Aug. 25, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 5 Penn State women's soccer team wraps up its season-opening homestand Friday, Aug. 26, under the lights at Jeffrey Field against the No. 14 BYU Cougars. Friday's contest is slated for a 7 p.m. start.
FOLLOW ALONG
The No. 5 PSU/No. 14 BYU match will be aired live on GoPSUsports.com for free.
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS
Fans are encouraged to support the Nittany Lions by wearing white and while supplies last, fans will receive a shaker.
ATTENDING JEFFREY FIELD
Admission and parking for all women's soccer events are free. Fans are reminded that there is a no bag policy in place on stadium grounds.
LOOKING AT BYU
No. 14 BYU comes to Happy Valley following a 1-0 loss to Nebraska on Aug. 22. The loss snapped an 18-game home winning streak for the Cougars, which was the longest in the nation. The loss to Nebraska also snapped a five-game winning streak against Big Ten foes for BYU. BYU opened the 2016 season with a 2-1 overtime win at Washington State.
Senior Ashley Hatch leads the Cougar offense with four points on two goals. Hatch also leads the team in shots (14) and shots on goal (four). In net for the Cougars, Rachel Boaz has allowed two goals in 194:52 minutes played and she has made five saves.
The BYU Cougars return 11 starters from the 2015 squad that went 16-3-2 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
WEEKEND REWIND
The Penn State women's soccer team kicked off the season with a 1-0-1 record against the No. 6 West Virginia Mountaineers and the Hofstra Pride. In front of a record crowd of 5,791 fans against WVU, freshman Laura Freigang put the Nittany Lions up 1-0 during the 51st minute. WVU went on to tie the match at one during the 77th minute and the two teams played to a 1-1 draw.
Following the 1-1 draw against WVU, the Nittany Lions bounced back with a 3-1 victory against the Hofstra Pride. After falling down 1-0 during the eighth minute of play, the Nittany Lions responded with a pair of goals from sophomore Charlotte Williams in the 24th and 39th minute. Salina Williford tacked on a goal during the 84th minute to secure the 3-1 victory for the Blue and White. The win on Sunday marked the 400th victory in program history for the Nittany Lions.
FOR CLUB AND COUNTRY
The 2016 Penn State women's soccer team will be without the services of five Nittany Lions as they pursue a spot on the United States U-20 Women's National Team that will compete in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Nov. 13-Dec. 3. Maddie Elliston, Ellie Jean, Emily Ogle and Kaleigh Riehl will not be on the roster this fall, while Rose Chandler will continue to train with the Nittany Lions during the fall semester.
LUCKY No. 13
Heading into the BYU match, the Nittany Lions are unbeaten in their last 13 matches (12-0-1). Following a 1-0 loss to Rutgers on Oct. 18, 2015, the Nittany Lions won their final 11 matches to clinch the 2015 NCAA Title. Penn State opened the 2016 season with a draw and a win. The Penn State women's soccer unbeaten record is 27, which took place from Aug. 26, 2005, to Aug. 27, 2006.
The Nittany Lions' 13-match unbeaten streak is currently the longest active streak in NCAA Division I women's soccer. San Diego State ended the 2015 season going 11-0-1 over its final 12 contests and the Aztecs then dropped their 2016 season opener against UCLA, 5-0.
IMMEDIATE IMPACT
Freshman Laura Freigang joined the Nittany Lions on the Monday prior to the season-opener against No. 6 WVU. Freigang made her Nittany Lion debut in the 2016 season-opener. In her debut, Freigang took to the field during the 31st minute and played the final 14 minutes of the first half. Freigang then started the second half and scored her first career goal on her first career shot attempt at the 50:50 mark. The No. 2 Nittany Lions and the No. 6 Mountaineers finished in a 1-1 draw.
In a 3-1 win against the Hofstra Pride on Sunday, Aug. 21, Freigang played 48 minutes and paced the Nittany Lion offense with six shot attempts.
For her season-opening performance, Freigang was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.
WILLIAMS X2
On Aug. 21, sophomore Charlotte Williams tallied a pair of goals for the first time in her career in a 3-1 win against the Hofstra Pride. During her freshman season in 2015, Williams scored three goals in 27 games played.
SHUTOUT SCORELESS STREAK SNAPPED
Penn State closed out the 2015 season with eight-straight shutouts, which spanned 733:32 of play. During the season opener against No. 6 West Virginia, the Nittany Lions kept the Mountaineers off the board until the 76:59 mark. The WVU goal at 76:59 snapped Penn State's shutout scoreless streak of 810:31, which was the second-best span in program history (1032:33, 2004).
HOME SWEET HOME
The Penn State women's soccer team has a record of 56-4-5 at Jeffrey Field since the start of the 2011 season. Over the past six seasons, Penn State has not lost twice at home in a single season.
