Oct. 2, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Fourth-ranked Penn State women's soccer (11-2-0, 5-0-0) earned 3-1 victory over the Bucknell Bison on Tuesday evening at Jeffrey Field. The Nittany Lions used a first half goal from freshman Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) and two second half goals from junior Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.) in the victory. Penn State hosts Indiana this Sunday at 1 p.m.
Hayes' multi-goal game was her second straight, after freshly coming off Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week accolades. Rodriguez' goal was her third of the season and her third-straight multi-point game. Redshirt freshman keeper Britt Eckerstrom made four saves in goal.
In the 39th minute, Penn State trickled the ball into the box and as redshirt junior Tani Costa (Honolulu, Hawaii) was ready to take a shot on goal, the Bucknell keeper took her out in the box which set up a penalty kick for the Nittany Lions. Rodriguez took the attempt and buried in the lower left corner to give the Nittany Lions a 1-0 advantage.
Hayes, who was all over the Bucknell defense all night by recording seven shots on net, finally converted in the 57th minute to give Penn State a 2-0 advantage. Costa played a ball up the left side of the 18 to Hayes, where she cut to the inside left and hit a beautiful shot with her left foot. Bucknell goalkeeper Sandita McDermott made a great diving attempt on the ball, but Hayes' shot went off her fingertips and caught the back post side netting.
Just three minutes later, Bucknell gave the Nittany Lions a scare and cut the lead in half. Jenna Tryon of the Bison garnered the ball about seven yards outside the 18 yard box. She put a high chip on net that snuck in over Eckerstrom, making the score 2-1 in favor of Penn State.
Nevertheless, Hayes' ninth goal of the season came from the assistance of sophomore Emily Hurd in the 73rd minute to give the Nittany Lions a 3-1 final advantage. Hurd had the ball in the corner near the Nittany Lion sideline and played it on the ground into the middle of the box. Hayes again would shoot it off the keeper's hands to tack on to the Nittany Lion lead.
Penn State returns to Jeffrey Field on Sunday at 1 p.m. All parking and admission to Penn State soccer home games at Jeffrey Field is free.
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