The fifth-ranked Penn State field hockey team lost Tuesday against No. 6 Princeton, 2-1 in 2OT, at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.
Penn State entered the game undefeated and had not allowed a goal in their first two contests of the season. However, less than a minute into the game, Princeton struck first and scored an early goal. Senior striker Sophia Tornetta scored the goal for Princeton after Penn State's defense broke down in front of goal.
Penn State struggled to play with composure early on in the game, which allowed Princeton to take the early lead.
"I felt that we just didn't play with enough composure when we started the game and then we just didn't make good decisions to support the ball," Penn State head coach Char Morett-Curtiss said following the game.
Penn State earned two penalty corners after allowing the early goal but were unable to convert on either opportunity. Senior forward Moira Putsch, who made her season debut Aug. 31 against Temple, attempted both penalty corners for Penn State but was unable to cleanly pass the ball to her teammates standing outside of the shooting circle.
"That's just something you got to be focused (on) and follow through (on)," said Morett-Curtiss of the missed chances.
Princeton kept the pressure on Penn State's defense, maintaining possession on their half of the field and firing off shots from the shooting circle. Penn State senior goalkeeper Jenny Rizzo was up to the challenge, saving five shots in the first half to keep Penn State in the game.
After not having any shots on goal before halftime, Penn State came out in the second half looking to attack. After successfully defending two Princeton penalty corners, Penn State senior defender Cori Conley regained possession of the ball and found junior midfielder Madison Morano, who kept the ball near Princeton's net, in the circle. Morano lost possession of the ball in the circle but Putsch, last year's leading scorer, was there to put it away for the score.
With the score tied, 1-1, Penn State continued to pressure Princeton and play at a higher tempo. While Penn State played at a faster pace, Princeton found a way to earn 10 penalty corners in the final 24 minutes of regulation. Despite the number of corners Princeton earned, Penn State's defense and Rizzo did not budge, stopping each of Princeton's corner attempts and forcing overtime.
"I thought Cori (Conley) played really well and Jenny (Rizzo) had a great game," Morett-Curtiss said. "I honestly thought the defense did a nice job. The corner defense was really outstanding when you look at that."
In the first overtime period, which lasted 10 minutes and was played 7v7, neither team took a shot on goal, which forced double overtime.
Penn State had possession of the ball to start the second overtime period but turned it over. Princeton capitalized off the turnover, taking the ball down the field, where senior defender Annabeth Donovan scored the game-winning goal against Rizzo.
Morett-Curtiss made it clear after the game that keeping possession and limiting turnovers in overtime determines who wins.
"We really talked about taking care of the ball and possession in overtime," Morett-Curtiss said. "You can't turn the ball over in overtime. You can't be that careless or you're going to pay for it."
In addition to maintaining possession and minimizing turnovers in overtime, Penn State also needs to work on their overall awareness on the field according to Morett-Curtiss.
"There's so much we have to learn," Morett-Curtiss said. "We have to learn to have awareness around the ball, have awareness of what's going on in the field and where our teammates are moving. We don't move well off each other, we still really need to work on that."