Sept. 21, 2015
By Jack Dougherty, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The fourth-ranked Penn State women's soccer team suffered its first Big Ten loss of the 2015 season on Sunday afternoon to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The 1-0 setback brings the Nittany Lions to 6-2-1 on the year.
Although the Blue and White were kept off the scoreboard, there was no shortage of chances in the contest. Penn State took 11 shots in the game and totaled 11 corner kicks, but it was unable to sneak the ball past Minnesota keeper Tarah Hobbs.
A few of the most promising chances in the game came from long shots outside the box that were denied by the crossbar. In the 40th minute, senior captain Raquel Rodriguez ripped a shot from 22 yards out that tried to dip into the far corner, but it clipped the top of the bar and sailed over the net.
Later in the game, Sophomore Frannie Crouse produced a similar strike in the 66th minute. Crouse dribbled past a defender, cleared space, and fired a shot from the same distance that beat the goalie but not the crossbar.
"It's frustrating but that's college soccer," said head coach Erica Walsh. "I give Minnesota all the credit in the world. They came in and battled. They outmuscled us and beat us to the ball too often. We didn't make our own luck today and they did."
Sometimes, especially in hard-fought conference games, luck alone can determine the outcome of the game. On Sunday, Penn State's simply ran out.
In the 81st minute, for instance, sophomore Emily Ogle sent a corner kick into the box that found Rodriguez at point blank range. The All-Conference midfielder attempted to guide the ball to the near post with the keeper nowhere in sight, but the shot hit a Gopher defender guarding the post and bounced wide.
"I think it's all about making your own luck," Walsh said. "They absolutely did today and we didn't. Sure, we could've put one in the back of the net, but at the end of the day that team just wanted it more than us."
The unsurprising bright spot for PSU came from in between their goal posts. Britt Eckerstrom has been on a tear lately, and even though Minnesota snuck one by her, the keeper played a marvelous game.
Eckerstrom finished with five stops in the contest, none more impressive than a kick save to keep the deficit at one in the 68th minute. Minnesota's Sydney Squires received a pass and found herself alone against Eckerstrom with plenty of room, but Eckerstrom timed her charge perfectly and denied Squires.
"With 22 minutes left in the game, that's a potential game-changing moment," said Walsh. "You look back at those moments, and if we put one in the back of the net she's the one that changed the game for us, but unfortunately it didn't happen."
"Every Big Ten team comes in, especially at our house, with a lot of desire to put us away," said Eckerstrom. "Sunday games are always a special challenge but we have to be up for it."
Eckerstrom pitched a shutout in each of the previous three games, one of which against No. 2 Stanford. The redshirt senior owns a 0.78 goals allowed per game average in 2015.
"Britt Eckerstrom is, as far as I'm concerned, the best goalkeeper in the country right now," Walsh said. "Her leadership's been fantastic and this team believes in her and I believe we can go really far with her as our captain and our leader back there."
The Nittany Lions look to rebound on Friday against the Nebraska in Lincoln.