UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Highlighted by a marquee performance from freshman forward Aubrey Kulpa that included her first collegiate brace, the No. 3 Penn State women’s soccer team battled for a solid 5-0 win over the West Chester Golden Rams Sunday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.
Following Sunday afternoon’s showing at home, the Nittany Lions improve to 2-1-0 overall with all three results coming at home on Jeffrey Field. PSU climbs to 2-0 overall in the all-time series with the Golden Rams dating back to the first meeting last year on Jeffrey Field that the Blue & White took by an 8-0 margin. West Chester awaits the start of its 2024 campaign on Thursday, September 5, with a 6 p.m. (ET) road fixture scheduled against Division II rival Holy Family University in Philadelphia. Sunday’s contest against the Nittany Lions does not count toward WCU’s overall season record.
The Nittany Lions were dominant in every facet of the competition, with PSU racking up a historic 42-0 differential in shot attempts. Penn State held its opponent without a single shot attempt in a match for just the second time in program history, with the Blue & White last accomplishing that feat on October 20, 2000. Penn State also recorded their second-most shots in a single match in school history, falling just behind last year’s 45-shot effort against the Golden Rams. PSU mustered 16 shots on goal in the contest, also winning the corner kick battle by a 5-0 margin.
On an individual basis, Kulpa stood out as an impressive contributor on the offensive end of the pitch, mustering her first collegiate brace with goals coming just moments before and after the halftime intermission. Kulpa, a native of Cromwell, Connecticut, stands on three goals through her first three collegiate matches, adding her first collegiate start to her impressive young resume in addition to a career-high-tying four shot effort. Elsewhere in the lineup, redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean extended her goal-scoring streak to six consecutive matches, finding the back of the net for the opening score of the contest in the 11th minute. MacBean owns a trio of scores and six total points through the first three matches of the season, adding three shots in the affair.
Graduate midfielder Rowan Lapi contributed her second goal of the 2024 season as well as her second score since transferring to PSU, converting on a first half penalty kick won by a MacBean sprint into the box. Graduate forward Elle Kershner found the back of the net for her first score of the year on a penalty conversion late in the second half, marking her second PK goal since arriving in Happy Valley as well as her sixth goal overall. Three different Nittany Lions finished for the match-high in shot attempts, with junior forward Amelia White, redshirt junior midfielder Julia Raich and graduate midfielder Natalie Wilson each recording six attempts apiece.
In total 14 of the 17 Nittany Lions that saw field position playing time attempted at least one shot attempt. The Blue & White also managed four assists in Sunday’s test, with senior midfielder Jordan Fusco finding MacBean in the first half, followed by a double assist on Kulpa’s goal from redshirt junior midfielder Riley Gleason and Wilson. The Fairfax, Virginia, native Wilson tacked on her second assist of the match on the second-half score from Kulpa, marking the first multi-assist outing of her collegiate career.
In net for the Nittany Lions, redshirt junior goalkeeper Amanda Poorbaugh secured the first complete-match shutout of her collegiate career, as well as the first victorious decision of her career in a Nittany Lion uniform. Poorbaugh, a native of Westerville, Ohio, played all 90 minutes and helped orchestrate the first PSU back line to hold an opponent without a shot attempt since the turn of the millenium. For the Golden Rams, a pair of keepers split the 90-minute effort, with veteran starter Grace Keen seeing 79 minutes of action with 10 saves, while Samantha Hollish entered for the final 11 ticks and recorded one stop.
After the first 10 minutes of competition, both teams had managed to feel each other out, with PSU establishing control through the early going. As the clock rolled into the 11th, Fusco collected the ball on her left boot around 10 yards outside the attacking third, delivering a masterful feed through the back line of WCU defenders for a perfectly timed MacBean run. The veteran striker found herself in a one-on-one with the Golden Ram shot-stopper, ultimately sneaking a right-booted finish into the lower left corner of the goal from around 11 yards out. PSU would hold on to their slim one-goal margin for the next 16 minutes before the Blue & White won a penalty in the 27th.
A blazing run from MacBean into the box left the Golden Rams in disarray defensively, with a West Chester defender forced to commit a foul on her toward the right edge of the penalty area. Lapi was called on to convert her second penalty of the year, finding the bottom central portion of the goal. With both teams looking ahead to the halftime intermission, Kulpa had other plans as the rookie found the back of the net moments before the break. Gleason maintained possession of the ball around the central portion of the field around 45 yards away from the goal mouth. She delivered a quick ball toward the left side of the 18-yard box, where Wilson chipped a one-touch pass centrally toward a running Kulpa. The freshman outpaced the defender on her left flank and delivered the ball just past the keeper’s outstretched glove into the lefthand side of the net.
Out of the intermission, Kulpa managed to tally once more in the 46th minute. A shot from Wilson moments into the start of the second half set the table for the fourth goal of the contest, with Wilson’s attempt being punched slightly back into the goal box by the WCU keeper. In response, Kulpa followed through with the rebound goal on a right-footed shot into the back right corner, with Wilson earning credit for the assist on the goal. Penn State closed out the scoring in the contest with a penalty conversion from Kershner in the 89th minute after a Golden Ram committed a handball in the box, with the graduate striker closing the book on the five-goal Penn State victory.
SCORING SUMMARY
11’ – Fusco collected the ball on her left boot around 10 yards outside the attacking third, delivering a masterful feed through the back line of WCU defenders for a perfectly-timed MacBean run. The veteran striker found herself in a one-on-one with the Golden Ram shot-stopper, ultimately sneaking a right-booted finish into the lower left corner of the goal from around 11 yards out. PSU 1, WCU 0
27’ – A blazing run from MacBean into the box left the Golden Rams in disarray defensively, with a West Chester defender forced to commit a foul on her toward the right edge of the penalty area. Lapi was called on to convert her second penalty of the year, finding the bottom central portion of the goal. PSU 2, WCU 0
44’ – Gleason maintained possession of the ball around the central portion of the field around 45 yards away from the goal mouth. She delivered a quick ball toward the left side of the 18-yard box, where Wilson chipped a one-touch pass centrally toward a running Kulpa. The freshman outpaced the defender on her left flank and delivered the ball just past the keeper’s outstretched glove into the lefthand side of the net. PSU 3, WCU 0
46’ – A shot from Wilson moments into the start of the second half set the table for the fourth goal of the contest, with Wilson’s attempt being punched slightly back into the goal box by the WCU keeper. In response, Kulpa followed through with the rebound goal on a right-footed shot into the back right corner, with Wilson earning credit for the assist on the goal. PSU 4, WCU 0
89’ – An attack from the left wing of the penalty area resulted in a handball in the box against West Chester, with Kershner called on to convert the penalty kick opportunity. The veteran striker buried the ball into the top left corner of the net. PSU 5, WCU 0
UP NEXT
No. 3 Penn State women’s soccer remains in Happy Valley for the final contest of its four-match home stand, as the Nittany Lions play host to the border-rival West Virginia Mountaineers on Thursday, August 29. Action from Jeffrey Field kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (ET), with streaming available to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and the B1G+ app.
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