All-time at Jeffrey Field the Penn State women's soccer team has an overall record of 216-24-11.
Penn State kicked off the 2016 campaign setting an attendance record against No. 6 WVU. A Penn State women's soccer record 5,791 fans made their way to Jeffrey Field to watch the Nittany Lions and Mountaineers play to a 1-1 draw. The previous mark of 5,117 was set in 2012 against the top-ranked Stanford Cardinal.
Last season, the Nittany Lions finished sixth in overall attendance in the nation with 21,856 fans, which was a program-best.
The 2015 season featured two of the top-10 home field crowds in program history.
Penn State opened the 2015 season with a crowd of 3,175 against Hofstra and 4,207 fans packed into Jeffrey Field to watch the Nittany Lions host Duke.
NITTANY LIONS WELCOME NINE
Head coach Erica Dambach welcomed nine freshmen to the Penn State women's soccer family for the class of 2020.
Amanda Dennis and Emma Hasco enrolled early to Penn State during the spring of 2016.
Becca Hamilton, Madison Moroi, Bristol Pizzuto, Laura Suero and Sarafina Valenti joined the Nittany Lions back on signing day in February.
Grace Fisk and Laura Freigang were the last to join the Penn State women's soccer family as they joined the program in August.
NITTANY LION CAPTAINS
Brittany Basinger, Nickolette Driesse and Megan Schafer will captain the Nittany Lions for the 2016 season.
MILESTONE VICTORIES
The 2016 season marks the 23rd year of varsity women's soccer for Penn State. The Nittany Lions captured their 400th program victory with a 3-1 win over the Hofstra Pride on Aug. 21. Overall, the Nittany Lions boast a record of 400-103-30.
Coach Dambach is approaching 200 overall wins as a head coach. During her time as a head coach at Dartmouth (2000-02), Harvard (2006) and Penn State (2007-Present), Coach Dambach has tallied a record of 198-78-14.
PICKED TO DEFEND THE B1G
According to the 2016 Big Ten preseason coaches' poll, the Penn State women's soccer team was selected to defend its 2015 Big Ten regular season championship.
Since the preseason poll started in 2003, the Nittany Lions have been named the preseason favorites every time.
YOUTH MOVEMENT
The 2016 Penn State women's soccer roster is comprised of nine freshmen, one redshirt freshman, five sophomores, one redshirt sophomore, six juniors, three redshirt juniors and one senior.
MAC HERMANN TROPHY WATCH LIST
Junior forward Megan Schafer was named to the 2016 MAC HERMANN Trophy Watch List prior to the start of the 2016 campaign.
During her 2015 season, Schafer led the Nittany Lions in goals (13) and points (30). Six of her 13 goals during 2015 captured a victory for the Blue & White.
As a sophomore, she started 24 of 27 matches and netted at least one point in 11 of the final 17 matches on the year.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Heading into the 2016 season, Frannie Crouse and Megan Schafer both rank in the top-25 in career points with Penn State women's soccer. Crouse ranks 21st with 51 (21g, 9a) points and Schafer is 24th with 47 (19g, 9a) points.
The Nittany Lion duo also rank in the top-20 in game-winning goals as Schafer ranks 17th (eight) and Crouse is 18th (seven).
SCORING IN 2015
The Nittany Lion underclassmen accounted for 46 of the team's 64 goals last season, which also included 17 of the 20 goals scored in the NCAA Tournament.
2015 NCAA TOURNAMENT RUN
During Penn State's run to the National Title last season, the Nittany Lions outscored the opposition, 20-0, and outshot the opposition, 108-43. Only 13 of their opponent's shots during the NCAA Tournament were on goal.
THE POLLS
As of Aug. 24, the Nittany Lions are ranked fifth in all three major polls (NSCAA, Soccer America and TopDrawerSoccer).
YEAR 10
The 2016 season marks the 10th season for Erica Dambach at the helm of the Penn State women's soccer program. As the head coach of the Nittany Lions, Coach Dambach has an overall record of 158-50-11 and 80-14-3 in Big Ten play.
NITTANY LIONS ON BTN
The Penn State women's soccer team will be featured three times during the regular season on the Big Ten Network.
The BTN regular season matches for the Nittany Lions will be West Virginia (Aug. 19 - 7:30 p.m. EDT), Minnesota (Sept. 16 - 8 p.m. EDT) and Rutgers (Oct. 13 - 7 p.m. EDT).
THE TRIPLE CROWN
The 2015 season was a banner year for the Nittany Lions as they brought home the national championship along with both Big Ten titles.
NEXT UP
The Nittany Lions head to California for a pair of matches against No. 15 UCLA (Sept. 2) and Long Beach State (Sept. 4) before returning home to close out the non-conference slate against San Diego State (Sept. 9) and La Salle (Sept. 11).