Aug. 30, 2015
| 4 | 2 |
| Jeffrey Field | University Park, Pa. | 2,104 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| VIDEO: Postgame Comments |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 6 Penn State women's soccer team improved to 3-0-1 on the year following a 4-2 win over Arkansas (3-1-0) Sunday night at Jeffrey Field. Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) tallied a pair of goals for Penn State, while Mallory Weber (Novi, Mich.) notched a goal and an assist.
"I thought defensively it was a solid weekend, not just today but two completely different styles between Duke and Arkansas," head coach Erica Walsh said. "I thought we did a great job battling their style today and trying to find ours."
During the first 15 minutes of the match, both defenses prevailed as neither squad tallied a shot attempt. The third Nittany Lion shot attempt in the contest proved to be the charm as Weber put Penn State on the board in the 27th minute.
From midfield, Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) fired a perfectly placed pass over the Arkansas defense to the feet of Weber. With the keeper charging towards her, Weber made a slight move to her left, and she beat the keeper for her third goal of the season. Her goal Sunday is the 31st of her career, which is tied for eighth all-time at Penn State (Bonnie Young '01).
Six minutes later, Weber added to her point total.
In the 33rd minute, Frannie Crouse (Greensburg, Pa.) tallied her second goal of the season off an assist from Weber.
From near the Arkansas endline, Weber passed the ball into the box and Crouse, in one motion turned around, slid to the ground and placed the ball into the upper-right corner of the net. With Weber's point on Crouse's goal, Weber moved into a tie for ninth all-time at Penn State with 82 points.
At the break, Arkansas switched keepers from Jordan Harris to Cameron Carter.
The Penn State offense wasted little time in the second half to extend its lead to three.
Following a corner kick in the 49th minute from Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio), the Arkansas defense cleared the ball back out to Ogle, who then placed a pass back into the box to a leaping Schafer. Off the header, Schafer's shot hit the left post and banked into the net for her second goal of the season.
The Nittany Lions made their own change in net during the 70th minute when Rose Chandler (Atlanta, Ga.) came in for Britt Eckerstrom (Germantown, Md.).
After a Penn State foul near midfield, the Razorbacks capitalized on the free kick in the 72nd minute. Erika Miller took the kick from midfield and placed the ball into the middle of the 18-yard box. Claire Kelly then headed Miller's pass to Lindsey Mayo, who then put the ball into the back of the net for her first goal of the season.
In the 85th minute, a sequence of perfect passing contributed to Schafer's second goal of the match.
With the ball in their own end, the Razorbacks cleared the ball down to the Nittany Lion end. Freshman Kaleigh Riehl (Fairfax Station, Va.) tracked down the ball and passed it to Chandler, who then returned the ball back to Riehl. Riehl, deep in her own territory, cleared the ball to Alina Ortega-Jurado (Wetzlar, Germany).
Ortega-Jurado moved the ball up about 20 yards, before playing a through ball to Schafer, who was 25 yards outside of the goal. With one defender on her, Schafer made a move to her left, and slid to the ground while burying her second goal of the match from nine yards out.
The Razorbacks scored their second goal of the match off another Nittany Lion foul.
In the 89th minute, the Nittany Lions committed a foul just outside the 18-yard box and Kelley stepped up near the upper-right corner of the box and she placed the ball into the upper-right corner of the net for her third goal of the season.
In the match, Penn State out-shot Arkansas 10-7, with seven shots on goal compared to five by Arkansas.
The Nittany Lions begin a three-game road trip Friday, Sept. 4, as they travel to Morgantown, W.Va., to take on No. 15 West Virginia at 7 p.m.