Sept. 10, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 13 Penn State women's soccer team used six goals from five different players en route to a 6-0 victory over Bucknell on Tuesday night. Sophomore Mallory Weber (Novi, Mich.) led the way with two goals while Emily Hurd (Sammamish, Wash.), Maya Hayes (West Orange, N.J.), Corey Persson (Danvers, Mass.) and Liv Brandy (Gibsonia, Pa.) each netted one.
Sophomore Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) also had a stellar performance, tallying a personal-best three assists in just 25 minutes of action. It is the first time a Nittany Lion has notched three helpers in a single game since Hayes achieved the feat against Ohio State on Sept. 29, 2011.
Tuesday's match also marks the first time that the Nittany Lions (4-1-1) have scored six goals since they upended Purdue, 6-1, on Oct. 31, 2010.
"Scoring in the second minute always feels good," said Penn State head coach Erica Walsh. "I thought the players who started the game had good energy and I could feel it in the locker room. I thought they had a very professional performance tonight and I thought that the players that came off the bench gave us a good lift."
PSU outshot the Bison (2-4-0) 30 attempts to nine and allowed just four shots on goal in its second shutout of the season.
Weber put the Nittany Lions on the board early, netting the first goal of the match in the second minute of play. The sophomore sent the ball into the far top corner of the net from 12 yards out on an assist from Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) to give PSU a 1-0 lead.
Bucknell attempted to counter a minute later as Bison forward Chelsey Garkowski got a clean look but could not get past keeper Britt Eckerstrom (Germantown, Md.) who made a nice save.
The Nittany Lions got several good looks over the next 16 minutes but came up short until Hurd drilled the ball into the net from 15 yards out on an assist from Rodriguez to beat keeper Jessie Ashworth one on one and put Penn State up 2-0.
The Blue and White wasted no time getting on the board again, scoring two more goals in just over three minutes. Senior Taylor Schram (Canonsburg, Pa.) got the ball on a cross from Hayes and dropped it to Weber, who tapped into the net to make it 3-0. Hayes got on the board next, breaking away after Rodriguez played her a through ball and beating Ashworth one on one.
With Penn State leading 4-0, Walsh decided it was time to let the starters rest as almost all of the Nittany Lion bench saw action in the rest of the game.
"Obviously it is important to keep everyone fresh," said Walsh. "But, more importantly, these guys are training hard every day and haven't really had an opportunity to play and this was an opportunity for them to show. I thought a few of them did very well."
Bucknell got its best scoring opportunity of the half at the 27:49 mark as junior Chelsea Denger blasted one from 18 yards out but was stymied by Eckerstrom who made a great save.
Penn State extended its lead to 5-0 in the 41st minute with Persson netting her first goal of the season. The sophomore gained the advantage after turning the defender around in the box and sent the ball flying into the left corner of the goal.
Emily Carrollo (Sussex, N.J) got the first clean look of the second half, making an attempt from 12 yards out at the 58:22 mark. The graduate student was unable to capitalize, however, as keeper Jessica Ratner came up with the save.
The Nittany Lions had another scoring opportunity in the 61st minute with Jenna Kalwa (Pennington, N.J.) making an attempt but Ratner was, again, up to the task as she made the save.
Penn State was awarded a corner kick in the 68th minute and used it to their advantage as Brandy, a freshman, headed the ball into the near post, assisted by Erin Kehoe (Crystal Lake, Ill.)
Bucknell's Alexia Gannon came close to putting the Bison on the board on two separate occasions late in the game. The freshman made attempts at the 79:44 and 89:57 marks but could not get past keepers Meghan Kaminski (Doylestown, Pa.) and Lexi Golestani (Montgomery, N.J.), who each made their collegiate debuts in the second half.
"We had three goals coming into tonight," said Walsh. "To score goals, to keep the ball out of the back of the net and to stay healthy - we accomplished all of those tonight."
The Nittany Lions continue their three-match road swing this weekend, traveling to Oklahoma State on Friday and Tulsa on Sunday. Friday's match is slated for an 8:00 p.m. (ET) start while Sunday's is set to begin at 3:00 p.m. (ET). PSU returns home next Friday to host Northwestern in its Big Ten opener.