Nov. 2, 2016
Bag Policy - Parking - Promotions
| |||||||||||||||||||
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Entering the 2016 Big Ten Tournament as the No. 2 seed, the Penn State field hockey team takes on No. 7 seed Indiana in the opening round on Thursday November 3rd at 12:30 p.m. in College Park, Md. The game will be the second of four games on the tournament's first day. BTN will provide live television coverage of the quarterfinals, semifinals and championship game.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT NOTES
Penn State is the No. 2 seed in the eight-team tournament. With a win, the Nittany Lions would face the winner between No. 3 seed Michigan and No. 6 seed Michigan State in the semifinals Friday at 1 p.m.
The Nittany Lions hold a 27-16 all-time record at the Big Ten Tournament, winning it all six times. The six tournament championships are the most of any Big Ten team since Penn State joined the conference in 1991. Most recently, Penn State was tournament champions in 2011 and 2012. The squad also won four consecutive from 1995-1998.
The Nittany Lions have had four Big Ten Tournament MVPs, most recently with Kelsey Amy in 2011 and 2012. Since starting an All-Tournament team in 1997, Penn State has had 42 players receive the honor.
TELEVISION COVERAGE
BTN will provide live television coverage of the quarterfinals, semifinals and final of the Big Ten Field Hockey Tournament at Maryland. Live coverage of the quarterfinal round will begin at 10 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 3, followed by three more games at approximately 12:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. Live coverage of the semifinal round will begin at 1 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 4, with the second game to follow at 4 p.m. live on BTN2Go and delayed on the linear network. The championship game will air live at noon on Sunday, Nov. 6.
INDIANA NOTES
The Hoosiers enter the tournament with a 8-10 record, and a 3-5 mark in the Big Ten. They are the No. 7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
- Goalie Noelle Rother is ranked second for the most saves in the Big Ten with 97 saves and an of average 5.70 saves per game.
- Offensively, Kate Barber leads the team in goals scored (18), points (40), and game-winning goals (4).
- Indiana Has shutout three teams this season: UC Davis (2-0), Missouri State (5-0), No. 12 Michigan (1-0)
- Amanda Janney is in her second year as head coach for Indiana.
SERIES HISTORY
Penn State is 19-4-0 all-time against the Hoosiers. Penn State is 12-2 all-time against Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. The teams last met in the Big Ten tournament in 2015, when Penn State downed Indiana 3-1 in Bloomington, Ind. to advance to the semifinals.
LAST TIME OUT
The Nittany Lions improved to 6-2 in Big Ten Conference play as they defeated the Hoosiers, 3-2, on Oct. 28 in University Park, Pa. Brooke Birosik and Moira Putsch both scored a goal in the first half to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. Returning from the half Birosik netted her second goal of the game. The Nittany Lions were able limit the Hoosiers to two goals to seal the victory.
NFHCA RANKINGS
With a 3-2 win over Indiana to end the regular season the Nittany Lions held onto their No. 6 ranking in the NFHCA rankings. Penn State is 6-2 against ranked teams including wins over No. 20 Old Dominion, No. 5 Virginia, No. 9 UAlbany, No. 16 Iowa, No. 8 Michigan and No. 11 Princeton.
Penn State is currently ranked in the top five in the nation in several key categories including No. 3 in the nation in scoring margin (2.81), and Points per game (12.29), No.4 in assists per game (3.25), and No. 5 in Penalty corners per game (8.38)
YOUTHFUL TEAM
Holding an underclassmen to upperclassmen ratio of 17-10, No. 6 Penn State is one of two teams ranked No. 10 or better in the nation with more underclassmen than upperclassmen
2016 ALL-BIG TEN HONORS
Earning First-Team honors for the second year in-a-row, sophomore Aurelia Meijer was joined by teammates Moira Putsch (First-team) and Skyler Fretz (Second-Team).
REGULAR SEASON NATIONAL COMPETITION
Penn State faced off against eight teams that were ranked in the 2016 NFHCA Poll, including conference-foes Maryland (6), Michigan (8), Northwestern (11), and Iowa 16 (17). Along with the conference opponents, the squad also has matchups against Virginia (5), Albany (9), Princeton (11) and Old Dominion (20). Five of those teams (Albany, Maryland, Michigan, Princeton and Virginia) made the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
TOP OF THE CHARTS
Averaging 1.06 assists per game and 2.94 points per game, Penn State's Moira Putsch is ranked No. 1 and No. 4 in the nation respectively. Fellow Nittany Lion Aurelia Meijer is not too far behind as her .73 assists per game currently ranks No. 5. In the cage, Jenny Rizzo is ranked No .6 in goalie win-loss percentage at .867. Recording five defensive saves this season, Skyler Fretz is ranked No. 8 in the nation and currently tied for the conference lead with Malia Fujisawa of Indiana and Caroline Rath of Ohio State with five defensive saves on the season.
ALL TIME GOALS
Thus far during the 2016 campaign, Penn State has scored 71 goals across 16 games. Dating back to 1964, this would rank them No. 15 in Penn State history in total goals per season
COUNTDOWN TO 500
Currently sitting at 497 career wins over her 33 years of coaching, head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss is just three wins away from the 500 mark for her career.
BACK-TO-BACK
Penn State will be facing Indiana in the first round of the big Ten tournament after just having played them to close out the regular season. This will be the third time that Penn State will face the same opponent back-to-back. The first time this occurred was in 1990 when the Nittany Lions downed Temple 5-2 in the Atlantic 10 tournament (Nov 4), then blanked the Owls in the first round of the NCAA tournament (Nov 11). The most recent time that this occurred was in 2007 when Penn State defeated Ohio State 1-0 at home on Oct 26th to end the regular season, then traveled to Columbus Ohio on Nov 1st and shutout the Buckeyes at home 3-0.
RETURNING BIG TEN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
In 2015 the Penn State defeated Iowa 3-1 in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. Because of their outstanding performances, Brooke Birosik and Gini Bramley were selected to the 2015 Big Ten All-Tournament team. Birosik netted two goals including the game-winning goal, while Bramley was a key member of the Nittany Lions Defense.
FIRST TEAM ALL BIG TEN RETURNER
Aurelia Meijer is the lone First team All-Big Ten returner for the Nittany Lions. In the 2015 season Meijers started all 19 games and scored a total of nine goals. With only 15 games under her belt this year Meijers has already equaled her career high nine goals.
Penn State field hockey is on social media. Follow the program on Facebook (www.facebook.com/PennStateFieldHockey) and Twitter/Instagram @PennStateFH. For all of your Penn State news, visit www.GoPSUsports.com