Nov. 11, 2010
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State women's soccer kicks off its 2010 NCAA Tournament campaign on Friday with a match against Penn in Morgantown, W. Va. The Nittany Lions and Quakers will face off at 3:30 p.m. in Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium and the game will have live stats and streaming video coverage as well as commentary through Twitter and Facebook.
Penn State (10-8-1) is in its 16th straight NCAA Tournament, tied for the fourth-longest streak in women's soccer behind North Carolina (29 straight), Notre Dame (18) and Virginia (17). PSU and Texas A&M each have 16 straight appearances.
Penn is making its fourth showing in the NCAA Tournament and the first since 2007. The Quakers have never advanced out of the first round. The winner of the Penn State-Penn matchup will face the winner of host West Virginia and Morehead State on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Tickets to the matches are $7 for general admission seating and $5 for youth and seniors. Directions to the WVU Sports Complex can be found by clicking here
The complete game notes can be found HERE.
GAME NOTES
PENN STATE TOURNAMENT OVERVIEW: Penn State will be taking part in its 16th NCAA Tournament, all consecutive appearances since 1995. The senior class is 3-3-0 at Penn State in NCAA games. The farthest Megan Monroig and Danielle Toney have gone in the tournament is to the third round their freshman year in 2007.
Overall, the Nittany Lions are 10-3 in first round games (PSU received byes from the first round in 1998, 1999 and 2000) and had a seven-game first-round winning streak snapped at Rutgers in 2008.
Penn State is a three-time College Cup participant (1999, 2002, 2005), while advancing to the quarterfinals eight times, posting a 3-5-0 record.
Penn State has amassed an impressive record of 24-6-0 at Jeffrey Field, outscoring opponents 78-25 in NCAA Play.
Penn State has hosted the first and second rounds in the pod format seven of the last 10 years. In those seven seasons in which PSU hosted, the Nittany Lions went 11-2, advancing to the third round every year but 2004 and 2009.
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn lands in Morgantown by virtue of its 0-0 double-overtime win at Princeton to clinch its fourth-ever NCAA Tournament berth. After a 5-6 start to 2010, the Quakers managed a 4-0-2 finish. Led by the four-person attack of Kerry Scalora, Marin McDermott, Sarah Friedman and Ursula Lopez-Palm, Penn has played steady soccer out-scoring its opponents, 25-15. Scalora, McDermott and Lopez-Palm each have five goals with Lopez-Palm netting three game-winners. Friedman is the distributor of the ball, tallying eight assists on the year. In net, the Quakers have junior Caroline Williams who has started all 17 games. She boatss a 0.87 goals-against average with a .817 save percentage and seven solo shutouts. As a team, the Quakers have posted nine clean sheets.
SERIES HISTORY:  PSU and Penn, despite being separated by a short drive, have never faced off in women's soccer.
NCAA HISTORY: The Quakers have had three previous appearances, losing in the first round each time. As an at-large in 1999, Penn lost 1-0 at James Madison, while losing 2-0 to Villanova in 2001 at Penn State and 2-0 to James Madison in 2007 at West Virginia.
For the West Virginia and Morehead State previews, check the game notes
PENNSYLVANIA DOMINANCE:  The Nittany Lions and Penn will face off for the first time in women's soccer, allowing PSU the chance to extend an amazing run of play against Pennsylvania teams. Since starting its program in 1994, Penn State has become the premier women's soccer program in Pennsylvania. All-time, the Nittany Lions are an impressive 29-2-1 against its Keystone foes, with the only team ever defeating PSU being Villanova. In fact, the Lions are riding a 13-year unbeaten streak since its last loss, a 2-1 defeat at `Nova in 1997. PSU is currently enduring a 23-0-1 stretch, which includes a 14-0-1 mark against Bucknell.
