| 3 | 1 |
| Graham Field | Lewisburg, Pa. | 758 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
LEWISBURG, Pa. - A pair of second half goals led No. 7 Penn State field hockey to a 3-1 victory over Bucknell Sunday afternoon at Graham Field.
Penn State would light up the scoreboard first as Kirsten Gochnauer (Mount Joy, Pa.) reached the back of the goal for the second time in her career, assisted by Aurelia Meijer (Hattem, Netherlands) giving the Nittany Lions an early lead two minutes, five seconds into the game.
Bucknell needed only one shot to tie the Nittany Lions at 1-1 though, following a goal by Anna Wills with 13:04 left in the first half that deflected into the goal off the left foot of freshman goalkeeper Jenny Rizzo (Hershey, Pa.)
"We came out scored the first goal early and then we just became a little complacent, but we definitely picked up our game in the second half," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss. "I thought we controlled the ball the second half, and I thought our defensive backfield was really strong."
The Nittany Lions statistically dominated the first half taking seven shots to Bucknell's one and earning four penalty corners, of which three came in the last 10 minutes of the half.
With no time remaining in the half on a corner attempt, Penn State found the back of the cage, but it was called off due to a Nittany Lion foul during the attempt.
The Lions would be rewarded for their efforts in the second half.
Penn State would take a 2-1 lead following a foul during a penalty corner attempt leading to a successful penalty stroke by Emilee Ehret (Philadelphia, Pa.), her first goal of the season, with 25:06 left in the game.
Less than four minutes later Penn State would earn another penalty stroke opportunity, but was unable to capitalize on the shot as Brooke Birosik (Ickesburg, Pa.) would fire the attempt over the cage and out of play.
"You have to have the physical stuff but you have to have composure too, and we need to find that balance," said Morett-Curtiss.
Emily Klingler (Selinsgrove, Pa.) would get redemption though, as she extended the Penn State lead to 3-1 with her first career goal, assisted by Stephanie Hussey, with 5:25 left in the game.
"I felt that while we had the ball in front of the goal, again, l that's what we've done in every game," said Morett-Curtiss.
"We've outplayed our opponents in every game we just need to finish; we need to get better at finishing the game. It's nice to get back to .500 and we're excited about California making the trip all the way to Happy Valley." Penn State will next host California Friday at 6 p.m. for Military Appreciation Day.