PRINCETON, N.J. – In the waning moments of the second half, junior midfielder Olivia Borgen found herself 20 yards outside the net and delivered one of the most powerful strikes of her collegiate career, as the eighth-ranked Penn State women’s soccer team battled their way to a 1-0 victory over the Princeton Tigers Thursday night on Myslik Field at Roberts Stadium following Borgen’s banger.
The victory saw the Nittany Lions pick up their fourth consecutive win, including their second straight win over an opponent that was either ranked or receiving votes in the United Soccer Coaches poll entering the match. PSU improves to 5-1-0 overall, with the team’s lone loss coming against current national No. 4 Virginia by a single score two weeks ago. In defeat, Princeton suffered their first loss of the 2024 campaign, dropping to 2-1-0 overall through their first three fixtures of the year. The win also saw Penn State pick up their third win over Princeton in the third all-time meeting of the two schools, with PSU still yet to concede a goal to the Tigers since the first meeting in 2003.
Borgen stole the show with a dominant performance off the pine for the Blue & White, as the Hanson, Massachusetts, native found the back of the net for the first time in her junior campaign. The newly minted upperclassman was virtuosic in the attack, providing a crucial boost to the Nittany Lion attacking presence in a mere 19 minutes of action. Borgen appeared and started in all 23 matches for PSU a season ago, but was forced to ease her way back into the lineup this season following an injury earlier in the year. With an opportunity to change the match in the final 15 minutes of Thursday’s road test, Borgen secured her seventh collegiate goal as well as her first of the 2024 season in her only shot on target in the 78th.
Heroics from Borgen produced the final score line, but an unyielding and relentless Nittany Lion attack paved the way for the icebreaker late in the second half. Penn State’s offense, ranked first in the Big Ten Conference and fourth among power four conference institutions entering Thursday night’s battle with the Tigers, racked up a 19-10 differential in total shots as well as a domineering 10-3 margin in shots on goal. The PSU attack warranted a season-high 11 corner kicks, the most corners for a PSU squad since turning in an identical 11-corner showing on September 15 of last season against Maryland, a 4-0 conference victory. Penn State won the corner battle 11-3, improving to 3-0-0 when attempting more corner kicks than its opponent. In the referee’s book, PSU was saddled with a single caution while Princeton picked up a pair of yellows for unsporting behavior in the 56th and 61st minutes.
On the box score, senior defender Mieke Schiemann earned credit for her first assist of the 2024 season Thursday night, while redshirt junior midfielder Riley Gleason tallied her third dish of the campaign on Borgen’s banger. Redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean and freshman forward Aubrey Kulpa were both key in applying pressure to the Tiger back line, with both strikers finishing with a match-high four shots and two shots on target apiece. A quartet of Nittany Lion fielders saw a full 90 minutes of work, with the stellar back line trio of Schiemann, graduate Ginger Fontenot and redshirt sophomore Kayleigh Herr booking complete-match outings in addition to junior holding midfielder Molly Martin.
In goal for the Blue & White, redshirt junior keeper Amanda Poorbaugh turned in the most impressive individual performance of her collegiate career to date, facing off against a hostile road environment while simultaneously booking her second shutout of the season. The Westerville, Ohio, native secured her fourth-straight victory between the pipes coinciding with Penn State’s four-match run, logging credit for the win in large part due to a trio of highlight-reel saves that kept the pressure firmly on Princeton’s side of the pitch. On the opposite end, Princeton senior goalkeeper Tyler McCamey stood on her head for the first 75 minutes of the match, booking a career high-tying nine saves before surrendering the only score of the match to Borgen in the 78th.
The first half opened with an extensive feeling-out process for both squads despite early chances for the Blue & White in the attacking third. Penn State looked to move centrally in the early going and attack the Tiger midfield, but Princeton was ultimately able to weather the early storm and place a few shots in Poorbaugh’s vicinity through the first 20 minutes. From that point forward, Penn State’s offense was brutally efficient, with the Nittany Lions logging the final eight shots of the first half while forcing seven saves from McCamey. Freshman defender Bella Ayscue had a high-powered rebound chance off a corner kick in the 31st, and senior midfielder Jordan Fusco placed a screamer on net in the 37th, but the Tigers were able to stymie the Nittany Lion threats and return to the dressing room knotted at nil.
Both squads returned to work out of the intermission refreshed, with the home squad capitalizing on a familiar environment to log three of the first four shots out of the halftime break. As things began to settle down once again, the eighth-ranked Blue & White were able to re-discover their attacking rhythm and attempt four uninterrupted shots in a five-minute span toward the middle of the frame, highlighted by a point-blank opportunity for sophomore defender Kaelyn Wolfe that McCamey miraculously redirected with her left glove. Princeton would battle back for their best scoring chance of the night in the 74th minute, but the right-booted Tiger blast aimed just below the crossbar was spectacularly saved by Poorbaugh to keep the Nittany Lions in the contest.
Then came Borgen’s run to goal in the 78th. A Tiger turnover in the attacking half found the head of Schiemann on the right side of the pitch for the Nittany Lions, with her header flying forward to the boot of Gleason around 65 yards away from the Princeton net. Gleason took one touch on the right side of the field and fed the ball centrally to Borgen around the midfield line, with the blazing-fast Nittany Lion attacking midfielder starting a 30-yard run into the Princeton final third. From there, Borgen delivered a screaming right-footed blast into the back of the Tiger net past McCamey’s diving attempt to stop the Nittany Lion’s first goal of 2024. With the 1-0 lead in hand, Penn State’s gamesmanship won out in the final 10 minutes as the Nittany Lions returned home to Happy Valley victorious over their Ivy League challengers for the second year in a row.
SCORING SUMMARY
78’ – A Tiger turnover Schiemann on the right side of the pitch, with her header flying forward to Gleason around 65 yards away from the Princeton net. Gleason took one touch on the right side of the field and fed the ball centrally to Borgen around the midfield line, with the Nittany Lion attacking midfielder starting a 30-yard run into the Princeton final third. Borgen delivered a screaming right-footed blast into the back left portion of the Tiger net just past McCamey’s diving attempt. PSU 1, PRIN 0
UP NEXT
No. 8 Penn State women’s soccer closes out its three-match road trip and prepares for its penultimate non-conference competition this Sunday, September 8, as the Nittany Lions travel to challenge the No. 23 Georgetown Hoyas at Shaw Field. PSU and Georgetown kick off at 1 p.m. (ET), with the match set to stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
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