Sept. 15, 2016
By Jack Dougherty, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- As Penn State prepares to commence Big Ten play this Friday night, the feeling around the team is that a new season is just beginning.
The Nittany Lions wrapped up their non-conference slate with three straight wins to vault their record to 4-2-1 and bring some much-needed momentum into conference play.
Calling the conference schedule a season in itself, however, doesn't downplay the importance of the first few contests out of conference. In fact, head coach Erica Dambach made it imperative to test her troops early and often this year.
Of the seven nonconference matches Penn State played this season, three of its opponents are currently ranked in the top 11 of NSCAA's national rankings.
"Scheduling-wise we tried to see a lot of different challenges," said Dambach. "We saw teams that like to run, we saw teams that like to pack it in, we saw possession teams, we saw direct teams so my biggest message to the team after last match was we learned a lot of lessons, let's make sure we don't learn them twice."
A challenging nonconference schedule provides a variety of benefits to a new team still trying to feel itself out.
Firstly, it gives the coaching staff a solid feel of what lineups work well together and what style of play best suits each group on the pitch. It also provides a good idea of what the team needs to improve upon before conference play starts up.
Maybe the most important factor of strong non-conference matchups is acclimating the freshman and younger players quickly who haven't contributed in years past. It's more effective to show them what games will be like in the Big Ten right away, so they won't shy away from the competition when it matters most.
The captains, Megan Schafer, Brittany Basinger and Nickolette Driesse, spoke to the young players this week at practice about the additional challenges Big Ten games present and how important each is to the end goal of this team.
From top to bottom this team is focused and ready to get the real season started. Here are some of the biggest Big Ten storylines as PSU begins its road to repeat.
Target on the Back
There's no secret who everyone's coming for this year. Ask any coach in the conference.
Every Big Ten team had the game against Penn State circled since the day the schedules were released. Who wouldn't want to knock off the defending national champions?
That only means one thing: the Lions will get the best effort from each and every team they face from here on out. PSU must be sharp for 90 minutes every game because their opponent surely will be.
"It helps our team in the long run in every way, shape and form," said Dambach. "I would say our opponent has a lot of fire in their bellies. That's the best way I could describe it. They have that little bit of extra desire."
Dambach even noted one of Penn State's early opponents had the words "make history" written on their arms.
It's essentially Penn State against the world this year in the Big Ten. It will be interesting to see how the Lions react.
No Games Off
The Big Ten conference is so deep and talented this year. Penn State can ill afford to take anyone lightly.
As it stands now, four Big Ten teams (Minnesota, Penn State, Ohio State and Rutgers) reside in the NSCAA top 25. Northwestern is right behind as the second team excluded off the list, and Nebraska received a vote as well.
Not to mention Wisconsin, who shared the Big Ten Championship with Penn State last year, and both Iowa and Michigan, which own better records than the Lions in 2016.
Teams to Look Out For
No. 22 Rutgers- The Scarlet Knights sported arguably the best defense in the conference last year, and they have continued that pattern in 2016. Rutgers has given up three goals in seven games and boast a 2-0 win against No. 23 UConn.
Offensively, Nicole Whitley leads the conference with six assists in a very balanced offense. Rutgers was one of the favorites to win it all last year, and they have the discipline to make another push this season.
Northwestern- The Wildcats finished fourth in the conference last season with a 14-6-2 overall record and a 7-3-1 mark in conference play. They have already exceeded expectations this season, starting a perfect 7-0.
The Wildcats don't jump off the page statistically, but they're stifling defense led by goalie Lauren Clem has allowed just one goal all season. Clem's six shutouts leads the conference.
No. 10 Minnesota- Penn State's first conference test on Friday may be its toughest all season. Minnesota beat PSU in Happy Valley last season, and its only two losses this season came to top 10 teams in Duke and Stanford.
Besides those two setbacks, the Golden Gophers have been pretty darn good. In their six wins this season Minnesota has averaged three goals per game, thanks mostly to the reigning Big Ten Forward of the Year, Simone Kolander.
Kolander leads the conference with seven goals and 17 points in 2016 and is making a strong case to repeat as forward of the year.
The road doesn't get much easier for PSU as they travel to Madison, Wis. on Sunday to face the Wisconsin Badgers.
"Going into Minnesota and Wisconsin, we always know it's going to be competitive, but we know that we need to just start the standard high and bring it right from the start and that will prepare us for the games ahead of us," said Driesse.
"We talked about going into conference play where we have a clean slate, so we go in and just got to get work done in conference play on the road this weekend," said Schafer. "All of the stuff that we put in this summer and we've been working for, the season starts now."