UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's soccer head coach Erica Dambach announced the program's captains for the upcoming 2023 season on Friday afternoon. Graduate goalkeeper Katherine Asman, redshirt senior midfielder Cori Dyke and redshirt senior midfielder Kate Wiesner will serve as the team's captains next fall.
"We are so excited to announce our captains for the 2023 season," Dambach said. "I feel like they have each stepped up into the role they were always meant for, and we all feel great about the direction that they will take this team. Each of them has been on an incredible journey here, and they have made us proud in so many ways. It has been such an honor to watch their growth as players, as people and as leaders. I can't wait to see where they can take us this year."
One of the elite shot-stoppers in the Big Ten, Asman returns for her graduate campaign in the Blue & White after accumulating over 5,600 minutes between the posts over the past four seasons. Asman, a native of Roswell, Georgia, returns to Happy Valley following a 2022 effort that saw her garner Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Week laurels on two occasions in addition to recognition as an All-Big Ten Tournament Team member and Defensive Player of the Tournament. Asman amassed a career-best 84 saves last season and finished with a save percentage of .792 in goal.
A native of Littleton, Colorado, Dyke prepares for her fifth season in Happy Valley playing primarily in the midfield for the Nittany Lions. One of the longest-tenured and most experienced veterans on the PSU roster, Dyke has appeared and started in 85 games across her four years in Blue & White. A vocal leader on the field and off, Dyke returns to the pitch following a 2022 season that saw her notch a career-best four goals in addition to one assist, placing her as the sixth-highest scorer at Penn State a year ago. Dyke has played a striking 7,155 minutes for the Nittany Lions since her inaugural season in Central Pennsylvania.
Wiesner, a native of Monrovia, California, enters her fifth season with the Nittany Lions coming off the most productive year of her collegiate career. The rising-redshirt senior dished out a team-best 11 assists in the 2022 campaign, including assists on three of PSU's four goals in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against border-rival West Virginia on Jeffrey Field. Wiesner has appeared in 50 games at Penn State in her career, making 39 total starts across her four years in Happy Valley. She has logged four goals in the Blue & White, including two last season, in addition to 13 career assists while playing just under 3,000 minutes at PSU.
Penn State is fresh off a 2022 campaign that saw the Nittany Lions claim their ninth Big Ten Tournament title and reach the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 for the 18th time in program history. PSU added four wins over teams that were nationally ranked at the time of kickoff according to the United Soccer Coaches, including No. 4 Rutgers, No. 6 Michigan State, No. 12 Northwestern and No. 21 West Virginia. In the team's second meeting of the season against the Mountaineers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, the Nittany Lions secured the 500th victory in the program's storied history to notch their sixth-straight Sweet 16 berth.
Following the conclusion of its spring practice season last week, Penn State women's soccer enters the offseason and summer months. The Nittany Lions will be back in action and will celebrate the 30th season of Nittany Lion women's soccer throughout the 2023 campaign. The team returns to Jeffrey Field for fall scrimmages and the resumption of regular season competition in August.
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