Sept. 2, 2011
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- Penn State women's soccer won its first comeback match of the season in a 3-1 victory over North Carolina State on Friday evening at Ambrose Urbanic Field on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh. Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.) recorded a two-goal, five-point effort, while her counterpart up top, Taylor Schram (Canonsburg, Pa.), made her homecoming well known with a game-icing goal in the second half.
"Tonight we got a huge lift from the players coming off the bench," Fifth-year head coach Erica Walsh said after her 102nd career win. "Whitney Church, Jackie Molinda, Ali Schaefer and Emily Hurd changed the game when they came on the field. I'm proud of the team's effort to come from behind and pull out a win."
Facing just the second deficit of the season, Jackie Molinda (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) combined to play a ball through to Hayes in the 40th minute to equalize N.C. State (4-1-0). The Wolfpack's Tanya Cain put NCSU ahead in the 23rd minute on a chip from Stephanie Bronson, but the season-opening four-game winning streak would be snapped by Penn State (4-1-0).
PSU started out fast and ferocious just five minutes past halftime as Hayes took another feed from Nairn and snuck it into the lower left-hand corner of the net for a 2-1 lead in the 51st minute. The goal was Hayes's sixth of the season as she eclipsed her goal total from a year ago of five.
The Nittany Lions looked to ice the game away as Schram put away her third goal of the season in the 69th minute. Hayes played a ball out wide to left-winger Emily Hurd (Sammamish, Wash.) who laid a perfectly placed cross to Schram for the header and the final goal of the night. All three goals on Friday evening were fed by double assists as PSU has racked up 22 on 15 goals.
Hayes, who earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week and Soccer America Team of the Week honors for her three-goal weekend vs. West Virginia and Richmond, now has 13 points on the year, tops on Penn State. Schram has three goals to go along with four assists for 11 points, while Hurd notched her second helper of the season and has four points. Matching Hurd with four points is 2010 NSCAA All-American, Nairn, as she has all her points on assists. Nairn moved into a tie for 10th all-time at Penn State with her 20th assist tonight. Jess Rosenbluth (Gladwyne, Pa.) notched her team-leading fifth assist of the evening on the game-winner, feeding Nairn who helped Hayes.
Penn State's fourth straight win in non-conference regular season play is the first such streak since the undefeated squad of 2005 pulled off nine in a row. PSU also defeated NCSU in the teams' first meeting in women's soccer as the Nittany Lions out-shot the Wolfpack 13-11 for the game.
Goalkeeper Erin McNulty (Winnipeg, Manitoba) made six saves, three in each half, to secure the victory. When NCSU scored 22:18 into the game they snapped Penn State's 316-minute shutout streak dating back to the end of the Stanford match. The Lions have now out-scored their opponents 15-1 in the last four matches.
NEXT MATCH: Penn State at Pittsburgh, Sunday 2:00 p.m. at Ambrose Urbanic Field. Pittsburgh tied Colorado College, 2-2, in double overtime before penalty kicks separated the two squads.
--NITTANY LIONS--