UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's soccer head coach Erica Dambach named a quartet of Nittany Lions as captains ahead of the 2024 season on Tuesday afternoon, with senior midfielder Olivia Damico, graduate midfielder Rowan Lapi, graduate midfielder Devon Olive and senior defender Mieke Schiemann earning those honors.
"I am thrilled to announce that Liv, Rowan, Devon and Mieke will serve as our team captains for the 2024 season," Dambach said. "Each of them brings a different perspective to the game, and all four of them have unique leadership styles that I believe make them excellent choices to lead our program on and off the field this season. All four of our captains will play a huge role in continuing the tradition of our program, while consistently maintaining our program's pillars of success."
Damico, a native of Victor, New York, returns to Happy Valley for her fifth and final season in the Blue & White coming off a productive 2023 season that saw her set career highs in matches played, goals scored, total assists, total points and total shot attempts. Damico owns 47 career appearances for Penn State and has started in 10 matches during her Nittany Lion playing career. Her four career goals and three assists amount to a career scoring total of 11 points in just under 1,500 minutes of playing time on the pitch. Damico has been an instrumental voice on and off the field for PSU, adding three straight seasons of Academic All-Big Ten and Big Ten Distinguished Scholar nominations to her on-field statistics.
Fresh off her first season in University Park in 2023, Lapi returns for her graduate year and final collegiate season of work in the Blue & White. A vocal leader for the team on and off the pitch, Lapi brings Second Team All-Big Ten experience from her stint at Northwestern to the Nittany Lion roster. She played in 22 matches last season for PSU, logging 579 minutes of playing time while earning one start against the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2023 season opener. Lapi boasts 23 career points overall split between nine goals and five total assists and has played a key role in leading both Northwestern and Penn State to deep tournament runs in the national postseason.
One of Penn State's longest-tenured players on the 2024 roster, Olive returns for her sixth and final season in Happy Valley following a medical redshirt year a season ago. A native of Brooklyn, New York, Olive has appeared in 72 matches throughout her Penn State career while making 13 starts. Olive owns four points split between a goal and two assists in her four on-field seasons with the Blue & White, amassing 2,412 minutes of playing time in the process. The veteran Nittany Lion midfielder has played an instrumental role in five straight Sweet 16 appearances, two Big Ten Tournament championships, a B1G regular season crown as well as one NCAA Quarterfinal bid.
A dominant defensive presence in the center back position, as well as a crucial target on set pieces offensively, Schiemann returns to Happy Valley for her fourth collegiate season fresh off a 2023 campaign which saw her record career bests in goals scored, shots, shots on goal and match-winning goals. The Berlin, Germany, native has appeared in 63 matches for the Nittany Lions dating to her debut campaign in the fall of 2021, making 62 starts in the process. Schiemann was one of just four student-athletes to start all 23 matches in Penn State's 2023 run to the NCAA Quarterfinals, joining current NWSL players Cori Dyke and Katherine Asman, as well as rising-junior midfielder Olivia Borgen.
Penn State completed its deepest postseason run in five years last season, advancing to the National Quarterfinals in the 2023 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship while rattling off an impressive 16-3-4 overall record. The Nittany Lions booked a myriad of accomplishments in 2023, including extending the nation's second-longest NCAA Tournament appearance streak following the program's 29th selection in November. PSU completed last season as a unanimous top 10 team in the nation and saw a program-record five student-athletes selected in the 2024 NWSL Draft this January, with 18 program alumnae finding their way onto nine different team rosters this season. Penn State kicks off its 31st varsity season as well as the 18th year of the Erica Dambach era on Thursday, August 15 at Jeffrey Field against the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
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