UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Behind a goal from sophomore Kerry Abello (Batavia, Ill.) in the 60th minute, the Penn State women's soccer team tallied a 1-0 win over the Maryland Terrapins Friday night at Jeffrey Field. With the win, Penn State has won four straight matches.
"Beautiful Friday night here at Jeffery Field," head coach Erica Dambach said. "Obviously, every game in the Big Ten right now is tough and we are having to grind out results. We worked hard but balls were dropping - kind of the same story - balls were dropping and we're not finishing opportunities. We kept going at it and got a clean sheet against a team that has a lot of offensive force, so I'm proud of the group."
After a scoreless first half of play, the two teams went into halftime with Penn State (10-5-0, 6-2-0 Big Ten) holding an 11-3 shot advantage over Maryland (4-8-4, 2-5-1 Big Ten).
The Nittany Lions finally got a ball past Maryland goalkeeper Rachel Egyed in the 60th minute on Abello's fifth goal of the 2018 campaign. On the goal, Emily Ogle (Strongsville, Ohio) found Abello inside the box and then Abello placed the ball past Egyed and into the bottom-left corner of the net.
Following the Abello goal, the Maryland offense recorded a pair of shot attempts, but those both went wide of the goal.
In net for the Nittany Lions, Amanda Dennis (San Diego, Calif.) did not have to make a save on the evening en route to her third solo shutout of the season.
Penn State closes out the weekend homestand with No. 21 Rutgers on Sunday, Oct. 14. The match is slated for a 3 p.m. start at Jeffrey Field live on the Big Ten Network.
NOTES: Penn State leads the all-time series against Maryland, 12-4-0…Penn State outshot Maryland, 17-6…Ogle started her 90th career match…Ogle now ranks seventh all-time in minutes played at Penn State with 7,365...Ogle also moved into a tie for 16th all-time in assists at Penn State with 21 (Maya Hayes – 2010-13)…Penn State is now 199-31-16 in Big Ten regular season contests…Penn State improves to 109-7-6 in Big Ten regular season contests at Jeffrey Field…The Nittany Lions have recorded seven shutouts in 2018.