Oct. 28, 2015
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- The Penn State women's soccer team defeated the Michigan Wolverines, 3-1, Wednesday night at Jeffrey Field. Three Nittany Lions scored within a span of two minutes, 36 seconds in the 2015 regular season finale.
"I just want to start out by saying it's our last game of the regular season, and I just talked to the team about saving our best for last," head coach Erica Walsh said. "It's exciting to see a 90-minute performance. Up to this point we've put together a couple of good forty-five or seventy-minute performances, but tonight it was a good 90-minute performance. We have a lot to be proud of and it was a good way to finish up the regular season. "
The Wolverines (11-6-2, 6-3-2) started the match on the attack as they tallied four shots within the first six minutes of play. Britt Eckerstrom (Germantown, Md.) made two of her seven saves on the night in the first six minutes.
Against a Michigan offense that was averaging 17.8 shots per game -- which leads the Big Ten -- Penn State held Michigan to 12 shots in the contest.
The Nittany Lions (13-3-2, 8-2-1) almost struck first in the contest off of Mallory Weber's (Novi, Mich.) header in the 29th minute. Following a Michigan foul, Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio) placed the ball into the box and Weber's close-range header was saved by Megan Hinz. Though minutes later, the Nittany Lions found the back of the net.
After a Michigan turnover near midfield, the Nittany Lions pounced on the loose ball. Weber dribbled the ball up the field 18 yards before finding Nickolette Driesse (Wayne, N.J.). Then with the ball, Driesse passed the ball to Raquel Rodriguez (San Jose, Costa Rica) outside the penalty area. From outside the penalty area, Rodriguez fired an off-balance shot into the bottom-left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute.
A little over a minute later, Elizabeth Ball (Richmond, Va.) cleared the ball from the Nittany Lion end of the field, with a Michigan defender trying to corral the loose ball, Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) stole the ball 30 yards out from goal and beat a diving Hinz from just inside the penalty box for her team-leading 10th goal of the season.
The Nittany Lions tallied one more goal within the 2:36 span for the 3-0 lead.
Freshman Kaleigh Riehl (Fairfax Station, Va.) cleared the ball out of the Nittany Lion end to the feet of Weber. Off a one-touch, Weber passed the ball to Driesse. Driesse then advanced the ball up the field 10 yards before blasting home a shot over the out-stretched Hinz from 28 yards out.
In the opening half of play, Penn State outshot Michigan, 7-6, but in the second half, Michigan outshot Penn State 6-3.
The three-goal effort was all the Nittany Lions needed to bring home their 13th victory of the season.
With the clock winding down in regulation, Michigan made its way on to the scoreboard in the 88th minute. Cassie Collins picked up the loose ball in the box and found the back of the net for the first time in the 2015 campaign.
In the match, Penn State was outshot 12-10 by Michigan, including a mark of 8-7 in shots on goal. Six Nittany Lions recorded at least one shot in the match. Frannie Crouse (Greensburg, Pa.) led the Nittany Lion attack with four shot attempts, while Weber recorded two shots of her own.
With Weber's two assists in the match, she moves into a tie for 10th all-time at Penn State with 96 points (Toney - '10). She also moves into a tie for eighth all-time at PSU in assists with 26.
Also in the match, Rodriguez recorded her 21st goal as a Nittany Lion, which moves her into a tie for 18th all-time at Penn State (Smith - '03).
The Nittany Lions will know their seed for the Big Ten Tournament Wednesday night, as the rest of the conference is in action. The Big Ten Tournament begins Sunday, Nov. 1, at campus sites. The top four seeds will host the conference quarterfinals Sunday with times to be announced later.