LOS ANGELES, Ca. — The Penn State women's soccer program upset No. 11 Southern California in the NCAA Second Round on Friday behind a 5-3 penalty kick shootout.
The Nittany Lions and the Trojans were locked 2-2 after regulation, the first time Penn State drew all season, and remained that way through two overtime periods.
The match was decided on penalty kicks with Penn State advancing to the Sweet-16 after making all 5 penalty kicks to USC's 3.
Penn State will now play South Carolina at 3 pm EST/12 pm PST on Sunday, November 21 at USC's Soni McAlister Field.
How it Happened
Ally Schlegel got the match started off right, scoring the first goal on a cross from Kerry Abello in the 21stminute.
Penn State's defense prevented USC from making a shot until the 32nd minute, and the Trojans did not get their first shot on target until the 43rd minute where it was then saved by Katherine Asman.
The Nittany Lions headed into the half with a 1-0 lead, but USC's Penelope Hocking made the equalizer nearly three minutes into the second.
Then in the 57th minute, Sam Coffey headed the ball up field to Schlegel who broke away to score her second goal of the match and tenth of the season making it a 2-1 game.
PSU successfully defended four more USC tries with the match coming down to the wire. But in the 86thminute, USC made a clutch goal as Croix Bethune delivered the ball to Simone Jackson to tie the match again, 2-2.
Time expired sending the match into overtime with USC squeezing off two shots with nothing doing in first OT period. The second OT period saw three more shot attempts by USC, two of which were saved by Asman and the other went high.
For the first time since Nov. 11, 2018 in the Big Ten Tournament vs Minnesota, the Nittany Lions entered a penalty kick shootout.
All five of Penn State's penalty kicks were successful with Sam Coffey, Jordan Canniff, Maud Asbroek, Cori Dyke and Ally Schlegel all finding the back of the net.
Conversely, Asman saved USC's first penalty kick, and the Trojans made their next three, but it would not be enough as Schlegel's successful shot would be the deciding factor to send Penn State to its fifth Sweet-16 in a row.
Additional Notes
The last time Penn State won a penalty kick shootout was on Oct. 29, 2017 at No. 25 Rutgers in the Big Ten Quarterfinals when the Nittany Lions were ranked No. 11.
Ally Schlegel 34 goals in her Penn State career.
Sam Coffey started her 100th career NCAA match.
Katherine Asman's 11 saves is a career high. She bested her previous high of 8 saves that she set on May 5, 2021 vs No. 1 Florida State in the NCAA Tournament.
Penn State is 58-24-3 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, advancing to at least the third round of the tournament each of the last five seasons and has made it to the Sweet-16 in 7 out of the last 8 seasons.
The Penn State women's soccer season is presented by the Smeal College of Business.
