Oct. 4, 2015
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| Bedford Field | University Park. | 438 | |
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PRINCETON, N.J. -- Penn State field hockey fell to No. 20 Princeton on the road in a non-conference match, 2-0, Sunday afternoon at Bedford Field.
Penn State (5-6, 1-2 Big Ten) surrendered goals to Princeton (5-4, 2-0 Ivy League) at the 38th, and 52nd-minute on unassisted goals from Princeton's Maddie Copeland and Nicole Catalino, respectively.
It was a tale of two halves as Penn State held Princeton scoreless during first half play, holding the advantage in shots, 8-6, and penalty corners, 5-1.
The second half would see Princeton hold the Nittany Lion offense to a single shot over the 35-minute period. Penalty corners would flip from the first half as Penn State would earn a lone attempt while the Tigers would take five attempts. Princeton goalkeeper Anya Gersoff would record seven saves on the day for the shutout.
"We played a great first half," said Penn State head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss.
"We played some really good possession hockey in the first half and we talked about achieving our goals for the game at halftime, but sadly we just didn't come back out and play the second half with the same intensity. Princeton made some adjustments but at the same time we didn't play with that spark at the beginning of the second half."
Six of Penn State's eight shots in the first half were on goal.
"At the end of the day we played as a team in the first half and we didn't in the second half," said Morett-Curtiss. "Their goalie made a couple of good saves, there were a few that got under the goalie that were very close to going over the line that's how close we were to scoring. We just didn't create an enough of an attack in the second half."
Penn State freshman goalkeeper Jenny Rizzo (Hershey, Pa.) would record six saves on the day, with four of the six coming in the second half.
"We had trouble getting the ball out of our defensive end to get an attack going throughout the second half," said Morett-Curtiss. "They pressed us a little more intensely than they had in the first half, we didn't make good passing choices and we didn't use sharp elimination skills when attacking and had opportunities."
For the Nittany Lions, Brooke Birosik (Ickesburg, Pa.), Aurelia Meijer (Hattem, Netherlands), Katie Dembrowski (Palmyra, Pa.), and Shay Cannon (Wilmington, Del.) would each attempt two shots throughout the game, with seven of their combined eight shots being on goal -- Birosik's second shot in the 27th-minute would sail wide of the cage.
"We've definitely improved as a team, Princeton is a little more experienced, and at one point we had six freshmen on the field," added Morett-Curtiss. "We just need to develop longer periods of good field hockey. Aurelia Meijer played extremely well; I thought Katie Dembrowski, Jenny Rizzo, Skyler Fretz (Oley, Pa.) all played good as well."
Penn State will return home for a Big Ten match up against Maryland Oct. 9 at 4 p.m. in this year's "Whiteout" game. "Penn State Field Hockey Whiteout" t-shirts and shakers will be given away while supplies last.