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| Ralph Young Field | East Lansing, Mich. | 390 | |
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Sept. 26, 2014
EAST LANSING, Mich. - With the help of two first half goals, the No. 7 Penn State field hockey team picked up a 2-1 win at No. 18 Michigan State in on Friday.
"It was a great Big Ten contest," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss. "It was a very exciting hockey game. Both teams had some strong attacking moments. Casey Haegele had a beautiful goal with an assist from Carly Celkos and Natalie Buttinger got us on the board with a poised wrist shot. Amanda Dinunzio, Carly, Laura Gebhart and Natalie each played well in the midfield today."
The Nittany Lions improved to 7-2 and picked up their first conference win of the season, bringing their Big Ten record to 1-1. The Spartans are now 5-3 and 1-1 in league play. Penn State was outshot, 19-16, but produced seven penalty corners to Michigan State's four.
Following a couple of early shots on goal, the Nittany Lions got on the board first with 14:59 to go in the first half. Redshirt senior Natalie Buttinger (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada) found the back of the cage to give the team a 1-0 lead.
Just 1:50 later, sophomore Carly Celkos (Berlin, N.J.) fed a pass to senior Casey Haegele (Warrington, Pa.), who put Penn State up 2-0 with her first goal of the season.
With just under nine minutes to go in the opening period, the Spartans got in the board, trimming the Nittany Lions' lead to 2-1. Neither team would score the rest of the half.
Penn State started the second half producing opportunities, coming up with five early penalty corners, but couldn't capitalize. Despite opportunities late for each side, the Nittany Lions' defense didn't let the Spartans score and Penn State held on for the victory.
Penn State is back in action at Ohio State, taking on the Buckeyes in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. The Nittany Lions are 34-10-2 all-time against the Buckeyes.