Oct. 23, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State field hockey team received its highest NFHCA ranking of the season on Tuesday afternoon, as the office of the National Field Hockey Coaches Association announced that the Nittany Lions are the No. 5 team in the country. This is the highest the team has been ranked in nearly a decade.
The Lions are coming off of a Big Ten win over then No. 21 Ohio State University. The squad shut out the Buckeyes 3-0, with senior Kelsey Amy (Sweet Valley, Pa.) notching two goals for her 50th point of the season. Six other Nittany Lions have recorded over 10 points this season, including Ashtin Klingler (Selinsgrove, Pa.) with 24, Laura Gebhart (Mount Joy, Pa.) with 22, Brittany Grzywacz (Collegeville, Pa.) with 21, Whitney Reddig (Lititz, Pa.) with 20, Hannah Allison (Mifflinburg, Pa.) with 16 and Jenna Chrismer (Mountain Top, Pa.) with 12.
Reddig tallied three assists against the Buckeyes to lead the team with 14, while Gebhart recorded an assist to move to 12 on the season. Grzywacz found the back of the cage along with Amy, scoring her 10th goal of the season for her 50th career point. The junior is also one of the backbones in the Penn State defense, standing strong alongside Katie Breneman (Washington Boro, Pa.) and Abby Fuhrman (Bainbridge, Pa.). Anchoring the backfield for the Lions is goalkeeper Ayla Halus (Hershey, Pa.), who recorded her 12th career shutout against Ohio State. The redshirt senior holds a .727 save percentage and a 1.65 GAA.
Pushing forward with gritty players like Taylor Herold (Fredericksburg, Va.), Lauren Alwine (Elizabethtown, Pa.), Katie Andrews (Lancaster, Pa.) and Lauren Purvis (Maple Glen, Pa.), the Lions have consistently been the highest-ranked Big Ten team throughout the season. The squad has never left the top-10 and now only sits behind No. 1 North Carolina, No. 2 Princeton, No. 3 Syracuse and No. 4 Connecticut.
No. 8 Northwestern is the only other Big Ten squad in the top-10 with Penn State. No. 12 Iowa and No. 14 Michigan rest in the top-20, while Michigan State and Ohio State sit at No. 21 and No. 24, respectively.
The Spartans are the final conference opponent left for the Lions to face before heading to the Big Ten Tournament. Penn State will travel to Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 27, for a noon contest to conclude the 2012 regular season.
The 2012 Big Ten Tournament will be hosted by the University of Iowa at Grant Field in Iowa City, Iowa. The first two rounds will be held Nov. 1-2, while the championship game will be played Nov. 4.
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