Aug 23, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Nittany Lion field hockey team got its season underway on Friday evening with an exhibition against last year NCAA Tournament semifinalist Maryland. The Terps lived up to their billing and came away with a 4-1 victory.
Despite dominating the shots and penalty corner chances in the first half, Penn State found itself trailing at the half. Jill Witmer found the back of the cage on Maryland's only shot in the period, when the forward darted in from the right of the circle and fired a shot into the bottom left of the goal to give the Terrapins the lead.
The Lions outshot Maryland by an 8-1 margin and had seven penalty corner opportunities compared to the Terps one chance in the first 35 minutes.
Maryland came out aggressive in the second stanza and wasted little time in adding to its lead. Witmer scored her second goal of the match off the rebound of a saved shot just two minutes into the second half. The Terrapins added another goal around 18 minutes later from a strike off another rebounded shot.
The Nittany Lions got a goal back in the 63rd minute, when Abby Fuhrman fired a cross from the right side of the circle to Jenna Chrismer who slotted past the keeper into the cage to trim the Maryland lead to two at 3-1.
The Terps added a fourth goal in the match's final minute off a penalty strike to give the contest a final score of 4-1.
Penn State opens up the regular season on Friday, August 30 at Old Dominion in Norfolk, Va. with a 5 p.m. start. The Lion's first regular season home match is on Friday, Sept. 6, as the team hosts Temple in a 5 p.m. start.