BIG TEN END OF YEAR AWARDS: The Nittany Lions had six of their own honored by the Big Ten on Wednesday, Nov. 10 on the All-Big Ten teams. Sophomore midfielder Christine Nairn earned her second straight All-Big Ten First Team honor, while Emma Thomson, Tani Costa and Danielle Toney were named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. It is Toney's second-straight All-Big Ten accolade after her first-team honor last year, while Thomson and Costa land on the All-Big Ten squad for the first time. Thomson was an All-Freshman honoree in 2008, while Costa and fellow classmate Bri Hovington are All-Big Ten Freshman Team members this season. Senior co-captain Megan Monroig earned Penn State's All-Big Ten Sportsmanship Award.
GOLDEN GOAL HEROICS:  Penn State out-shot, out-played and out-witted the Michigan Wolverines on Sunday, Nov. 7, but couldn't place a ball in the net.  After 109 frustrating minutes and 41 shots (14 on net, one off the post), Tani Costa volleyed a ball into the penalty area to Taylor Schram who flicked it on to an on-rushing Ali Schaefer. Schaefer poked the ball past U-M's Hayley Kopmeyer, the school record-tying 42nd shot in the game, for a thrilling 1-0 win with just 17 seconds remaining. The goal was Schaefer's first of the season and first game-winner of her career and couldn't have come at a better time. Krissy Tribbett earned the shutout with four saves, while PSU's staunch defense kept Michigan from quality chances, who only fired off six shots.
LUCKY NUMBER 13: Penn State needed at least a win against Michigan to secure a share of its 13th straight Big Ten title and got it in dramatic fashion. The 13th straight title is the most in Big Ten women's history, besting the Michigan swimming & diving programs of the 1990s. Northwestern tennis has a chance to match the feat this spring.
BIG TEN WEEKLY AWARDS: For their outstanding play on Sunday against Michigan, Bri Hovington and Taylor Schram were honored by the Big Ten. Hovington was the Co-Defensive Player of the Week, while Schram earned Freshman of the Week for her game-winning assist on Schaefer's goal. The awards are the first Big Ten honors for each student-athlete.
SCHAEFER HONORED: Ali Schaefer was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week for her game-winner against Michigan. It's the first honor for Schaefer in her collegiate career.
BOILING PURDUE: Penn State got off to a slow start on a breezy Halloween afternoon, conceding a first-minute goal to Purdue before scoring six unanswered in a 6-1 win at the Varsity Soccer Complex. Tani Costa scored twice, while Danielle Toney, Christine Nairn, Maya Hayes and Hayley Brock pitched in with a goal each. Nairn and Toney added assists for their respective three-point days, while Ali Schaefer and Megan Monroig added assists. Krissy Tribbett made two saves, holding the Boilermakers scoreless for the final 88:39.
MONTHLY WINS: Penn State played eight games in the month of October, which has historically been the best month with an all-time record of 125-22-4 (.841). The Lions went 6-2-0 and plays its only regular season game in November against Michigan. The Lions are 57-20-4 (.728) all-time.
MAKING A RUN: Penn State has had an incredible finish to its season rallying for a 10-8-1 record after a 2-6-1 start. PSU has won eight of its last nine games, while out-scoring teams 25-8 in Big Ten play over that span. The Nittany Lions have made a jump in the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), darting up the charts from 131st to 46th. Penn State is 4-5-1 against Top 50 opponents from the RPI this season, including a victory over West Virginia, the host of this weekend's games.
R(P)ISING UP: The Nittany Lions shot up the NCAA Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the main criteria used by the tournament selection committee for ranking, seeding and inviting at-large bids. The first RPI report came out on Oct. 4 and pegged Penn State at 131st. After a 48-place rise in the rankings to 83rd on Oct. 11, the Lions gained nine more places on Oct. 18 to 74th. Two weeks ago, PSU jumped to 57th, 17 places better before improving to 51st (Nov. 2) and 46th (Nov. 9).
| 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 put together an ambitious promotion plan into place to see 13,000 fans see a women's soccer game at Jeffrey Field. Although Penn State fell 2,293 short of that mark, the women's soccer team saw the highest per-game average in program history with 1,189. 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.
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.
NEXT TIME OUT: Should the Nittany Lions advance out of the Morgantown regional, Penn State would face the winner of the Newton, Mass. regional which features Boston College, Boston University, Hofstra and Connecticut. Times and site would be announced at a later date.
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--NITTANY LIONS--