Aug. 19, 2012
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Ninth-ranked Penn State women's soccer (2-0-0) used two early first half goals from senior Christine Nairn (Arnold, Pa.) to secure a 5-0 victory over the St. John's Red Storm on Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field. Penn State now turns its focus to the No. 1 Stanford Cardinal, who visits Happy Valley this Friday at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to Nairn's two goals, senior Maddy Evans (Glenside, Pa.) scored on a penalty kick in the 20th minute and redshirt sophomore Emily Hurd (Sammamish, Wash.) scored in the 23rd minute to give the Nittany Lions a 4-0 advantage.Freshman Raquel Rodriquez (San Jose, Costa Rica) gave Penn State a five-goal lead as she netted her first career goal in the 52nd minute.
Penn State dominated play overall as the Nittany Lions had 16 shots (nine on goal) while St. John's had just four. Senior Erin McNulty (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and redshirt freshman Britt Eckerstrom (Germantown, Md.) earned a combined shutout, as each keeper played 45 minutes.
Nairn's first goal came quickly, just three minutes into the contest. The senior found some open space and dribbled the ball to the top of the 18. From there, she shot to the lower left corner and found the side of the net to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 advantage. Nairn's second goal was set up perfectly by her fellow senior midfielder, Evans. The senior captain played a beautiful ball ahead and up the middle to Nairn, who took a touch and scored her second goal of the game from just outside the six-yard box. Penn State had a 2-0 lead 11:49 into the game.
At the 20-minute mark, Evans was taken down with the ball hard in the box by a Red Storm defender. A foul was called and Evans was rewarded a penalty kick, which she converted on to give the Nittany Lions a 3-0 lead.
Hurd would cap off the first half scoring three minutes later. Rodriguez, who had the ball in the middle, passed to Hurd near the top right corner of the 18. Hurd lasered a shot to the upper left corner to give the Nittany Lions a 4-0 lead.
Penn State rested the majority of its starters, which opened the door for some newcomers in the second half. Freshman Teddy Chase (Wayne, Pa.) earned her first career assist as she played a beautiful ball in the middle of the box to Rodriguez. The Costa Rica native headed the ball to the back of the net for her first career goal.
Defending national champion and No. 1 Stanford comes to town on Friday, Aug. 24 for a 7:30 kick time, which will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.
Juniors Taylor Schram (Canonsburg, Pa.) and Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.), who were selected to the U.S. Under-20 National Team, will begin competition at the U-20 World Cup tomorrow at 3 a.m. as they play Ghana over in Japan in group play. A total of 21 players were selected to the 2012 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup team. Hayes and Schram are expected to return to the Penn State program no later than Sept. 16 as the Nittany Lions host Wisconsin.
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