Aug. 29, 2014

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 8 Penn State field hockey team opened the 2014 season with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over No. 9 Old Dominion at the Field Hockey Complex, Friday. Senior Jenna Chrismer (Mountain Top, Pa.) posted a two goals, while senior goalkeeper Kylie Licata (Mountain Top, Pa.) made a career-high nine stops.

"Jenna had an awesome goal," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss. "That's just great effort and guts. It was great to see Beth (Mink) put the power behind the corner shot. There were some great, positive things that came out of the game. I thought things were really positive for us."

The contest went scoreless for the first 23:37. Both teams had early chances, but a save at each end held the game at 0-0.

The Lady Monarchs got on the board first with 11:33 remaining in the half as Katy Fuhrman deflected a shot into the goal.

Just over three minutes later, the Nittany Lions answered. Junior forward Bethany Mink (Allentown, Pa.) fired a shot off a penalty corner, which was deflected by Chrismer and found its way over ODU goalkeeper Megan Hept and into the back of the cage.

With 1:56 on the clock in the opening period, Chrismer came through again. Senior Taylor Herold (Fredericksburg, Va.) broke away and took a shot on goal, which got saved by Hept. Chrismer corralled the rebound and scored to give Penn State the lead. The two goals tied Chrismer's career-high

With just more than 17 minutes to go in regulation, Licata made two key saves off a Lady Monarch penalty corner. Licata came up with another big save on a penalty corner with less than five minutes to play to help Penn State secure the victory.

The Nittany Lions are back in action at home on Sunday, taking on No. 6 Virginia at noon at the Field Hockey Complex.