Oct. 20, 2017
| 4 | 1 |
| Field Hockey Complex | University Park, Pa. | 925 | |
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 6 Penn State closed out the regular season home slate with a 4-1 win over Rutgers that featured a hat trick by Moira Putsch Friday night.
The Scarlet Knights scored their lone goal of the night 14-minutes in as Nikki Santore used an insert from Daphne Groothuis to convert the penalty corner and take a 1-0 lead over the Nittany Lions.
The goal by Rutgers carried to the half as Penn State trailed by one, just as they had last year vs. the Scarlet Knights - the similarities to last years match would continue.
"We have been in this position before with Rutgers," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss.
"This is the third-year in-a-row where we've been down at halftime... I told the girls 'you're playing well, inside the 25 lets make sure we see better passing lanes' we were playing into them it was kind of crowded so I thought we made a great adjustment with that."
Sparked by a talk from Morett-Curtiss, the Nittany Lions came out swinging in the second half.
Bes Bovelander used an insert from Mary Nell Smith to convert the penalty corner to a goal to knot things up at one in the 39th-minute.
Following Bovelander's goal, Moira Putsch took over the game mirroring the performance last year vs. Rutgers by Aurelia Meijer who finished with a hat trick.
Putsch scored her first goal on a fast break down the field that capped with a pass from Katie Dembrowski to Putsch as she dribbled around the goalkeeper to find the cage in the 42nd-minute.
A short one-minute and 22-seconds passed before Putsch returned to the circle this time scoring on a pass from Gini Bramley putting it away from the right side of the cage.
Bramley found Putsch again in the 55th-minute that gave Penn State a three-goal lead that would hold through the 70th-minute to move the Nittany Lions to 13-3 overall and 5-2 in conference play.
"Mo (Moira Putsch) had an amazing game, I thought she was just outstanding(!)," said Morett-Curtiss.
"I thought Shay (Cannon) and so many of the seniors played inspired tonight, they really set the tone," Morett-Curtiss finished.
Penn State will be back in action Sunday, Oct. 22 at 12 p.m. when the Nittany Lions travel to Indiana to close out the 2017 regular season slate against the Hoosiers at 12 p.m.
For more on Nittany Lion Field Hockey, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @PennStateFH, and on Facebook at PennStateFieldHockey.