Sept. 29, 2013
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - BLOOMINGTON, Ind.; September 29, 2013 - Penn State won its Big Ten opener for the fourth consecutive season on Sunday, as the Nittany Lions cruised to a 4-0 win over Indiana. The victory improves the Blue and White's record to 7-3, winners of six straight.
The Nittany Lions scored twice in the first half off goals from Ashtin Klingler (Selinsgrove, Pa.) and Abby Fuhrman (Bainbridge, Pa.) and then added two more goals in the second courtesy of Taylor Herold (Fredericksburg, Va.) and Klingler to cement the victory. Klingler and Herold are now tied for the team lead in goals with seven apiece. Head coach Charlene Morett was pleased with how the Lions played on Sunday.
"Today we got a good win to open the Big Ten season," said Morett. "It was a great team effort today against a strong Indiana team. We were focused on making changes in possession and attack from yesterday and I think we did a better job of playing as a team."
It was evident from the opening whistle that Penn State was ready to begin conference play. The Nittany Lions got off to its best start of the season, as Klingler scored the opening goal within five minutes of action off a penalty corner set piece. Klingler has now scored in five of the last six matches.
The opening goal made the Lions hungry for more, as the squad continued to attack and put pressure on the Hoosier backline. On the Blue and White's fifth penalty corner of the match, Fuhrman fired a shot from the right side of the circle past the keeper to double Penn State's lead to 2-0 in the 20th minute. The score marks the first goal and point of the senior defender's Nittany Lion career. Assisting on the play was Laura Gebhart (Mount Joy, Pa.), picking up her ninth assist of the season.
"It was great to see Abby score her first career goal," said Morett. "We saw an opportunity on how Indiana was defending the corners for her to score and she executed the shot perfectly."
PSU took the two goal advantage into the half. The statistics after the first 35 minutes depict how much the Lions dominated the first frame. Penn State recorded 10 shots while not allowing Indiana a single shot. The Nittany Lions also had seven penalty corner opportunities compared to zero for IU.
Penn State continued its relentless pursuit of more goals coming out of the halftime break. Herold got in on the scoring action 12 minutes into the second stanza, as the junior scored off a rebound just to the right of the cage for her seventh goal of the season to increase the Lion lead to 3-0.
Just over a minute later, Klingler scored her second goal of the match, shooting from the left of center into the left corner of the cage to give Penn State a comfortable four goal lead with a little over 21 minutes left in the match. The goal gave the senior her first multi-goal match of the season and fifth of her career.
After the Nittany Lions' fourth goal, neither team scored for the remaining 20 minutes, as Penn State went on to win by a final of 4-0. The Blue and White outshot the visitors 20-7 and produced 10 more penalty corners than the hosts, with a total of 13-3.
The shutout is Penn State's fourth of the season, all coming in the last six matches. The Nittany Lions have now outscored its opponents 17-4 during their current six-match win streak. Kylie Licata (Mountain Top, Pa.) is now tied for the Big Ten lead in shutouts with four.
The Lions return home and will begin preparing for a tough matchup against Northwestern. Penn State will host the Wildcats on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex. The Blue and White will have revenge on its mind, as Northwestern was the only Big Ten opponent to defeat the Nittany Lions last season, as Penn State went 5-1 on the way to capturing the conference championship.
MATCH NOTES: Penn State improves to 16-3 all-time versus Indiana, winning the last five meetings ... The Nittany Lions have now won four-straight Big Ten openers ... Klingler has now scored in 5 of the last six matches and has seven goals on the season, with PSU winning each of those contests ... Klingler's goal at the 4:55 mark was the fastest goal of the season for Penn State ... The multi-goal performance is the first of the season for Klingler and the fifth of her career ... Fuhrman scored her first goal and notched her first two points of her career in the win ... With Fuhrman's goal, seven different Nittany Lions have now found the back of the cage this season ... The two first half goals tie a season high, with the other occurrence coming in a 3-0 win over Lock Haven (9/11) ... Herold and Klingler are now tied for the PSU season lead in goals scored with seven ... Penn State's four shutouts tie the team for most in the Big Ten this season with Northwestern.