Sept. 23, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State women's soccer team opened its Big Ten home stand with an emphatic 4-0 win over Northwestern on Friday night. Senior Ali Schaefer (Las Vegas, Nev.) notched her first multi-goal game of her career while Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.) scored twice to regain the NCAA scoring lead at 15 goals. "We came out and played well enough to earn a good result tonight," Head coach Erica Walsh said after the match. "I thought Ali Schaefer did a great job of getting on the end of some plays off set pieces and our midfield was outstanding."
The Nittany Lions (8-3-0, 1-1-0 Big Ten) poured on the offensive pressure early and often, putting Northwestern (1-8-0, 0-2-0 Big Ten) on its heels. Shots by Hayes and Taylor Schram (Canonsburg, Pa.) were snared by NU `keeper Anna Cassell (four saves) in the third and seventh minutes, respectively.
Hayes eventually broke through in the 21st when Bri Hovington (Lothian, Md.) played a long early ball from the right wing that deflected off a NU defender right to Hayes, who buried the shot to the left post for the early lead.
Penn State put more pressure as Whitney Church (Ashburn, Va.) drew a foul on the edge of the penalty area on a darting run down the right wing. Christine Nairn (Arnold, Md.) took advantage of the NU miscue and played a perfect service to the near post as Schaefer put the shot away for a two-goal cushion.
PSU dominated the first half, out-shooting the Wildcats 10-2, including a 5-0 advantage in shots on goal and 6-0 in corner kicks. The domination continued into the second stanza as Jess Rosenbluth's (Gladwyne, Pa.) corner kick found Schaefer on the far post for a 3-0 lead in the 57th minute.
The Nittany Lions added another insurance goal when Schaefer and Schram played a one-two combo over to a rushing Hayes before chipping it over Cassell's head for a 4-0 lead and her sixth multi-goal game of 2011. Schaefer finished the day with five points altogether.
Hayes is tied with Big Ten debutante Morgan Marlborough of Nebraska for the Big Ten and NCAA Division I lead in goals with 15. Marlborough tallied three at Purdue on Friday night following Hayes's second goal.
From there on out the reserves ran the game as Penn State closed out its 15th straight victory over Northwestern by its largest margin of victory, four goals. The previous largest margin was a 3-0 win at the 2001 Big Ten Tournament. PSU now leads the all-time series over Northwestern 18-2-0 with a 10-0-0 record at home.
The final stat line read 18-6 in shots favoring PSU, with an 8-1 advantage in shots on goal. The Lions took eight corners, while Northwestern had none. Penn State moved to 3-0-0 at Jeffrey field and improved its all-time Big Ten mark at home to 81-3-3.
Penn State welcomes No. 22 Illinois on Sunday to Jeffrey Field for a 1:00 p.m. matchup. The Nittany Lions own a 19-2-0 all-time lead against the Fighting Illini, who lost 2-1 at Ohio State on Friday night. PSU is looking for its 11th straight win at home against Illinois, and 20th win overall in 22 meetings. The match will have live stats through GameTracker on GoPSUsports.com as well as live streaming video on BTN.com.
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--NITTANY LIONS