UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Following a tough loss to Minnesota on penalty kicks in the Big Ten Tournament championship game, No. 14 Penn State will host Bowling Green Friday night at Jeffrey Field in what will kick off the program's 24th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
Despite missing out on the opportunity of winning their third Big Ten Title in four years, the Nittany Lions are not dwelling on their defeat with a full slate of postseason play looming.
"I think the coaches do a good job of just reframing our mindset every time," senior defender Maddie Nolf said about turning the page on their loss Sunday. "That's the same even if we had won. Yesterday is not today so our success and failures of the past doesn't really matter and we just try to grow every day."
With the team not focusing on the past, it's clear throughout the program that there is one common goal – defeat Bowling Green and continue their season.
"We're going to continue to push and focus on today and getting everything out of practice and focusing on Bowling Green," Nolf added.
One point of emphasis for the Nittany Lions to meet their goals and moving forward into postseason play is to improve their finishing. The team had 17 total shots against Minnesota on Sunday, yet still couldn't find the back of the net despite numerous good opportunities.
"Right now, it's about finishing. We're creating all sorts of chances as we've done throughout the course of the season, but just building that confidence back up through repetition," head coach Erica Dambach said about improvements that need to be made.
She continued: "It's just about visualization of us finishing, getting the chances and putting away those chances. Obviously as the games get tighter and more competitive those chances become fewer and far between so we got to make sure we're taking advantage of those that we get."
Bowing Green won the Mid-American Conference in another close match decided by penalty kicks and is most certainly not a team that can be overlooked.
"They are a team that is very well-coached. They have a good goal scorer," Dambach said. "It's a team that I think is very well coached, organized, and will be tough to break down."
One advantage for Penn State is that they return home to Jeffrey Field, a place they've had great success this season going 9-3-0 on the year as the home team.
"To be in front of the home fans on a Friday night in the NCAA Tournament, those are the moments we get excited about as a coaching staff and program," Dambach said. "That's what we work so hard for is the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd."
"It's the absolute best," Nolf said about being able to return home to Jeffrey Field. "Honestly, it's my last time playing on Jeffrey so it's going to be a really fun match to play and it's always big to be at home with the fans and the Park Avenue Army."
The Nittany Lions look to ride their home field advantage and improve their finishing as they play for a chance to advance to the next round of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. The first-ever meeting between these two programs will kick-off at 6 p.m. on Friday evening.