Aug. 17, 2012
College Park, Md. - The Penn State field hockey team opened the 2012 preseason competition on Friday evening, falling 3-2 to the U.S. Under-21 National squad at the University of Maryland. Senior Kelsey Amy (Sweet Valley, Pa.) and junior Annie Abdo (Langhorne, Pa.) each scored for the Nittany Lions in the fast-paced match.
Abdo put the Lions on the board first to take an early 1-0 lead. Fighting back, the U.S. responded to tie the match and then took a 2-1 lead minutes later. Rallying to keep Penn State in the game, Amy knotted the score a two soon after. With one final momentum surge, the U.S. took a 3-2 lead with eight minutes remaining in the game to clinch the win. In addition to the exhibition match, Penn State took on the U-21 team in a shootout competition, dominating 3-1.
"I thought that it was a really strong performance for our first outing," said head coach Charlene Morett. "It was a great learning experience for us. Hopefully we will be able to make some of the changes quickly from tonight to tomorrow against James Madison. But I thought that we showed a lot of competitive spirit for 70 minutes, and that was impressive."
Penn State will play the final exhibition game of the preseason tomorrow, Aug. 18, at 12:00 p.m. when it travels to James Madison University. The Dukes went 9-10 last season with a 4-4 record in the CAA. In the most recent matchup against JMU, the Lions topped the Dukes 7-0 last year for an exhibition win. Penn State is 19-4-1 in all-time regular season contests.
Check back to GoPSUsports.com for continued updates leading into the 2012 season.
Follow Penn State field hockey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/PennStateFH