Oct. 21, 2015
| PENN STATE VS. OHIO STATE | |
| Saturday, Oct. 24 - 6 p.m. ET | |
| Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium | Columbus, Ohio | |
| GAME DAY LINKS |
TV: ESPN2 -->Live Video |Women's Soccer BlogFollow Us: @PennStateWSOC | Facebook | InstagramGameday Central
Game Notes: Penn State | Ohio StateStatistics: Penn State | Ohio State
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's soccer team heads to Ohio State for its final away match of the 2015 regular season. The Buckeyes and Nittany Lions meet at the Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium Saturday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. The Nittany Lions return home for the regular season finale Oct. 28, against Michigan at Jeffrey Field.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live stats will be provided via GoPSUsports.com and fans can watch the game via BTN Plus.
SCOUTING OHIO STATE (9-4-3, 4-3-2)
The Buckeyes enter the match following a weekend split against Rutgers (L, 2-0) and Indiana (W, 2-1).
Ohio State is currently sporting a 6-2-1 record at home, which includes a mark of 2-1-1 in Big Ten play.
OSU opened the 2015 season with an unbeaten streak of five games, which included a 1-0 win over then-No. 8 Florida.
Offensively, the Buckeyes are led by Nichelle Prince. Price leads the team with six goals and is tied for the team lead with six assists.
In net, Jillian McVicker has played the majority of the season (932:37), while Devon Kerr has played in 537:51 minutes.
McVicker leads the team with 29 saves, followed by Kerr (28).
Ohio State hosts Michigan State in the regular season finale on Oct. 28.
With two matches left in the regular season, Ohio State is in seventh place in the Big Ten standings with 14 points.
200 CAPS
Against Nebraska, Erica Walsh made her 200th appearance as the head coach of the Nittany Lion women's soccer team.
In her time as the Nittany Lion head coach, Walsh has tallied an overall record of 146-50-10 (.733).
AMONG THE BEST OF THE B1G
Senior Mallory Weber has established herself as one of the top forwards in the Big Ten this season.
Among the Big Ten leaders, Weber ranks in the top-five in points, goals, assists, points per game, assists per game and game-winning goals.
As a team, the Nittany Lions lead the Big Ten in points, assists, goals per game and assists per game.
Penn State is tied with Michigan for the conference lead with 33 goals.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The Nittany Lion underclassmen have accounted for 22 of the 33 goals scored this season and 20 of the 32 assists.
The Nittany Lion backline, comprised of one redshirt sophomore, one sophomore and two freshmen, have only allowed 11 goals on the season.
BALANCED ATTACK
Eleven Nittany Lions have tallied goals in the 2015 campaign, which includes six Nittany Lions with multiple goals.
The Penn State attack is led by Frannie Crouse (six goals), Megan Schafer (eight goals) and Mallory Weber (seven goals).
NATIONAL HONORS
Brittany Basinger and Frannie Crouse were honored nationally for their performances against No. 2 Stanford and Santa Clara.
Basinger was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, while 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.
Following the Northwestern victory, Elizabeth Ball was named to the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week for her defensive efforts.
Ball was also named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week following a pair of shutout victories over Maryland (1-0) and Indiana (4-0).
USUAL SUSPECTS
Seven Nittany Lions have started all 16 matches this season for the Blue and White.
Out of 1480 minutes, seven Nittany Lions have played at least 1218 minutes (82 percent).
ACTIVE LEADERS
Among active student-athletes in the NCAA, Mallory Weber is fourth in games played (88), tied for 14th in points (94), tied for 14th in assists (24) and she is also one of 11 student-athletes to have tallied 30 goals and 20 assists.
Also in the active leaderboards, Raquel Rodriguez is tied for 11th with her 25 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.
Weber has tallied three game-winning goals this season.
All-time at Penn State, Weber ranks 10th in goals (35), 11th in points (94) and t-13th in assists (24).
Weber recorded at least one point over a six-game span from Sept. 25-Oct. 15.
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 16 matches of the season, the Nittany Lions have out-scored their opponents 13-4 in the first 45 minutes of play and they have out-shot the opposition, 128-50.
40 IN A ROW
With her 16 starts in the 2015 season, sophomore Emily Ogle has started all 40 matches of her Nittany Lion career.
THE POLLS
The Penn State women's soccer team currently ranks third in the NCAA RPI, ninth in the TopDrawerSoccer Poll, 10th in the NSCAA Coaches' Poll and 14th in the Soccer America Top-25 Poll.
BACK-TO-BACK NO. 2 CLASSES
According to TopDrawerSoccer, 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 210-24-10 at home.
In Big Ten play at Jeffrey Field, the Nittany Lions own a record of 112-6-4. 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 Oct. 20, Penn State ranks seventh in average attendance (1,869) in the NCAA.
MIDSEASON HONORS
Eight Nittany Lions were named to TopDrawerSoccer's Top-100 midseason lists, with three named among the top-100 freshmen and five named to the Top-100 upperclassmen list. The Top-100 upperclassmen list is comprised of the top sophomores, juniors and seniors in NCAA women's soccer.
Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) leads the Nittany Lion contingent among the TopDrawerSoccer Top-100 midseason upperclassmen list. Rodriguez checks in at sixth, followed by Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio) (26th), Mallory Weber (Novi, Mich.) (34th), Frannie Crouse (Greensburg, Pa.) (60th) and Elizabeth Ball (Richmond, Va.) (76th).
Among TopDrawerSoccer's Midseason Top-100 Freshmen list, Kaleigh Riehl (Fairfax Station, Va.) ranks sixth, Ellie Jean (Coventry, Conn.) checks in at 16th and Alina Ortega-Jurado (Wetzlar, Germany) is 83rd.
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 seven 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.
Penn State returns to BTN Plus on BTN2Go for four-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
Penn State hosts Michigan in the regular season finale on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.