Aug. 29, 2010
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Sophomore Ayla Halus (Hershey, Pa.) had her second-straight double-digit save performance, but it wasn't enough as No. 3 Virginia downed the Penn State field hockey team, 3-0 in front of 626 fans on a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon.
"I think we played pretty well," said Halus. "We played against a really good team which had a solid corner unit. They came out really hard and knew how to put the ball in the back of the cage."
The strong turnout marked the fifth largest crowd in the history of the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. With the loss, the Nittany Lions drop to 1-1 while Virginia improves to 2-0.
Penn State played neck-and-neck with Virginia in the opening minutes, putting two shots on goal in the first 11:03, but goalkeeper Kim Kastuk came up with the save each time. The Cavaliers took advantage, striking first at 12:20 when Michelle Vittese's flick shot off a penalty corner beat Halus to make it 1-0.
"I think after the first goal, we lost [the excitement] a little bit," said Halus. "and that's just a matter of us pulling our morale back together and realizing that we can play with anyone."
Virginia turned on the pressure, looking to add insurance, but Halus came up with three saves over the next eight minutes to keep the deficit at 1-0.
A penalty corner led to the Cavs' second goal when Elly Buckley's direct shot made it 2-0 at 22:04.
Penn State bounced back with a strong second half, finishing even in shots while being awarded seven penalty corners to Virginia's two. But, like they had all game, the Cavaliers took advantage of their opportunities to make it 3-0. Just 1:39 into the second half, Paige Selenski came in all alone on the right side for the score.
The Nittany Lions controlled possession over the subsequent minutes, forcing Kastuk to make three second half saves. At 50:27, sophomore Kelsey Amy's (Sweet Valley, Pa.) shot off a penalty corner appeared ticketed for the back of the cage, but Cavaliers' back Chloe Pendlebury made the crucial defensive save to preserve the shutout.
Halus, who finished with 10 saves, made a number of spectacular stops like she had against No. 16 Old Dominion on Friday. At 51:56, Selenski came in all alone once again, but was denied by Halus, who came out aggressively to keep the score at 3-0.
Final shots were 19-10 in favor of Virginia while corners were even at eight apiece. The Cavaliers made six saves, led by Kastuk's five along with the defensive stop.
"I think we need to definitely get ourselves rested and look at tape from this game and Old Dominion," said head coach Charlene Morett. "A big change that we need to make as a team is that we need to possess the ball. I hope that our possession stats improve going into this week of practice and hopefully at Connecticut."
The Nittany Lions return to action on Friday when they travel to Connecticut to take on the No. 5 Huskies.
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