Sept. 16, 2015
| PENN STATE VS. WISCONSIN | |
| Thursday, Sep. 17 - 7 p.m. ET | |
| Jeffrey Field | University Park, Pa. | |
| GAME DAY LINKS |
TV: ESPN2 -->Big Ten Network |Women's Soccer BlogPromotion: Whiteout, T-shirt GiveawayFollow Us: @PennStateWSOC | Facebook | InstagramGameday Central
Game Notes: Penn State | WisconsinStatistics: Penn State | Wisconsin
| PENN STATE VS. MINNESOTA | |
| Sunday, Sep. 20 - 1 p.m. ET | |
| Jeffrey Field | University Park, Pa. | |
| GAME DAY LINKS |
TV: ESPN2 -->BTN Plus on BTN2Go |Women's Soccer BlogPromotion: $1 Hot Dogs, Sunday Fun Day, Post-match AutographsFollow Us: @PennStateWSOC | Facebook | InstagramGameday Central
Game Notes: Penn State | MinnesotaStatistics: Penn State | Minnesota
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The No. 4 Penn State women's soccer team opens Big Ten play this Thursday at Jeffrey Field. Penn State (5-1-1) welcomes Wisconsin (3-3-2) to Happy Valley on Thursday, Sept. 17, at 7 p.m. live on BTN. Following the match against the Badgers, the Nittany Lions will host the Minnesota Golden Gophers (5-1-2) on Sunday, Sept. 20, at 1 p.m. on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats for both matches can be found on GoPSUsports.com.
The Nittany Lions will host the Badgers live on the Big Ten Network, while the Nittany Lions and Gophers will play on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.
ON THE CALL
Lisa Byington (play-by-play) and Kate Markgraf (color) will call the Penn State/Wisconsin match.
SCOUTING THE BADGERS (3-3-2)
The Badgers entered the 2015 campaign ranked 14th in the NSCAA Preseason Coaches' Poll.
After opening the season with a pair of wins, the Badgers dropped back-to-back contests against No. 10 Pepperdine and No. 12 UCLA.
This past weekend, Wisconsin tied Milwaukee (1-1) and No. 18 Kentucky (0-0).
The Badgers were picked third in the Big Ten Preseason Poll.
Offensively, the Badgers are led by Rose Lavelle (4g, 2a) and McKenna Meuer (3g).
SCOUTING THE GOPHERS (5-1-2)
Before the Penn State/Minnesota match, the Gophers will play No. 20 Ohio State Thursday night in Columbus, Ohio.
The Gophers are coming off a 9-1 win over Omaha last weekend at home.
Minnesota has out-scored its opponents by a tally of 16-3 on the season.
The Gophers have yet to concede a goal in the opening frame this year (11-0).
SCORELESS STREAK
The Nittany Lion defense has posted 262:52 minutes of scoreless play following then-No.12 West Virginia's goal at 7:08 on Sept. 4.
BIG TEN OPENERS
In Big Ten openers, the Nittany Lions have tallied an overall record of 18-2-1.
NATIONAL HONORS
Brittany Basinger and Frannie Crouse were honored nationally for their performances over the weekend against No. 2 Stanford and Santa Clara.
Brittany Basinger was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, while Frannie Crouse was named the espnW Player of the Week.
Along with the espnW Player of the Week honors, Crouse received honors from the Big Ten.
Crouse was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, Britt Eckerstrom was tabbed as the Co-Defensive Player of the Week and Kaleigh Riehl received Freshman of the Week honors.
ACTIVE LEADERS
Among active student-athletes in the NCAA, Mallory Weber is tied for seventh in games played (79), tied for 13th in points (84), tied for 20th in assists (20) and she is also one of seven student-athletes to have tallied 30 goals and 20 assists. Also in the active leaderboards, Raquel Rodriguez is tied for 10th with her 23 assists.
CAPTAIN CLUTCH
After posting a five-point weekend against Hofstra and LMU during the first weekend of the season, senior Mallory Weber followed up her performance with a three-point weekend against Duke and Arkansas.
Weber, held pointless against the No. 21 Duke Blue Devils, notched a goal and an assist in a 4-2 win over Arkansas.
Two weeks later, against Santa Clara, Weber tallied her 11th career game-winning-goal.
All-time at Penn State, Weber is tied for 11th in goals (32) and tied for 11th in points (84).
EXTRA TIME
In the hard fought double overtime match against the No. 21 Duke Blue Devils on Aug. 28, seven Nittany Lions played the full 110 minutes.
POUNCING FIRST
During the first seven matches of the season, the Nittany Lions have out-scored their opponents 5-1 in the first 45 minutes of play and they have out-shot the opposition, 51-22.
31 IN A ROW
With her seven starts in the 2015 season, sophomore Emily Ogle has started all 31 matches of her Nittany Lion career.
USUAL SUSPECTS
Out of the possible 650 minutes, six Nittany Lions have played at least 606 minutes (93 percent).
Freshman defender Kaleigh Riehl has been on the field for all but two minutes this season.
THE POLLS
The Penn State women's soccer team currently ranks fourth in the NSCAA Coaches' Poll, sixth in the TopDrawerSoccer Poll, and seventh in the Soccer America Top-25 Poll.
BACK-TO-BACK NO. 2 CLASSES
According to TopDrawerSocccer, the Nittany Lions have signed the number two recruiting class in the last two years. The 2014 class featured the 2014 Big Ten Freshman of the Year Emily Ogle and Frannie Crouse, who led the Nittany Lions with 10 goals. The 2015 class features nine newcomers, including eight freshmen and one transfer.
