WESTFIELD, Ind. - The No. 15, and top-seeded, Penn State women's soccer team (15-5-1) fell to the seventh-seeded Minnesota Golden Gophers (11-8-2) in penalty kicks, 5-4, after playing to a 0-0 draw in the 2018 Big Ten Tournament title match Sunday at Grand Park.
"I thought it was a hard-fought battle," head coach Erica Dambach said. "I thought Minnesota did a good job, they had a good game plan and keeping us off the board. I thought we did a really nice job defensively on April Bockin who is a great goal-scorer. We had our chances and we weren't able to capitalize and obviously that is the name of the game."
Over the first 45 minutes of play, the Nittany Lions recorded seven shot attempts, but weren't able to score as Minnesota goalkeeper Maddie Nielsen made three saves. For Minnesota in the opening half of regulation, its offense tallied three shot attempts, but none were on goal.
Following halftime, the Golden Gophers posted nine shot attempts and forced Amanda Dennis to step up and make six saves during the final 45 minutes of regulation. In all, Dennis recorded a career-high eight saves.
After neither team tallied the go-ahead goal in regulation or the game-winner in either 10-minute overtime period, the 2018 Big Ten Tournament title would be decided on penalty kicks.
After April Bockin and Emily Ogle both converted their attempts in the first round, Emily Heslin and Marissa Sheva were up next in round two. Both attempts in round two were missed leaving the score tied at 1-1. Haley Hartkemeyer then connected on her attempt and Shea Moyer was unable to convert giving Minnesota a 2-1 advantage after three rounds. After Haley Mennes missed for Minnesota, Maddie Nolf tied things up at 2-2 after four rounds.
With round five (Emily Peterson & Kaleigh Riehl), and round six (TJ McKendrick & Kim Dubs) seeing everyone convert, penalty kicks were tied at 4-4. In round seven, Makenzie Langdok made her attempt and then Nielsen stopped Frankie Tagliaferri to secure the penalty kick victory for the Golden Gophers.
Following the match, Dennis and Ellie Jean were named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
The 2018 NCAA Tournament bracket will be announced on Monday, Nov. 5, at 4:30 p.m. on NCAA.com.
NOTES: Penn State leads the all-time series against Minnesota, 22-5-2…Penn State outshot Minnesota, 17-14…The Nittany Lions recorded their 12th shutout of the season, which includes four straight…Penn State is 9-0-1 in its last 10 matches…Ogle started her 96th career match…Penn State played in its third Big Ten Tournament title match in the past four seasons (2-0-1)...Sunday's match marked the first time the Big Ten Tournament title was decided on penalty kicks...Dennis recorded her eighth solo shutout of the season.