Oct. 30, 2016
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 2 seed Penn State women's soccer team fell to the No. 7 seed Rutgers Scarlet Knights, 2-0, in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal round Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.
"Credit to Rutgers today," head coach Erica Dambach said. "Obviously, it is a team we are familiar with, but they came out with more fire than we did. I think they set the tone early in the game. They imposed themselves on us, and we were never really able to find a foothold in this game today."
Rutgers (10-3-6) got on the scoreboard during the 28th minute of play on Erica Murphy's fourth goal of the season. From 11 yards out on the left side of the field, Murphy fired a shot into the bottom-right corner of the net for the Rutgers tally.
The first half proved to be a defensive battle as the two teams combined for just five shot attempts with Rutgers leading, 3-2.
In the first half, Nickolette Driesse's (Wayne, N.J.) shot attempt in the fourth minute hit the crossbar and then Rutgers goalkeeper Alana Jimenez made a save on Laura Freigang's (Oppenheim, Germany) header in the 27th minute.
The Nittany Lions (11-4-4) outshot Rutgers, 11-4, during the second half of play, but were unable to find the back of the net.
The Scarlet Knights added to their lead in the 72nd minute on Madison Tiernan's ninth goal of the season.
Looking to cut into the Rutgers lead, Megan Schafer (Langhorne, Pa.) had a good look at putting the Nittany Lions on the scoreboard in the 77th minute, but her shot attempt hit the crossbar.
Jimenez stepped up for five saves for the Scarlet Knights over the final 45 minutes of regulation and the Rutgers defense recorded a team save on Elizabeth Ball (Richmond, Va.) in the 81st minute of play.
The No. 21 Nittany Lions will now wait for the NCAA Selection Show on Monday, Nov. 7 at 4:30 p.m. (EST)
NOTES: Penn State leads the all-time series against Rutgers, 9-6-2...Penn State is 410-107-33 all-time...The Nittany Lions are 223-26-12 all-time at Jeffrey Field...Penn State is now 29-11-4 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament...Penn State is 63-6-6 at Jeffrey Field since the start of the 2011 season...Penn State outshot Rutgers, 13-7.