Sept. 23, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's team recorded a 2-0 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday night at Jeffrey Field. The shutout victory marked Penn State's fourth shutout over the past five matches.
"It was a great performance tonight from our group," head coach Erica Dambach said. "It's a really well coached Iowa team and I think that they did a nice job of really trying to contain the attack. I thought that we struggled a bit in the first half. I thought that the buildup was good, but the work in the final third wasn't quite good enough. Then second half we started to put things together. A great set piece goal, Frannie Crouse doing what Frannie Crouse does, and Amanda Dennis making a huge save at the end to preserve the shutout."
Penn State improves to 6-2-2 (2-0-1) on the year, while Iowa falls to 6-5-0 (0-3-0). With the win, the Nittany Lions extend their unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1).
Freshman goalkeeper Amanda Dennis (San Diego, Calif.) made four saves on the night for her second-straight shutout and her third solo shutout on the year.
The first half of the match proved to be a defensive battle for both teams as the two teams combined for nine shot attempts with two shots on goal apiece.
Penn State tallied its first goal of the night during the 55th minute on Elizabeth Ball's (Richmond, Va.) first goal of the season and her fifth career goal. Following an Iowa foul from 34 yards out, senior Nickolette Driesse (Wayne, N.J.) swung the ball into the penalty area, where Ball headed the ball over Iowa goalkeeper Claire Graves to give the Nittany Lions the 1-0 tally.
Junior Frannie Crouse (Greensburg, Pa.) added to the Nittany Lead in the 63rd minute on her seventh goal of the 2016 campaign. On the play, Brittany Basinger (Purcellville, Va.) swung the ball into the penalty area from the left side of the field and then Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) headed the ball behind the Iowa backline to Crouse. With just the goalkeeper to beat, Crouse fired the ball over Graves and into the back of the net for the 2-0 Nittany Lion lead.
With under 10 minutes to play in regulation, Iowa's Bri Toelle fired a shot on goal from outside of the penalty area. With the ball heading towards the upper-left corner of the net, Dennis made a leaping left-handed save to protect the Nittany Lion clean sheet.
The Nittany Lions continue their three-match homestand Sunday at 1 p.m. against Nebraska. Following the Nebraska match, the Penn State women's soccer team will host its final post-match autograph session of the season.
NOTES: Penn State improves to 405-105-31 all-time...Penn State leads the all-time series against Iowa, 22-2-0, including a record of 10-0-0 at home...The Nittany Lions are now 182-26-11 all-time in Big Ten conference play...Penn State improves to 59-5-5 at Jeffrey Field since the start of the 2011 season...The Nittany Lions are now 219-25-11 all-time at Jeffrey Field...Elizabeth Ball scored her first goal of the season...Brittany Basinger has started 60 of 60 matches on the Nittany Lion backline...Frannie Crouse ranks T-15 all-time at PSU in goals scored with 28 (Kelly Convey - 1996-99)...Penn State is now 5-1-0 when scoring two or more goals this season...Penn State owns a record of 97-6-4 in Big Ten games at Jeffrey Field...Iowa led in shots, 10-8.