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Phyllis Ocker Field | Ann Arbor, Mich. | |
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Nov. 7, 2014
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - In a Big Ten Tournament semifinal matchup, No. 5 Penn State fell to No. 2 Maryland, 1-0, at Phyllis Ocker Field on Friday.
"I thought it was a very competitive hockey game with two very, very strong teams," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss. "I thought that our defense and our press just did an outstanding job of getting pressure on the ball and not giving them too many really good looks at the goal. I thought that we really needed to take advantage of the times that we got the ball inside our 25. To (Maryland's) credit, they played pretty good defense."
Fourth-seeded Penn State moved to 15-5 on the season, while the top seed Maryland improved to 18-2. The Nittany Lions held the Terrapins to 14 shots, almost eight less than their season-average of 21.9 coming in.
The Nittany Lions earned their first opportunities early with three-straight corners, all coming in the span of 5:29 to 6:35 into the opening half. Penn State put three shots on goal in that time, including two from senior Taylor Herold (Fredericksburg, Va.).
Penn State received another corner minutes later at the 8:53 mark, where Herold ripped off another shot that went wide.
Both teams went then went without another shot until 7:32 to go in the period. Maryland had an opportunity, putting a shot off the post that deflected and was swatted out from in front of the cage by redshirt senior goalkeeper Kylie Licata (Mountain Top, Pa.).
The Nittany Lions held off a Terrapins' corner in the final seconds of the period and the teams went into the break scoreless. Maryland held a 7-4 advantage in shots, but Penn State led in corners, 4-2.
Just 2:50 into the second half, Maryland broke the scoreless contest with a goal from Emma Rissinger off a penalty corner.
Herold had another good attempt 5:04 into the period, but it was saved by Maryland's Brooke Cabrera.
The Terrapins earned three corners in a row in a span of two minutes early in the half, but the Nittany Lions' defense held them off with Licata making four saves in that time.
The Nittany Lions received a corner chance with 10:02 remaining in regulation, but senior Amanda Dinunzio's (State College, Pa.) shot was blocked in front of the cage.
Penn State recorded two more corners and three more shots on goal, including two by Gebhart, but couldn't capitalize as the Terrapins held on.
The NCAA Selection Show is live on NCAA.com on Sunday, Nov. 9 at 10 p.m. The NCAA Tournament first and second rounds take place on Nov. 15-16.