Oct. 28, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 11 Penn State women's soccer team (10-4-3, 6-2-3 B1G) heads to Piscataway, N.J., to take on the No. 25 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (12-2-4, 6-2-3 B1G) for a Big Ten Quarterfinal contest. The match between the fifth-seeded Nittany Lions and the fourth-seeded Scarlet Knights is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start at Yurcak Field on Sunday, Oct. 29.
FOLLOW ALONG
The match will be streamed on BTN2Go.com, but fans must have a BTN Plus account to access the stream. Live stats will be available on GoPSUsports.com.
LOOKING at RUTGERS
No. 25 Rutgers closed out the 2017 regular season with a 1-0 victory over Michigan at home on Wednesday, Oct. 25. After playing to a 0-0 draw against then-No. 13 Penn State on Oct. 12, Rutgers has won three-straight 1-0 contests.
Overall, Rutgers is 12-2-4 on the year and finished the Big Ten season with a record of 6-2-3. With Rutgers' 1-0 win over Ohio State on Oct. 15, the Scarlet Knights earned the tiebreaker over the Nittany Lions for the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Offensively, Colby Ciarrocca leads the team in goals (six) and points (15), while Amirah Ali is second on the team in goals (five) and points (14). Kenie Wright's five assists in 2017 currently lead the team.
In net, Casey Murphy has continued her stellar play this season, as she has tallied a record of 12-2-4, captured 14 shutouts, has posted a goals-against average of 0.26, made 58 saves, and has allowed only five goals.
SERIES HISTORY VS. RUTGERS
Sunday's matchup marks the 19th meeting between the two programs with Penn State leading the all-time series, 9-6-3.
The two teams met just a few weeks ago as Penn State and Rutgers played to a 0-0 draw in Piscataway, N.J., on Oct. 12.
LAST TIME OUT
Penn State concluded its 2017 regular season with a 1-0 loss at Wisconsin on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
In the match, Wisconsin netted the lone of the night in the 52nd minute of action.
In net, Rose Chandler finished the evening with four saves, while Caitlyn Clem tallied a four-save outing.
WEEKLY HONORS
Following her first career two-goal game in a 3-1 victory against No. 8 BYU, junior Marissa Sheva was named the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week on Aug. 22. Her Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week honor was the first of her career.
A week later, Sheva netted her second two-goal game of the season in a 4-2 win at Arkansas.
For her two-goal outing at Arkansas, Sheva was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week.
After a pair of victories over Michigan and Michigan State, a pair of Nittany Lions brought home weekly honors.
Brittany Basinger was named to the TopDrawerSoccer Team of the Week for netting one goal and adding one assist on the weekend, while Megan Schafer was named the Big Ten Co-Offensive Player of the Week for scoring four goals in two games.
ALL-B1G HONORS
For Penn State, four Nittany Lions were tabbed with All-Big Ten honors, as Emily Ogle was named to the First Team, Kaleigh Riehl and Megan Schafer received Second Team plaudits, and Charlotte Williams was named to the Third Team.
Along the PSU quartet that garnered All-Big Ten Team honors, Frankie Tagliaferri was named to the All-Freshman Team and Laura Suero received the Sportsmanship Award for Penn State.
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The 2017 Big Ten Tournament marks Penn State's 22nd appearance.
In all, Penn State sports an all-time record of 29-11-4 in Big Ten Tournament matches and has won six tournament titles (1998, 2000-01, '06, '08, and '15).
THE POLLS
In the most recent polls, Penn State sits at No. 8 (Soccer America), No. 10 (TopDrawerSoccer), and No. 11 (United Soccer Coaches). The Nittany Lions are also No. 11 in the NCAA RPI.
CLIMBING THE CHARTS
Seniors Frannie Crouse and Megan Schafer have ascended the Penn State all-time charts during their Nittany Lion careers.
Crouse ranks 12th in points (86), 11th in goals (35), 10th in game-winning goals (13), is sixth in shots on goal (104), is 11th in shots attempted (219), and T-26th in assists (16).
Schafer ranks 16th in points (77), T-15th in goals (30), T-14th in game-winning goals (11), is 21st in shots attempted (143), is T-14th in shots on goal (64), and is T-24th in assists (17).
Along with Crouse and Schafer, a quartet of Nittany Lions have also etched their names into the PSU record books.
Haleigh Echard has netted 46 shots on goal during her career, which ranks 20th.
Salina Williford has tallied 45 shots on goal during her career, which ranks 21st.
Emily Ogle's 14 goals rank 23rd all-time, while her four penalty kicks made are third-most in program history.
Junior Charlotte Williams is tied for 24th in assists (17), is 12th in shots on goal (67), and is 22nd in shots attempted (139).
COMING UP CLUTCH
Seniors Frannie Crouse and Megan Schafer have combined for 24 career game-winning goals.
Crouse's 13 game-winning goals rank 10th all-time at PSU, while Schafer's 11 game-winning goals are tied for 14th.
PROLIFIC ATTACK
Since the start of the 2011 season, the Penn State women's soccer team has scored the second-most goals in the country (390). UVa leads the nation in goals scored during that stretch (444). (Stats courtesy of UVa Sports Info.)
LATE-GAME HEROICS
On Sept. 17, Laura Freigang captured a 1-0 victory for the Nittany Lions in a double overtime thriller over Illinois.
Freigang's goal with 42 seconds left in the second overtime session marked the latest goal in a game for Penn State since Nov. 7, 2010, when Ali Schaefer scored a goal with 17 seconds left in double overtime to lift the Nittany Lions to a 1-0 victory over Michigan.
Almost a month later, Freigang netted her second game-winning goal of the season, again in overtime, on Oct. 15.
Against the Maryland Terrapins, Freigang captured a 1-0 victory for Penn State with her goal at 94:02.
Following Penn State's match at Maryland, Freigang scored her third goal of the season at 86:14 to force a 2-2 draw against Purdue on Oct. 20. Freigang has scored all three of her goals of the season after the 85th minute of play.
UP NEXT
The winner of Penn State-Rutgers will play the winner of Iowa-Ohio State in the semifinal round on Friday, Nov. 3, at 1 p.m.
The semifinals and championship match will be played at Grand Park in Westfield, Ind., with both semifinals and the title contest televised by BTN (the second semifinal and championship will be broadcast live, while the first semifinal will be televised live on BTN2Go and can be seen on BTN on a tape-delayed basis at 9:30 p.m. (ET) Nov. 3).