Oct. 26, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's soccer team scored a pair of second-half goals to defeat the Ohio State Buckeyes, 2-0, in the 2016 regular season finale Wednesday night at Jeffrey Field. With the win the Nittany Lions captured a share of their 18th Big Ten regular season title. Minnesota, Northwestern and Penn State each finished the Big Ten regular season with a 7-1-3 record.
"That was the first time in 10 years that I shed tears after a Big Ten championship, and that's just out of pure pride for what they did all season long," head coach Erica Dambach said. "We had our ups and downs, but they came out here tonight with a set of belief. It took the entire Penn State family, Penn State women's soccer family, tonight, obviously to pitch a shutout against a really dangerous Ohio State team and we scored some great goals. I'm just incredibly proud of this group."
The No. 21 Nittany Lions close out the 2016 regular season with an overall record of 11-3-4 and finish Big Ten play with a record of 7-1-3. With the loss, Ohio State is 10-6-3 overall and 4-4-3 in Big Ten action.
Heading into halftime, the score was tied 0-0 with the Nittany Lions leading 6-5 in shot attempts. Ohio State's best attempt to get on the scoreboard on the night came in the 34th minute as Lindsay Agnew's shot attempt from 20 yards out hit the crossbar.
Similar to the season opener against West Virginia on Aug. 19, freshman Laura Freigang (Oppenheim, Germany) put the Nittany Lions up 1-0 during the 51st minute of play.
Wednesday night, Freigang put the Nittany Lions up 1-0 at 50:35 on her second career goal. After OSU was unsuccessful clearing out a Penn State corner kick, Haleigh Echard (Lebanon, Pa.) played the ball into the Ohio State penalty area from 33 yards out. With the ball in the air, Freigang headed the ball over Ohio State goalkeeper Devon Kerr from nine yards out and into the bottom-right corner of the net.
The Nittany Lions held the 1-0 lead until sophomore Charlotte Williams (Rochester, N.Y.) netted her fourth goal of the season during the 73rd minute of play. On the goal, Elizabeth Ball (Richmond, Va.) played the ball downfield to Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) from the Nittany Lion backline. With the ball, Schafer moved into the OSU penalty area, beat an OSU defender, and from the endline, she then played the ball to Williams. Williams took one touch and fired a right-footed shot past Kerr from nine yards out for the 2-0 Nittany Lion tally.
Following the Williams goal at 72:52, Ohio State recorded three shot attempts during the final 17:08 of regulation, which included a save by freshman goalkeeper Amanda Dennis (San Diego, Calif.). Dennis made her lone save of the night at 85:30 on Nikki Walts to protect her seventh solo shutout of the season.
The Big Ten Tournament begins for the No. 2 seed Nittany Lions with the No. 7 seed Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday, Oct. 30, at 1 p.m. at Jeffrey Field.
NOTES: Penn State women's soccer has won outright/shared 18 of the last 19 Big Ten regular season titles...This is Penn State's 98th Big Ten Championship or Tournament title all-time...Penn State women's soccer is tied for third for the most Big Ten titles by a Big Ten program since the start of the 1992-93 school year...Penn State leads the all-time series against Ohio State, 21-6-1...Penn State has won seven-straight games against OSU...The Nittany Lions improve to 14-1-0 all-time at home against OSU...Penn State improves to 9-1-1 in 2016 when score two or more goals in a game...Penn State improves to 187-27-13 all-time in Big Ten regular season matches...Penn State improves to 410-106-33 all-time...Penn State is now 8-1-2 at home in 2016...Penn State is 223-25-12 all-time at Jeffrey Field...Penn State is now 102-6-5 in Big Ten matches at Jeffrey Field...Penn State improves to 63-5-6 at Jeffrey Field since 2011...Coach Dambach is 87-15-6 all-time in Big Ten regular season matches...The Nittany Lions recorded their eighth shutout of the season, which includes seven solo shutouts by Dennis...Williams has tallied a career-best four goals this season...Penn State outshot Ohio State, 13-10.