Sept. 2, 2017
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - The No. 4 Penn State women's soccer team fell to the No. 6 West Virginia Mountaineers, 2-1, in a non-conference contest Saturday night at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium. With the loss, Penn State falls to 3-1-0 on the year, while West Virginia improves to 3-1-0.
West Virginia struck first in the match on Sh'Nia Gordon's first goal of the season at 16:37. From close-range, Gordon connected on a pass from Hannah Abraham and placed the ball under the crossbar for the WVU strike.
During the 37th minute, Lauren Segalla added to the Mountaineer lead with her first goal of 2017. From just inside the 18-yard box, Segalla fired a shot into the left side of the net to give WVU a 2-0 lead.
The first 45 minutes of play featured West Virginia outshooting Penn State, 7-3. Penn State responded during the second half by outshooting WVU, 9-5.
The Nittany Lions got on the scoreboard during the 77th minute on a penalty kick. After Laura Freigang (Oppenheim, Germany) was fouled in the penalty area, Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio) stepped up and put home the penalty kick for her second goal of the season to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Blue & White continued to press down the final 13 minutes of regulation, but weren't able to get past the stingy WVU defense.
Following the Ogle goal, Freigang tallied a pair of shot attempts in the 83rd minute. Her first attempt was blocked by the WVU defense and the second one went wide of the net.
Looking to extend the lead to 3-1 during the 85th minute, Segalla fired a shot on goal, but defender Ellie Jean (Coventry, Conn.) made a key save to keep the game at 2-1 in favor of WVU.
Nittany Lion goalkeeper Rose Chandler (Atlanta, Ga.) made three saves on the night, while Rylee Foster made one save for WVU.
Penn State returns home to Jeffrey Field to host No. 9 North Carolina for the first time in program history on Sept. 7. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start live on the Big Ten Network.
NOTES: The series between PSU and WVU is now tied, 7-7-2…Shots were tied 12 apiece…Emily Ogle connected on her second penalty kick of the season…Ogle is now 3-for-3 on penalty kicks as a Nittany Lion, two of which have come against WVU…Ogle has tallied at least one point in three-straight matches.