PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Penn State women's soccer team (0-1-0, 0-1-0) fell in its opening contest of the 2021 spring season to the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (1-0-0, 1-0-0) 3-2 on Friday afternoon. A goal in the 87th minute by Amirah Ali gave Rutgers the final edge in Friday's match.
The Nittany Lions got out to a fantastic start as redshirt senior Kristin Schnurr scored 73 seconds into the match to give Penn State the early 1-0 lead. The goal from Schnurr was her first goal since 11/16/2018 when she scored the game-winning goal against South Carolina in the NCAA tournament to advance the Nittany Lions to the Sweet 16. Schnurr was sidelined due to injury and missed the 2019 season.
Penn State continued to apply the pressure tallying four more shots in the first half and limiting Rutgers to just two shots on goal in the game's first 45 minutes of action.
The Scarlet Knights looked to tie the match early in the second half, registering a pair of shots in the first 15 minutes of the second half but were unable to tie the game.
Rutgers tied the match in the 62nd minute on a goal by Samantha Kroeger. The Nittany Lions looked to immediately retake the lead as Frankie Tagliaferri sent a shot on net but was denied by the Rutgers keeper.
The Nittany Lions leading scorer in 2019, Ally Schlegel, netted her first goal of the 2021 spring season in the 73rd minute to give Penn State the 2-1 lead. Schlegel tied for the conference lead with 13 goals in 2019.
A goal by Amirah Ali of Rutgers two minutes later tied the match at 2-2.
With less than seven minutes remain in the game, Payton Linnehan narrowly missed retaking the lead for the Nittany Lions. Linnehan's shot clanged off the crossbar. Schlegel followed less than two minutes later with another shot in an attempt to give PSU the lead. Schlegel's shot led to a PSU corner kick but the Nittany Lions could not retake the lead.
In the 87th minute Ali scored her second goal to give Rutgers the final goal of the game and the 3-2 win on Friday afternoon.
Penn State returns to action on Thursday, February 25 at Northwestern.