Oct. 3, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Penn State women's soccer team suffered a tough 1-0 overtime loss at Jesse Owens Stadium to Ohio State. A defensive miscue allowed OSU's Paige Maxwell to give the Buckeyes the win.
After a tough 90 minutes of scoreless play Penn State goalkeeper Krissy Tribbett (Centennial, Colo.) misplayed a passback. Maxwell gathered the mistake and put the shot from eight yards out to the left post and give the Buckeyes the win.
A tense opening 45 minutes of play saw several chances for both teams go begging. In the seventh minute, Maxwell had a one-on-one opportunity but her shot from eight yards out went high of frame. A minute later, the Nittany Lions nearly capitalized on a corner kick when Taylor Schram's (Canonsburg, Pa.) heading attempt was cleared off the line by Ohio State (8-2-1, 2-0-0 Big Ten).
In the 23rd minute, Penn State (3-7-1, 1-1-0 Big Ten) had a counter attack opportunity when Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.) took an Emma Thomson (Nottinghamshire, England) outlet pass and entered the Ohio State end. The cross by Hayes went to the middle of the field, but Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) was unable to knock it in the net.
The 30th minute saw Tribbett make her biggest stop of the half when OSU's Cassie Dickerson was left alone off a scramble and her shot from seven yards out was snared by Tribbett (three saves). PSU again countered when Toney slotted a through ball to a rushing Hayley Brock (Acton, Mass.) but her close-range attempt went just wide of net in the 33rd minute. Two minutes later, Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) drew a free kick about 30 yards from net on the right wing. Her left-footed service nearly went in the net as the shot went off the crossbar and out of play.
Brock had two chances, one before the halftime whistle and another after, when she took through balls from the midfield and went one-on-one with Ohio State `keeper Rachel Middleman (two saves). Brock's chance in the 44th minute was saved from 10 yards out on the near post before another flurry of chances by the freshman striker in the 51st and 52nd minutes went wide of frame. After the opening frantic minutes of the second half, the game settled down for both teams as midfield play won out.
In the 74th minute, the game began to open up as a Bri Garcia (Babylon, N.Y.) long ball entered the top of Ohio State's penalty area as OSU's Cassie Dickerson dropped off and Brock beat Rachel Middleman to the ball. Brock took a touch past Middleman and had an open net from 15 yards out on the left wing, but the tight-angled shot went left of goal. Ultimately, neither side could find the back of the net in regulation as the game headed for overtime.
In the 94th minute, Lauren Granberg of Ohio State snuck behind the Penn State defense and had a one-on-one opportunity from six yards out, but Tribbett snuffed it out and keep the game scoreless. Unfortunately for Tribbett suffered the miscue minutes later to end the game.
For the game, Penn State was out-shot by Ohio State 13-8, including 4-2 in shots on goal. The Nittany Lions had six corner kicks to OSU's four as PSU's record over Ohio State dropped to 14-6-1.
Penn State will return to the road with two games next weekend with a Midwest swing through Northwestern (Friday, 8 p.m. ET) and Iowa (Sunday, 2 p.m. ET). Both games will feature live stats through GameTracker and NUSports.com will webcast the Northwestern match.
For complete coverage of Penn State women's soccer, please visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/sports/w-soccer.
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--NITTANY LIONS--