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| Field Hockey Complex | University Park, Pa. | 967 | |
| POST GAME LINKS |
| Box Score (HTML) | Box Score (PDF) |
| FINAL STATISTICS |
Oct. 16, 2016
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - It was a facility record crowd of 967 in attendance as No. 5 Penn State (12-2, 4-2 B1G) field hockey fell 5-4 to No. 6 Maryland (12-3, 6-1 B1G) in the penultimate home game, Sunday afternoon at the Penn State Field Hockey complex.
Maryland got on the board first as Welma Luus scored for the Terrapins in the third minute of the game.
The Nittany Lions responded just a short minute later as Aurelia Meijer (Hattem, Netherlands) assisted Brooke Birosik (Ickesburg, Pa.) to knit the game up at 1-1.
Maryland scored a second goal, this time by UMD's Madison Maguire as she found the back of the cage giving the Terrapins a 2-1 lead.
Penn State tallied on one more goal to tie things up at 2-2 heading into the half. Freshman Madison Morano (Hammonton, NJ) inserted the ball on a penalty corner attempt to Meijer, Meijer fired a shot and Morano was able to tip it in for her first career goal.
In the second half, Maryland went on a 3-0 run including a penalty stroke to give them a 5-2 lead with 17 minutes remaining.
Penn State tried to rally back but fell short following back-to-back goals by Meijer and Katie Dembrowski (Palmyra, Pa.) to cut the lead to one by the Terrapins.
Meijer earned her third assist of the game on the Dembrowski goal to make it a 5-3 game.
Off a shot attempt from Meijer, Moira Putsch (Media, Pa.) deflected Meijer's shot from the top of the circle to shorten Maryland's lead to 5-4.
The Nittany Lions continued to press for one more goal, but time was not on their side as their rally fell short.
The defeat handed the Nittany Lions their first home loss of the season and the first loss at Field Hockey Complex since Oct. 9, 2015 when they dropped a match 1-0 to Maryland.
Penn State will head to Piscataway N.J. for a Big Ten match up against the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers on Oct. 21 at 3 p.m.