UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Highlighted by the 25th hat trick in program history, as well as the first hat trick of redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean’s career, No. 12 Penn State women’s soccer rolled to a dominant 3-1 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers Thursday night on Jeffrey Field.
MacBean, a native of Excelsior, Minnesota, continued to etch her name in the Nittany Lion history books following Thursday night’s effort, scoring the first hat trick at Penn State since Payton Linnehan dropped a trio of goals against Central Connecticut State in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament a year ago. Her three-goal outing surpassed her previous career-high mark in single-match scoring, which included a brace in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Round of 16 matchup against upcoming opponent Saint Louis.
Her historic effort against the Mountaineers also ensured that MacBean would move into a tie for the third-longest goal-scoring streak in PSU history, as the veteran striker booked her seventh consecutive match with a goal to tie Maya Hayes, Katie Schoepfer and Christie Welsh in the category. MacBean became the first Nittany Lion student-athlete to record at least one goal in seven consecutive contests since Hayes accomplished that feat in a span running from August 21 to September 11, 2011. MacBean currently stands on six goals through her first four outings this year, already surpassing her 2022 scoring total while needing just four more goals to match her effort from 2023. MacBean finished the night with five total shots and four shots on target in addition to her three tallies in just 49 minutes.
With Thursday night’s result in hand, the Blue & White improve to 3-1-0 overall through their first four matches on Jeffrey Field in the 2024 campaign, while West Virginia falls back to .500 with a 2-2-0 mark through the early going in non-conference competition. In the all-time series with the Mountaineers, Penn State celebrated the 24th all-time meeting by building its lead over WVU to 14-7-3 overall since the first fixture in 2003. The Nittany Lions have picked up victorious decisions against West Virginia in each of the last five meetings while remaining unbeaten against WVU through each of the last eight.
PSU’s dominant final line was accompanied by an overall effective performance on both ends of the pitch, with the Blue & White finishing the night with 13 total shot attempts in addition to eight shots on goal. West Virginia managed to get boot to ball on 14 occasions, narrowly edging out the Nittany Lions for the win on the shot chart. PSU outpaced the Mountaineers on target, however, by an 8-6 margin. Corners were evenly split, 5-5, with both teams committing five fouls apiece. West Virginia picked up the only two bookings of the border battle, with both yellows coming in the second half for unsporting behavior.
In addition to MacBean’s historic individual outing at the corner of University and Park, six other Nittany Lions worked their way onto the final box score with shot attempts, including multi-shot efforts from junior forward Amelia White and graduate forward Elle Kershner. MacBean’s dominant offensive outing was supplemented by a quartet of assists, with senior midfielder Jordan Fusco contributing to the first and second goals of the evening, graduate midfielder Rowan Lapi logging a dish on the second and freshman forward Aubrey Kulpa supplying MacBean for the finale. Kulpa, a native of Cromwell, Connecticut, is up to seven points this year following her first collegiate assist in the second half, while Fusco leads the squad in assists with a quartet of feeds in 2024.
Between the pipes, redshirt junior goalkeeper Amanda Poorbaugh came through with her second consecutive victory, improving to 2-1-0 individually in the 2024 campaign. Poorbaugh, a native of Westerville, Ohio, collected a trio of saves in her complete-match effort and allowed a single score, with her goals-against average moving to 0.700 through her four appearances this year. For the Mountaineers, a pair of student-athletes split time in net, with redshirt sophomore stopper Mackenzie Smith earning the start while being saddled for the loss after playing 81 minutes with three saves and three goals allowed. Redshirt sophomore Bailey Herfurth battled for a pair of saves over the final nine minutes.
West Virginia managed the first three shot attempts of the match in the early moments of the first half, but the Blue & White settled in and found themselves a quality scoring chance in the 11th that sailed off target. Four minutes passed before PSU found the icebreaker, as Martin collected the ball midway into the Nittany Lion defending third and fed the ball forward to Fusco at midfield. PSU’s attacking midfielder dribbled twice forward and distributed the ball through the entire Mountaineer backline to a perfectly timed MacBean run. In a clearing with only Smith standing in her way, MacBean slid a magnificent right-footed finish into the lower left corner of the net.
In the 23rd, a Nittany Lion throw-in from the attacking nearside sparked a rapidly developing scoring chance for the Blue & White, with Lapi collecting the throw from Damico to start the opportunity. Lapi utilized a left-footed feed to Fusco, who immediately passed the ball forward to MacBean. The Nittany Lion forward took a couple dribbles, utilized a quick spin and buried the ball into the back right corner off her left boot. Penn State locked things down defensively over the final 22 minutes of the opening period, with the Nittany Lions carrying a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
Out of the break, Penn State continued to manage West Virginia’s scoring chances while consistently producing quality opportunities on the opposite end of the pitch. In the 55th minute of work, a brilliant run from Kulpa forced a chaotic defensive lapse for the Mountaineers, with the freshman forward collecting the ball on her left foot and quickly passing it through the line to MacBean in the box. MacBean took one dribble and powerfully chipped the ball with her right foot just underneath the WVU crossbar, finishing her historic hat trick while closing the Nittany Lion scoring on the evening. Penn State maintained its dominant three-goal lead for the majority of the half. WVU found the back of the net on a corner opportunity in the 90th minute, closing the 3-1 contest out on Jeffrey Field.
SCORING SUMMARY
15’ – Martin collected the ball midway into the Nittany Lion defending third and fed the ball forward to Fusco at midfield. PSU’s attacking midfielder dribbled twice forward and distributed the ball through the entire Mountaineer backline to a perfectly timed MacBean run. In a clearing with only Smith standing in her way, MacBean slid a magnificent right-footed finish into the lower left corner of the net. PSU 1, WVU 0
23’ – A Nittany Lion throw-in from the attacking nearside sparked a rapidly developing scoring chance for the Blue & White, with Lapi collecting the throw from Damico to start the opportunity. Lapi utilized a left-footed feed to Fusco, who immediately passed the ball forward to MacBean. The Nittany Lion forward took a couple dribbles, utilized a quick spin and buried the ball into the back right corner off her left boot. PSU 2, WVU 0
55’ – A brilliant run from Kulpa forced a chaotic defensive lapse for the Mountaineers, with the freshman forward collecting the ball with her left foot and quickly passing it through the line to MacBean in the box. MacBean took one dribble and powerfully chipped the ball with her right foot just underneath the WVU crossbar, finishing her historic hat trick while closing the Nittany Lion scoring on the evening. PSU 3, WVU 0
90’ – West Virginia won a corner in the waning moments of the match, with Dilary Heredia-Beltran delivering the service to Ajanae Respass immediately in front of the goal mouth. Respass found the ball on her head and redirected it centrally into the back of the net. PSU 3, WVU 1
UP NEXT
No. 12 Penn State women’s soccer hits the road for the first time in its 2024 regular season campaign and begins its grueling nine-match away slate against No. 19 Saint Louis on Sunday, September 1. Kickoff from Hermann Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri, is scheduled for 2 p.m. (ET)/1 p.m. (CT), with the match set to stream worldwide to authenticated subscribers via ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
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