Sept. 25, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's soccer team defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 2-1, Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field. Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) tallied her third career two-goal game in the victory.
"Really gutsy performance from our group today against a very good Nebraska team," head coach Erica Dambach said. "I said to our group they made us bend, but they didn't make us break."
Penn State improves to 7-2-2 on the year and 3-0-1 in Big Ten play. With the loss, Nebraska falls to 8-4-0 and 2-2-0 in conference action.
Schafer recorded her first goal of the afternoon in the 16th minute with an assist from Salina Williford (Wayne, Pa.). On the play, Williford played the ball to Schafer outside the penalty area then Schafer moved up field before beating Nebraska goalkeeper Aubrei Corder from 12 yards out.
Penn State held its 1-0 lead until the 39th minute when Nebraska's Jaycie Johnson netted her eighth goal of the season from six yards out.
The Cornhuskers looked to take a 2-1 lead into the halftime break as Johnson stepped up for a penalty kick at 41:59. On the penalty kick, Johnson fired a shot to the right side of the goal, but freshman goalkeeper Amanda Dennis (San Diego, Calif.) stepped up for the save on the penalty kick attempt.
Schafer put the Nittany Lions back on top in the 69th minute on her second goal of the afternoon and fourth of the 2016 season. From the Nittany Lion end of the field, fellow co-captain Nickolette Driesse (Wayne, N.J.) played the ball over the Cornhusker backline to Schafer along the left side of the field. With space to run, Schafer moved up field and placed the ball past Corder from six yards out for the 2-1 Nittany Lion lead.
Similar to Friday's game against Iowa, Dennis made another leaping save with under 10 minutes to play in regulation. Looking for the game-tying goal, Nebraska's Caroline Flynn fired a shot from distance towards the upper-right corner of the goal, but Dennis stretched out and swatted the ball over the crossbar with her right hand.
Dennis finished the afternoon with three saves, while Corder recorded a pair of saves for the Cornhuskers.
The Nittany Lions close out their three-game homestand Friday, Sept. 30, against Illinois at 6 p.m.
NOTES: Penn State leads the all-time series against Nebraska, 4-1-1...Penn State is now 406-105-31 all-time...The Nittany Lions boast an all-time record of 220-25-11 at Jeffrey Field...Penn State is now 98-6-4 all-time in Big Ten conference games at home...The Nittany Lions have a record of 60-5-5 at Jeffrey Field since the start of the 2011 season...The Nittany Lions are 6-1-0 when scoring two or more goals this season...Penn State is 5-1-1 at home in 2016...PSU owns an all-time Big Ten record of 183-26-11...Megan Schafer is tied with Raquel Rodriguez (2012-15) for 19th all-time in goals scored at PSU with 23...Megan Schafer ranks 21st all-time at PSU in points with 57 (23g, 11a)...The Nittany Lions improve to 6-0-1 over the past seven games...Three Nittany Lions have scored two goals in a game this season (Williams vs. Hofstra, Crouse vs. LBSU & SDSU and Schafer vs. Nebraska)...Nebraska outshot Penn State, 10-9.