Nov. 20, 2015
By Jack Dougherty, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" For Penn State, this year hasn't been one season comprised of 22 matches. It's been 22 separate seasons: each of the same importance, each presenting a new learning experience.
Coaches and players never look ahead to the next season while playing the current one. The simplest way to keep the focus off the future is to instill this principle from game to game, which is exactly what head coach Erica Walsh has achieved in 2015.
The mindset of "one game at a time" has been engrained inside the brains, hearts, and souls of every player, personnel member, and individual involved in the program. From top to bottom, there's no one who isn't on board.
"We have to take it one game at a time," said sophomore forward Frannie Crouse. "Any opponent can come out and beat us, like in the Big Ten when we didn't play our greatest and we lost. We approach every game as a new one and we're not going to take anything for granted."
In the NCAA Tournament, this is especially difficult. With 63 possible matchups in the postseason, it's often arduous to stay focused on the one matchup that matters, the next one.
It's a complicated approach considering this team's clear goal is a national championship. It isn't a crime to look forward to such an event, but there are still four more teams to go through to get there. Patience is the key factor.
"It's win and advance," Walsh said. "Everything about the way that we're training right now is focused on putting all of our energy into Friday. The veterans are a big part of that. They've been knocked out enough times in their career that they understand the one game mentality."
Penn State has proven throughout the year that this mindset has been incredibly successful. To illustrate, consider Penn State's tough schedule in and out of conference. The Nittany Lions played 11 games against tournament teams before the NCAA Tournament kicked off. With so much tough competition all year, it's easy to overlook teams in between playing the powerhouses like Stanford and West Virginia.
Penn State went 7-3-1 against opponents that made the tournament this year. In the games directly before Penn State's contests against these tournament teams, the Blue and White went 9-2-0. The Nittany Lions outscored their opposition in these games 24-9.
This demonstrates the strong belief in refusing to take teams likely, especially when there's a stout opponent coming up on the schedule in a few days. In this team's mind, effort and execution must be perfect in every single game, no matter the team on the opposite bench.
"We just have to go play every minute like we're preparing for the next game," said Crouse. "Any minute we aren't playing hard is like a minute you lose preparing. If we come in thinking we're going to win, we won't get any better. We have to make sure we're constantly getting better."
Another aspect of this club's mentality is an emphasis on Penn State and no one else. Instead of focusing on how upcoming opponents are playing or who is making a difference for them, Coach Walsh has the squad focused on improving as a team and individually every day.
Many of the foes the Nittany Lions face in the NCAA Tournament are unfamiliar. This somewhat makes it easier to focus on themselves because they've never seen their opponent play before.
"Part of the fun of the NCAA Tournament is playing against some different teams," said Walsh. "That would be my preference, but this team is so focused on our details and what we're doing that it doesn't concern me whether we've seen them or we haven't. Everything that we talk about right now is Penn State and that's been going on these last few weeks."
Next Up: Boston University
Boston U. defeated St. John's in overtime, 2-1, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Terriers own a 13-5-3 mark on the season, but they've been incredibly hot of late, winning 13 of their last 15 contests. BU has only surrendered eight goals in those 15 games.
The glaring strengths of this group are its defense and execution off set pieces. Goalkeeper Alyssa Parisi has allowed 14 goals in between the posts this season, an average of 0.70 goals allowed per game.
The Terriers execute very well in timely situations on offense, especially when they're presented with corner kicks or close free kicks. Many of their game winning goals this season have come off of free kick plays.
Boston's offensive attack doesn't present one specific indivudal challenge like St. John's Rachel Daly would have for the Nittany Lions defense, but it possesses a very balanced attack. Out of the 24 players who have seen the field for BU, 14 have notched at least one goal.
"They are extremely well-organized," Walsh said. "They have an outstanding coaching staff and they've got some seniors that have been leading them and a great center back. They've got a big belief in them right now in winning games on set pieces, so that's what we've been working on in practice."
Penn State and Boston are set to kick off on Friday at 6:30 p.m. on Jeffrey Field in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.