Sep 6, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Senior Taylor Schram (Canonsburg,Pa.) netted her third goal of the season to lead the No. 14 Penn State women's soccer team to a 1-0 victory over Boston University on Friday night at Jeffrey Field. Friday's shutout is the first of the 2013 campaign for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State improves to 3-1-1 on the season while BU moves to 2-2-1. The Lions are now 2-0 all-time against the Terriers.
"I thought the first half was decent, we moved the ball and we created chances," said PSU head coach Erica Walsh. "The second half was our best half of soccer this year and I thought the energy of our team was fantastic. The crowd was unbelievable tonight, there was so much energy. When we pull in and see the cars in the lot you can just see the energy of the team lift."
Friday's match was one delegated by defense as Penn State allowed just nine shots from BU and the Terriers held the Nittany Lions to just three shots on goal.
The first half was a back and forth battle with each team taking six shots. Penn State's best look of the half came in the 34th minute as senior Tani Costa (Honolulu, Hawaii) fired the ball from 12 yards out but came up short as BU keeper Andrea Green made the save.
The Terriers got three clean looks in the first half but PSU keeper Britt Eckerstrom (Germantown, Md.) was up to the task, making saves on all three, which resulted in a scoreless half.
"We played good soccer in the first half but BU out-battled us," said Walsh. "They were the first ones to the ball and we changed some stuff at halftime for that. I thought we did a much better job in the second half."
Schram had a great scoring opportunity from right outside the box just 86 seconds into the second half but could not capitalize as the shot sailed wide of the goal. She finally got the Blue and White on the board in the 53rd minute, drilling the ball in from six yards out. The goal originated when Raquel Rodriguez dropped the ball to Mallory Weber, who then passed it to Schram.
"We have seen Schram score that goal in training 50 times," said Walsh. "That's just Taylor Schram, all hustle, all work."
The Penn State defensive unit of Kori Chapic (Novelty, Ohio), Whitney Church (Ashburn, Va.), Brittany Basinger (Purcellville, Va.) and Salina Williford (Wayne, Pa.) was superb in the second half as the Lions allowed just three shots, none of which were on goal. Eckerstrom tallied three saves in the second shutout of her career.
The Nittany Lions travel to Bucknell on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. game before heading west for weekend match-ups at Oklahoma State on Friday and Tulsa on Sunday. Penn State returns home on Friday, Sept. 20 for its Big Ten opener against Northwestern at 7 p.m.