Sept. 4, 2016
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Penn State women's soccer team closed out its California road trip with a 2-1 victory over Long Beach State Sunday evening at George Allen Field. Junior Frannie Crouse (Greensburg, Pa.) led the Nittany Lion offense with her fourth-career two-goal game.
The Nittany Lions improve to 2-2-1 on the year, while Long Beach State falls to 3-2-1.
With a combined seven shots on goal on the night, the Nittany Lions scored twice on four shots on goal. Goalkeepers Amanda Dennis (San Diego, Calif.) and Imani McDonald both tallied a pair of saves for their respective teams.
Crouse netted her first goal of the game during the 27th minute and added to the Nittany Lion lead in the 63rd. Last Friday against BYU (Aug. 26), Crouse scored one goal and tallied an assist on Charlotte Williams' (Rochester, N.Y.) goal.
Williams returned the favor for Crouse as she recorded assists on both goals Sunday. On Crouse's first goal of the game, Williams played the ball past the LBSU backline and Crouse tapped home the ball for her second goal of the season.
Despite being outshot 5-3 over the first 45 minutes of play, the Blue and White held a 1-0 lead going into the break.
Crouse scored her second goal of the game, and third of the season, at the 62:11 mark as she fired a shot into the upper-left corner of the net from 10 yards out. On the second Crouse goal, Williams received credit with the primary assist, while Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) picked up her first point of the 2016 season on the secondary assist.
Penn State held a 2-0 lead until the 76th minute when Ashley Gonzales scored her fourth goal of the season on a penalty kick. The 49ers made one last push with 35 seconds left in regulation, but Tori Bolden's shot was blocked by the Penn State defense.
The Nittany Lions close out their non-conference slate at home against San Diego State (Sept. 9) and La Salle (Sept. 11). Friday's game against San Diego State is slated for a 5:30 p.m. start and the La Salle contest will start at 1 p.m.
NOTES: Penn State leads the all-time series against Long Beach State, 1-0-0…Crouse recorded her fourth-career two-goal game (Iowa - 9/27/15, Bucknell - 9/23/14, Ohio State - 9/19/14)…Crouse passed Raquel Rodriguez (23 - 2012-15) and moved into a tie for 17th all-time in goals scored with 24 (Taylor Schram - 2010-13)…Williams tied a career-best two assists in a single game Sunday (Wisconsin - 9/17/15)…Schafer tallied her first point of the 2016 season on the Crouse goal in the 63rd minute…Coach Dambach won her 199th game as a NCAA Division I head coach (199-80-14)…Shots were tied 10-10...Freshman Laura Freigang recorded her first start.