SWEET 16
Penn State's regular season Big Ten title last year was the 16th in program history. The Nittany Lions have won 16 out of the last 17 titles. Since 1992-93, the 16 Big Ten titles won by women's soccer is tied for third for the most titles won by any one women's sport program in the Big Ten (Penn State women's volleyball).
PRESEASON FAVORITES
According to the 2015 Big Ten Women's Soccer Preseason Coaches' Poll, the Penn State women's soccer team was selected to finish first. The Nittany Lions have sat atop the Big Ten preseason poll every season since the poll began in 2003.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Three players from each Big Ten team were named Big Ten Women's Soccer Preseason Players to Watch, with seniors Britt Eckerstrom, Raquel Rodriguez and Mallory Weber representing the Nittany Lion Blue and White. This is Rodriguez's third-straight appearance on the Preseason Players to Watch list.
HOME SWEET HOME
Jeffery Field has been a tough place for opponents to play as the Nittany Lions boast an all-time record of 207-23-10 at home. In Big Ten play at Jeffrey Field, the Nittany Lions own a record of 109-5-4. The Nittany Lions have tallied seven undefeated seasons at Jeffrey Field.
#PACKTHEJEFF
In their season-opening homestand, the Nittany Lions drew two top-10 crowds in program history.
In the season-opener, 3,175 fans made their way to Jeffrey Field to cheer on the Nittany Lions. At the time, that was fourth-largest crowd to attend a women's soccer match at Jeffrey Field.
A week later, against No. 21 Duke, 4,207 fans packed Jeffrey Field for the second-largest crowd in program history.
As of Sept. 14, Penn State ranks fifth in attendance (10,514) in the NCAA.
PRESEASON HONORS
TopDrawerSoccer.com released its Women's College Preseason Best XI with three Nittany Lions making the list. Senior midfielder Raquel Rodriguez was named to the second team, sophomore midfielder Emily Ogle was named to the third team and defender Kaleigh Riehl was named to the freshmen team. Five Nittany Lions were named to TopDrawerSoccer's Preseason Top-100 Player Rankings. Rodriguez and Ogle are ranked 13th and 27th, respectively. Frannie Crouse (61st), Mallory Weber (67th) and Maddie Elliston (71st) are ranked in the top-75.
WATCH OUT FOR ROCKY
Senior midfielder Raquel Rodriguez was named to the MAC Hermann Trophy Watch List, as announced by the NSCAA in early August.
The 28 candidates named to the watch list in August will be narrowed down throughout the season with the winner being announced on Jan. 8, 2016.
PSWS IN THE #2015WWC
The Penn State women's soccer program was represented by five Nittany Lions representing three countries in the 2015 Women's World Cup.
Former Penn State women's soccer players, Ali Krieger '06 and Alyssa Naeher '09 became the first Nittany Lions to win a World Cup as part of a senior national team as they helped the U.S. to a 5-2 victory over Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final.
Carmelina Moscato '05 and Erin McLeod '05 helped Canada to reach the quarterfinal round before being eliminated by England. The pair helped the host country to advance out of Group A and defeat Switzerland in the Round of 16.
Raquel Rodriguez won't forget about the summer of 2015 for quite some time.
During the summer of 2015, Rodriguez represented her home country of Costa Rica in the Women's World Cup.
In Costa Rica's debut at the Women's World Cup, Costa Rican and Penn State women's soccer history was made just 74 seconds after Spain scored its first World Cup goal. In the 14th minute, Rodriguez received a cross in the box from Lixy Rodriguez, and she lobbed in a left footed shot at the right post for the 1-1 equalizer. Rodriguez's goal was her 24th as a member of Costa Rican's Women's National Team, a team-best.
OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN!
Seniors Britt Eckerstrom, Raquel Rodriguez and Mallory Weber have been named team captains for the 2015 season.
A three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, Eckerstrom, a red-shirt senior, sits second among Penn State goalkeepers with 57 games played and her 39 career wins is tied for third.
Rodriguez, the 2014 Big Ten Midfielder of the Year, a NSCAA Scholar All-America pick, NSCAA All-Great Lakes Region first team member and Academic All-Big Ten honoree, posted 17 points in 18 games played.
Weber, also an Academic All-Big Ten selection, tied for the team lead with 22 points last season, scoring eight goals and dishing out six assists.
HOMETOWN TIES
Senior Megan Ritchey and freshman Taylor Campbell-Phipps didn't have to travel a long distance as they made the transition from high school to college.
Both Ritchey and Campbell-Phipps call State College, Pa., home as they both attended State College Area high school.
WATCH THE LIONS ON BTN
The Penn State women's soccer team will make one appearance on BTN (Sept. 17 vs. Wisconsin), but will be featured nine times on BTNPlus on BTN2GO.
The Nittany Lions are featured on BTN Plus on BTN2Go in three-straight matches when they take on Minnesota, Sept. 20 at Jeffrey Field before traveling to Nebraska, Sept. 25, and Iowa, Sept. 27. Following the two away matches, Penn State will play two contests at Jeffrey Field against Maryland, Oct. 8 and Indiana, Oct. 11, before going on the road for three-straight matches against Purdue, Oct. 15, Rutgers, Oct. 18, and Ohio State, Oct. 24. Finally, the Nittany Lions will close out the regular season Wednesday, Oct. 28 against Michigan at Jeffrey Field.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Keep up with the Nittany Lions on Facebook (PennStateWomensSoccer), Instagram (PennStateWSOC) and Twitter (PennStateWSOC).
UP NEXT
Following their weekend homestand, the Nittany Lions head to the Midwest for a three-game road trip.
Penn State travels to Nebraska (Sept. 25), Iowa (Sept. 27) and Northwestern (Oct. 4). The Nebraska and Iowa matches are on BTN Plus on BTN2Go.