Nov. 22, 2015
By Jack Dougherty, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. ââ'¬" The No. 1-seeded Penn State women's soccer team kept things rolling Sunday afternoon with a decisive 4-0 victory over Big Ten rival Ohio State.
The win sends the Nittany Lions to the quarterfinal round of the 2015 NCAA Women's Soccer Tournament. The Blue and White has reached the quarterfinals in three of the past four years.
The Lions have been absolutely dominant in their first three tournament matches, outscoring opponents 15-0. Senior goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom hasn't surrendered a goal in the last five contests. It's the first time in Penn State history that a team has recorded shutouts in each of the first three rounds of the tournament.
"We're trying to keep opponents off the score sheet, and that's a total team effort," said head coach Erica Walsh. "Starting with Megan Schafer up top, and Ogle is the organizer in the middle, and obviously Britt Eckerstrom and that back line have been huge. I think the cohesion from front to back has been a big part of our success."
The aforementioned Schafer continued her solid goal scoring season on Sunday, scoring from 12 yards out in the 43rd minute for her team-leading 13th goal of the year. The sophomore has scored in every tournament game so far.
Schafer's strike was Penn State's only first half goal. Although Penn State outshot the Buckeyes 11-2 in the first frame and dominated possession, the game felt very tight. OSU hit the post on a header in the 19th minute that would've changed the dynamic of the match, but luckily the ball bounced away and the Nittany Lions were able to take a narrow lead to the locker room.
In the second half, Penn State refused to take a defensive approach to protect its lead. As they've done all year, the Lions attacked from the whistle to build a more comfortable margin. Senior Rocky Rodriguez did just that 51 seconds into the half with a header off a corner kick.
"I thought they came out in the first half and gave us trouble with our build up," Walsh said. "I thought their game plan was outstanding. I thought the second half we found different ways to break them down and we started to loosen up a little bit and our rhythm got a whole lot better."
Merely five minutes later, sophomore Emily Ogle tallied her third goal of the tournament and sixth of the year with a laser to the top right corner from 23 yards away. Penn State's first three goals of the match all came within a period of 8:36 of game time.
Haleigh Echard came off the bench to finish off the Buckeyes in the 75th minute with her second goal in as many games.
"I think it all starts with our captains," said Ogle. "We have three of the best in Mal Weber, Rocky Rodriguez, and Britt Eckerstrom. They're really bringing the team together at the right time and helping us to continue to build. With them leading us, we're taking incremental steps and trying to achieve a bigger goal."
"I think we're playing our best soccer of the season, and our depth has been outstanding," Walsh said. "I thought our reserves coming off the bench today gave us a huge boost. We're exactly where we want to be going into an Elite Eight game."
Next Up: No. 2 West Virginia
There's no doubt both Penn State and West Virginia have had this possible quarterfinal matchup circled on their calendars since the tournament bracket was announced, and here we are. This one should be fun.
The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers met back on September 4 and produced a hard fought, physical game in which WVU pulled out a close 1-0 win.
West Virginia has been almost as impressive as Penn State so far in the tournament, outscoring its opponents 13-2. The Mountaineers most recently defeated Loyola Marymount 5-2 in the third round.
WVU presents an incredibly tough test to Penn State's recent five-game shutout streak. Its potent offense is led by a two-headed monster up top in Kailey Utley and Michaela Abam. Utley and Abam lead the Mountaineers with 12 goals apiece this season.
Utley has been on a notable roll lately, headlined by a hat trick in WVU's third round victory over LMU.
Even though West Virginia's offense has carried its team thus far in the postseason, WVU's resounding strength is its defense. The Mountaineers own the second best defense in the country in terms of giving up goals. Goalkeeper Hannah Steadman has only let nine shots past her this season, good for a 0.43 GAA.
Steadman has been a rock in the back, but much of WVU's defensive success this season has been due to stellar play across the back line. The West Virginia defense has only allowed 129 shots in 2015, while its offense has taken 530.
The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers will kick off their quarterfinal match at 4 p.m. on Saturday at Jeffrey Field.