Gini Bramley was one of 11 seniors honored yesterday prior to Penn State's 4-0 victory against Indiana on Senior Night at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.
Bramley and her senior teammates were recognized with a video, which played on the scoreboard and highlighted each member of the senior class, before walking out onto the field with their families, holding a flower, where they were greeted with hugs from the coaching staff and applause from their younger teammates.
The midfielder, who has been a starter since her freshman season, not only had her parents in attendance for senior night but her sister and grandmother also came out to support her.
"It means the world," Bramley said of her family's support. "My family is the one that supported me for my whole life and it's a dream to come to Penn State and they've really supported me for my whole dream and coming here. It just makes me really happy that they're here and they can come."
Following the opening goal by Penn State sophomore forward Alexis Horst, who wore jersey No. 9 instead of No. 3 to honor injured senior defender Lauren McNally, Bramley attempted her first shot of the game, which was saved with a kick by Indiana sophomore goalkeeper Sachi Ananias.
Bramely would attempt her second shot of the game about nine minutes later but it was also saved with a kick by Ananias.
Penn State entered halftime leading 3-0 against Indiana but Penn State head coach Char Morett-Curtiss urged Bramley and her teammates to be focused when attacking Indiana's defense.
"I felt that we just needed to be a little bit more focused as we entered the circle and then just try to create more of a shot once we got in the circle," Morett-Curtiss said following the game. "We didn't get the shots and corners the way I would've liked us too."
Less than two minutes into the second half, Bramley looked to execute Morett-Curtiss' halftime plan but her shot was saved by Indiana redshirt freshman goalkeeper Shelby Querry, who replaced Ananias in-goal to start the second half.
Penn State and Indiana both had chances to score throughout the second half but it was not until Penn State earned a penalty corner with less than six minutes left in the game that it sealed the game.
After senior forward Moira Putsch passed the corner into Bramley, she found freshman defender Anna Simon who quickly passed it to senior midfielder Aurelia Meijer who hit a hard shot at Indiana's net for the goal.
"Having Aurelia score that corner, when she hasn't scored on a corner in a while, we're really happy about that and really happy that we got those corners and got those outcomes in the circle," Bramley said. "We wanted to be cleaner in the circle and I think that we did that in the second half but I think we just need to keep it up and keep going with that."
