April 4, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State field hockey team and head coach Charlene Morett will kick off the 2013 spring season this weekend, hosting Bucknell, Lock Haven and Cornell in the Spring Tournament on Saturday, April 6. The Nittany Lions are coming off of an overall fall record of 18-4 with a 5-1 mark in conference play, as well as their second consecutive Big Ten Tournament Championship and first Big Ten Regular Season Title since 2008.
The first game of the Penn State Spring Tournament is slated for 10 a.m. at the Field Hockey Complex, with the Lions taking on the Lock Haven Bald Eagles. At 10:45 a.m., Penn State will square off with Bucknell, followed by Cornell battling the Bison at 11:30 a.m. and the Big Red versus the Bald Eagles at 12:15 p.m.
The tournament will conclude with Bucknell vs. Lock Haven at 1:10 p.m. and Cornell vs. Penn State at 1:55 p.m.
The Lions continue their 2013 spring campaign when they travel to Princeton to play the Tigers, Drexel and Temple on April 13. The team will wrap up spring play on Blue-White weekend, with the current Nittany Lion roster facing off against Penn State field hockey alumni on April 20.
The Nittany Lions' success continued off the field following the 2012 season, with the squad excelling in the classroom. Sophomore Laura Gebhart (Mount Joy, Pa.) and freshman Haley Kerstetter (Selinsgrove, Pa.) have been named 2012 NFHCA Division I Scholars of Distinction, an honor given to student-athletes who have achieved a cumulative GPA of 3.9 or higher through the first semester of the academic year.
Gebhart earned NFHCA Second Team All-American honors for the first time in her collegiate career this season, and was also recently named All-Mideast Region First Team following the conclusion of the 2012 fall campaign. The 2011 Big Ten Freshman of the Year earned Third Team All-American honors last year after a stellar rookie season. The sophomore earned Big Ten recognition this season, as well, being named to the All-Big Ten First Team for the second consecutive year and the Big Ten All-Tournament Team. She ended the year with six goals and 12 assists for 24 points.
Kerstetter came to Happy Valley as a four-year letterwinner for Selinsgrove High School, helping lead her team to become District IV Champions from 2008 to 2011. The freshman appeared in four games for Penn State in her rookie season.
Penn State field hockey collectively achieved a team GPA of 3.0 or higher during the fall semester, one of 70 programs in the nation to do so. Twelve Nittany Lions have also been named to the 2012 NFCHA Division I National Academic Squad, including junior Annie Abdo (Langhorne, Pa.), freshman Lauren Alwine (Elizabethtown, Pa.), senior Kelsey Amy (Sweet Valley, Pa.), sophomore Katie Breneman (Washington Boro, Pa.), sophomore Amanda Dinunzio (State College, Pa.), junior Abby Fuhrman (Bainbridge, Pa.), Gebhart, senior Ayla Halus (Hershey, Pa.), sophomore Taylor Herold (Fredericksburg, Va.), Kerstetter, junior Lauren Purvis (Maple Glen, Pa.) and junior Whitney Reddig (Lititz, Pa.).
While a record 100 Penn State student-athletes were honored by the Big Ten for their academic achievements, the field hockey team boasted the highest team ratio on the list. Nearly 70 percent of the squad was honored, with 16 of 23 players being named Academic All-Big Ten. Senior Hannah Allison (Mifflinburg, Pa.), sophomore Katie Andrews (Lancaster, Pa.), junior Natalie Buttinger (Kitchener, Ontario), junior Brittany Grzywacz (Collegeville, Pa.), junior Jacqueline Kenney (State College, Pa., junior Ashtin Klinger (Selinsgrove, Pa.), as well as Abdo, Amy, Breneman, Dinunzio, Fuhrman, Gebhart, Halus, Herold, Purvis and Reddig were among the All-Big Ten honorees for Penn State field hockey.
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