MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Behind Kristin Schnurr's eighth goal of the season, the No. 14 Penn State women's soccer team defeated the No. 18, and third-seeded, South Carolina Gamecocks, 1-0, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
"I thought our team put in a solid 90 minutes, real strong performance against a very good South Carolina team," head coach Erica Dambach said. "I was extremely impressed with the play of their goalkeeper, she made some big saves for them. Just their overall style, I thought it was a really good soccer game. It was good to see two teams that want to keep the ball and play good soccer. I thought Grace Fisk was phenomenal on the back line and did a really nice job for them. I thought our group did a good job of implementing our game plan against a good South Carolina team."
Heading into Friday's match, South Carolina (14-6-1) was averaging 13.2 shots per game, but the Nittany Lion (17-5-1) defense kept the Gamecock offense in check by allowing just five shot attempts in the match.
Despite not finding the back of the net in the match, Kerry Abello paced the Nittany Lion offense with a career-high eight shot attempts.
With the score still 0-0 after the first 30 minutes of action, Penn State was able to find the back of the net on a goal from Schnurr in the 31st minute. On the goal, a shot from Kaleigh Riehl was blocked inside the box and then Schnurr was able to put home the loose ball for the 1-0 tally.
Heading into halftime, Penn State outshot South Carolina, 11-2, and led 1-0 on the scoreboard.
The second half of play was more of the same for the two teams. Penn State continued its offensive pressure with 13 shot attempts and held South Carolina to three shot attempts.
Looking to extend Penn State's lead to 2-0 in the 62nd minute, Abello fired a shot on goal from distance, but Mikayla Krzeczowski made a diving save to her left to keep the score at 1-0.
In net for the Nittany Lions, junior Amanda Dennis recorded both of her saves within the first 20 minutes of play. Dennis made her first save of the match in the ninth minute and then picked up her second save in the 19th minute. Both saves were on Luciana Zullo.
The No. 14 Nittany Lions will now play Wake Forest (9-8-2) in the third round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, Nov. 18, at 3 p.m. at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
NOTES: Penn State won the inaugural meeting against South Carolina…Penn State outshot South Carolina, 24-5…Emily Ogle started/played in her 98th career game…Penn State recorded its 13th shutout of the season, which is tied for fifth all-time in school history (2017)...Penn State improves to 9-5 in one-goal games this season…The Nittany Lions are now 52-21-2 all-time in the NCAA Tournament…Penn State is 11-0-1 in its last 12 games...The Nittany Lions are 14-0-0 when scoring first this season...Penn State is 15-6-0 all-time in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.