the last coming in 2006.
More NCAA notes, facts and history can be found on pages 9-10 in the PDF game notes.
END-OF-YEAR AWARDS: For the second tiem in program history, Penn State swept the individual Big Ten year-end awards. Head coach Erica Walsh (Coach), Katie Schoepfer (Offensive), Alyssa Naeher (Defensive) and Christine Nairn (Freshman) won their respective awards. All three athletes were named to the All-Big Ten First Team including Danielle Toney. Schoepfer and Nairn were unanimous choices on the squad. Lexi Marton was tabbed for All-Big Ten Second Team honors, while she and Nairn were unanimous All-Freshman Team mentions. Melissa Hayes earned the Big Ten Sportsmanship Awards. Walsh, Schoepfer and Nairn captured their first individual end-of-year awards, while Naeher earned her second. She was the 2007 recipient of the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year Award. Toney garnered her first First Team All-Big Ten honor. Toney earned National Second Team consideration from soccer site TopDrawerSoccer.com, while Schoepfer was placed on the Third Team. Nairn landed National Rookie of the Year
OFFENSIVE FIREPOWER: Penn State is second in the Big Ten in scoring with 2.04 goals a game. Moreover, in Big Ten matches alone, Penn State out-scored its opponents, 26-8. The +18 goal differential was six better than any one else in the Conference play and PSU has a +23 goal differential overall this season, also tops among Big Ten sqads. Credit Katie Schoepfer for picking up her game, notching 10 goals in as many matches. Schoepfer notched 25 of her 30 points in Big Ten action, while Danielle Toney and Christine Nairn have 18 and 16, respectively. Conversely, Friday's opponent, Colgate, has only tallied 21 goals all season, never scoring more than two in a single game.
SCORING DUO: Danielle Toney and Katie Schoepfer are tied atop the Big Ten at the 30-point mark this season. Only four other squads in the country have a pair of teammates with at least 30 points or more.  The others: undefeated and #1 Stanford, #2 Portland, #5 Florida State and Charlotte.
BETTER BY THE DOZEN: Entering last weekend, Penn State and Ohio State were tied atop the standings at 7-1-1 with 22 points. While PSU was set to go to UM on Sunday, Ohio State had to play at Michigan State on Friday afternoon. The scenario was this--an upset of the No. 11 Buckeyes by the hometown Spartans would give Penn State no less than a share of its 12th-straight Big Ten championship. With a Lauren Hill goal in the 56th minute, MSU held on for the 1-0 win. Shortly after training in Happy Valley the team was brought into Jeffrey Field for its daily post-training scouting session. There, Penn State director of athletics Tim Curley, associate director of athletics Susan Delaney-Scheetz, other support staff and the coaches told the team of the news and the celebration erupted. After a photo opportunity on the training fields, with Beaver Stadium shrouded in twilight serving as a backdrop, head coach Erica Walsh addressed the team, congratulated them on their success and emplored that more work had to be done on Sunday and in the NCAA Tournament. The 2-0 win over Michigan gave the Lions sole possession of the trophy. Penn State became the fourth team to clinch an NCAA berth and tied the Michigan swimming & diving teams of the late 1990's by winning the 12th-straight Big Ten title, a women's record.
--NITTANY LIONS--