UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – In front of 2,899 fans at Jeffrey Field, and live on ESPNU, the No. 2 UCLA Bruins outlasted the No. 3 Penn State women's soccer team, 2-1, Saturday afternoon. Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio) netted her second goal of the season in the loss.
"First off, awesome Saturday afternoon here at Jeffrey Field, great crowd and great top-five matchup," head coach Erica Dambach said. "I think this is why players come to play at Penn State, it gives them an opportunity to play against the best. UCLA showed us what we need to work on going forward. It's August and there were a lot of mistakes made, but there were some good things as well that I was really proud of."
After the two teams went back-and-forth early in the match, Ashley Sanchez put the Bruins (2-0-0) in front of Nittany Lions (2-1-0), 1-0, with a goal from distance in the 29th minute of play.
The deficit wouldn't last long for the Blue & White, as the Nittany Lions knotted things up at 1-1 after Ogle connected on a penalty kick in the 30th minute. The two teams went into halftime with the score at 1-1 with UCLA outshooting Penn State, 9-4, with the first 45 minutes in the books.
The match stayed tied at 1-1 until the 70th minute when Delanie Sheehan went to cross the ball into the box, but ultimately the ball crossed the goal line. After a video review to confirm the call on the field, UCLA went back in front of Penn State, 2-1.
Looking to even the match at 2-2, Shea Moyer (Wyomissing, Pa.) tallied a shot on goal at 79:48 and Ogle recorded a shot on goal at 80:13, but Teagan Micah was there to make a pair of saves to secure the 2-1 victory for the Bruins.
Both Micah and Amanda Dennis (San Diego, Calif.) recorded five saves apiece for their respective teams.
The No. 3 Nittany Lions hit the road for a pair of matches next week. Penn State heads to James Madison on Thursday, Aug. 30, and visits Wake Forest on Sunday, Sept. 2.
NOTES: The all-time series is tied at 3-3-0…UCLA has won the last two matches in the series…UCLA outshot Penn State, 13-9...Penn State's 12-match unbeaten streak at Jeffrey Field was snapped on Saturday…Ogle recorded her 16th career goal…Ogle has scored in back-to-back matches.