Aug. 26, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Despite rallying back from a two-goal deficit late in the second half, the No. 5 Penn State women's soccer team dropped a 3-2 decision to the No. 14 BYU Cougars Friday night at Jeffrey Field. Junior Frannie Crouse (Greensburg, Pa.) scored one goal and assisted on another within a four-minute span.
"Another great Friday night crowd here at Jeffrey Field," head coach Erica Dambach said. "Just as we saw last Friday night the crowd almost helped us tie the game up at the end. The crowd was certainly a huge part of it. I'm really proud of the push we made, to get back after going two goals down, especially with a little bit of an unexperienced group right now, but I believe we can grow from it."
Similar to Sunday against Hofstra, the Nittany Lions fell down 1-0 early in the match. After BYU forced a turnover near midfield, the Cougars (2-1-0) connected on a pair of passes before Ashley Hatch tallied her third goal of the season from 12 yards out during the sixth minute.
The Nittany Lion (1-1-1) offense tallied nine shots with six on goal over the first 45 minutes of play. After BYU goalkeeper Rachel Boaz left the game during the 23rd minute, Hannah Clark took over in net and closed out the first half with four saves.
The BYU lead grew to two after Hatch recorded her second goal of the evening during the 57th minute of play from 10 yards out. Despite being down 2-0 in the 57th minute, the Nittany Lions responded with a pair of goals within a four-minute span to strike even with the Cougars.
Crouse netted her first goal of the 2016 campaign off a header from six yards out and into the upper-left corner of the net to cut the 2-0 deficit in half. Haleigh Echard (Lebanon, Pa.) brought the ball up the left side of the field, made a defender miss and swung the ball into the penalty area. Crouse then connected on the pass and placed the ball into the net to put the Nittany Lions on the board in the 62nd minute.
Sophomore Charlotte Williams (Rochester, N.Y.) picked up her third goal of the season as she tied the game at two in the 66th minute. After a BYU miscue, Crouse brought the ball up the field and found Williams all alone outside the BYU penalty area. With the ball, Williams beat Clark in the bottom-left corner for the Nittany Lion tally.
The tie game held for 12 minutes before Hatch scored her third goal of the night from six yards out to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead in the 78th minute.
The No. 5 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).
NOTES: BYU improves to 2-0-0 all-time against Penn State...Frannie Crouse tallied one goal and one assist on the night...After scoring three goals during her freshman season in 2015, Charlotte Williams scored her third goal of the season Friday night...Since the start of the 2011 season, the Nittany Lions are now 56-5-5 at Jeffrey Field...The loss Friday night snapped a 13-game unbeaten streak for the Nittany Lions (12-0-1) and a 12-game home unbeaten streak (11-0-1).