Sept. 2, 2010
Friday vs. Yale: Live Stats • Sunday vs. UConn: •
Game Notes • Twitter/Facebook
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 16 ranked Penn State women's soccer team begins a four-game road trip starting with a 7:00 p.m. match at Yale on Friday. The Nittany Lions will travel up the road to Connecticut on Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
Penn State and Yale will meet for the first time in women's soccer at Reese Stadium. PSU is coming off a 2-1 loss to William & Mary last week, while Yale has yet to start its season.
On Sunday, the Nittany Lions take on Connecticut seeking their ninth straight win the series. PSU holds an 8-0-1 all-time record against the Huskies including a 5-0-1 mark at Morrone Stadium. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m.
The complete game notes can be found HERE.
| Emma Thomson Previews the Weekend |
GAME NOTES
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale opens its season on Friday against the Nittany Lions returning a core of players that guided the Bulldogs to a 10-6-0 mark in 2009. Up front, the duo of Becky Brown and Kristen Forster lead Yale as the two accounted for 43 of the team's 92 points last year. Brown scored a team-high 13 goals and four assists for 30 points, while Forster notched nine assists with two goals for 13 points. In net, senior Ayana Sumiyasu returns after a 7-5 season where she started 13 games and played over 1,100 minutes. She posted a 1.02 goals against average with 61 saves for a .824 save percentage. Sophomore Adele Jackson-Gibson is her back up after a 2-1 season with a 1.50 GAA and .786 save pct.
SERIES HISTORY:  This is the first meeting between the two teams.
Hughes: Weekend Preview Nittany Lion Women's Soccer Squad Headed on the Road against Yale, Connecticut All-Sports Blog |
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES: Connecticut has had a rough to the season so far going 0-2-1. As a team, UConn has out-shot its opponents 51-37. After a season-opening 3-2 double-overtime defeat to Siena, UConn has yet to score a goal. A 0-0 double-overtime draw with William & Mary on Friday at Jeffrey Field was followed up by a disappointing 1-0 double-overtime defeat to Virginia thanks to a Meghan Lenczyk penalty kick. Jessica Shufelt and Meghan Cunningham account for each goal this year, while Courtney Maitland-Wilkinson has the lone assist. Jessica Dulski has seen all 315 minutes in net with a 1.14 goals against average and a .714 save percentage.
SERIES HISTORY:  The UConn-Penn State series has been hotly contested with none of the previous nine meetings being decided by more than two goals. The Nittany Lions have gotten the better of the Huskies, winning the last eight in a row including last year's come-from-behind 3-2 win at Jeffrey Field. Twice UConn took a lead only for Penn State to equalize. It wasn't until Christine Nairn headed home the 78th-minute game-winner did Penn State gain a lead and capture the win all while out-shooting UConn, 30-6.
INVITATIONAL REDUX: The Nittany Lions hosted the fifth annual Penn State Invitational last weekend, going 0-1-1. Friday's game saw an exciting tilt between two top 15 teams in Penn State and Virginia as the Nittany Lions took a lead 54 minutes into the game on a Hayley Brock marker off a helper from Tani Costa. Virginia equalized in the 88th minute to send it to overtime where the game ended in a 1-1 draw. On Sunday, PSU took the lead for the third straight time in 2010 when Danielle Toney scored her second of the season, only to see it be equaled by William & Mary minutes later. A 74th minute free kick goal from 40 yards out saw the Tribe leave Jeffrey Field with the win.
| Penn State Women's Soccer Thanks its Fans! |
PACKING THE JEFF: Penn State and Virginia entertained 3,921 at Jeffrey Field, a new women's soccer single-game attendance record at the facility. A strong showing from the student section of Nittany Nation made their voices felt throughout the matches, lifting the Nittany Lions. The previous record was 3,208 set in Aug. 2006 in a match against UCLA, a 2-1 Penn State win. Last year, Penn State ranked ninth in the nation in average attendance (1,198) and tops in the Big Ten.
GOAL FOR 13,000: Penn State has put together an ambitious promotion plan into place to see 13,000 fans see a women's soccer game at Jeffrey Field. Last season, the Lions set a new single-season attendance record with 1,138 people per game. A total of 14,378 joined the NIttany Lions, second most in the team's history in raw numbers. The 14,711 in 2005 still stands as the most. 13,000 in nine games (1,444 per game) would break last year's single-season record.
EXORCISING THE MOUNTAINEERS:  West Virginia has had Penn State's number since 2007. No more. Penn State broke its four-game skid against the Mountaineers with a thrilling 2-1 overtime win over the 24th ranked WVU squad. A 22nd-minute goal by Danielle Toney was equalized by Bri Rodriguez in the 34th minute. The two teams went into overtime, mostly due to WVU goalkeeper Kerri Butler's outstanding play (nine saves). Tani Costa took a Hayley Brock delivery, cut back and slotted a left-footed shot home for the victory with 49 seconds left in the first OT period. It was Penn State's first overtime win since Oct. 2008, first win over WVU since Nov. 2005 and the first win in Morgantown since Oct. 2003. The goal was Costa's first in college play in her collegiate debut.
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--NITTANY LIONS--