Post-Game Video vs. Michigan State
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| Field Hockey Complex | University Park, Pa. | 743 | |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State field hockey set multiple season highs in a 6-1 rout of Big Ten opponent Michigan State Friday night at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.
Penn State (4-4, 1-1 Big Ten) scored a season high six goals by six different players. Brooke Birosik (Ickesburg, Pa.) and Gini Bramley (Elizabethtown, Pa.) led the group with a goal and an assist each. Mary Nell Smith (Dauphin, Pa.) scored her first career goal and Shay Cannon (Wilmington, Del.) scored her team-best fourth goal of the season, while Stephanie Hussey (Miami, Fla.) and Aurelia Meijer (Hattem, Netherlands) also tallied goals.
The Nittany Lions would finish the night with season highs in goals (6), shots on goal (18), and tied the season high in penalty corner attempts with nine.
"I think just our movement off the ball generally set up some good scoring opportunities," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss. "We talked about our goals for tonight and the first one was defense, and I thought our defense really played well, everyone played well defensively."
Michigan State (3-6, 0-2 Big Ten) managed just nine shots, of which only two were on goal.
The teams jockeyed for position early in the game before Smith (Dauphin, Pa.) got the Lions on the board in the 19th minute with a shot from the right side as she dribbled her way through the defense for the goal with help from Birosik.
Bramley then set up Hussey, who scored right in front of the left side of the goal to give Penn State a 2-0 lead with 6:30 left in the first half.
Michigan State, down by two goals, cut the lead in half with a circus shot by Mallory Tyler, sending the ball bouncing off the right post and off the inside of the top crossbar before finding its way into the left bottom of the cage for a goal.
Penn State carried its 2-1 lead into the halftime break, but would put the game away in the second half with four goals.
Meijer put away a rebound to give the Lions a 3-1 advantage with 28:00 minutes left in the second half, and Shay Cannon would convert a corner opportunity into points for the fourth goal of the night.
Biroisk would net her own goal as she was able to make the Spartans pay on a penalty stroke with 5:57 left in the game. Bramley, scored from close range in the final seconds for the final margin.
Penn State dominated the Spartans on the offensive side of the ball, attempting 28 shots to Michigan State's nine and earning nine penalty corners compared to nine penalty corners by Michigan State.
The Nittany Lions return to Field Hockey Complex Sunday at 12 p.m. for a second Big Ten matchup of the weekend when the Ohio State Buckeyes come to town to wrap up Alumni Weekend action.