Sept. 5, 2015
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Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (PDF) |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 7 Penn State women's soccer team fell to No. 12 West Virginia, 1-0, Friday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. Nickolette Driesse (Wayne, N.J.) led the Nittany Lion offense with her four shot attempts.
The Nittany Lions fall to 3-1-1 on the season, while the Mountaineers improve to 4-1-0.
After a 90-minute lightning delay prior to the match, both teams took to the field at 8:30 p.m. local time.
The Mountaineers tallied their lone goal of the game in the eighth minute. Off the second corner kick of the contest for WVU, Bianca St. Georges placed the ball into the box and Amanda Hill headed home her first goal of the season.
West Virginia's goal in the eighth minute marked the first time in 2015 that Penn State trailed in a match.
Less than 10 seconds after the WVU goal, play was suspended 40 minutes due to lightning in the area.
Following the restart, the Nittany Lion offense tallied five shot attempts within 14 minutes; three of the five shots were from Driesse.
With five minutes to play in the first half, freshman Ellie Jean (Coventry, Conn.) cleared the ball out of Nittany Lion territory to Mallory Weber (Novi, Mich.), who was racing down the right side of the field. Weber was able to get to the ball before it crossed the endline. Once she had possession, Weber passed the ball into the box, but WVU's Hannah Steadman dove on top of the ball before Marissa Sheva (Sellersville, Pa.) could attempt a shot.
In the first half of the match, Britt Eckerstrom (Germantown, Md.) stepped up for three saves, including a save during the closing seconds on Amandine Pierre-Louis. With the clock winding down, Pierre-Louis fired a shot from outside the box on net, but Eckerstrom was there to keep the match within one.
After the first 45 minutes, West Virginia led Penn State in shots, 7-5, and shots on goal, 4-1.
The Nittany Lions' first opportunity to tie the game in the second half came off a set piece outside the box in the 51st minute. Looking for her second goal of the season, Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio) blasted a shot off the set piece, but Steadman made a move to her right for her second save of the night.
Eckerstrom recorded her fourth save of the contest in the 55th minute, as Kailey Utley fired a shot on net from the top of the box.
Looking for the equalizing goal, the Nittany Lion attack put pressure on the WVU defense during the final minutes of the match.
Under 10 minutes to play, the Nittany Lions tallied a pair of scoring opportunities. In the 81st minute, senior Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) posted her lone shot of the match. From outside the box, Rodriguez' shot attempt hit the crossbar and bounced back into play; the Nittany Lions were unable to corral the rebound.
One minute after Rodriguez' shot hit the crossbar; Driesse recorded a shot that went high.
On a breakaway in the closing moments of regulation, Pierre-Louis went one-on-one with Eckerstrom. Pierre-Louis fired a shot on goal, but Eckerstrom stepped up for her fifth and final save of the match.
In the match, West Virginia out-shot Penn State, 14-8, including a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal.
The Nittany Lions continue their three-game road trip next weekend as they head to California for a pair of matches. Penn State visits No. 2 Stanford on Sept. 11 and then takes on Santa Clara on Sept. 13.