UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Aided by a perfect service from senior midfielder Jordan Fusco, redshirt senior midfielder Olivia Damico found the back of the net for her first goal of the 2024 campaign in one of the highest-pressure moments of the season, with her score propelling No. 20 Penn State women’s soccer to a thrilling 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers Sunday afternoon on Jeffrey Field.
Damico, a native of Victor, New York, mustered her first goal since finding the back of the net against the Monmouth Hawks on September 3 of last season, while simultaneously booking her first goal against a Big Ten Conference opponent in her collegiate career. Damico buried her first collegiate match-winning tally in Sunday afternoon’s raucous back-and-forth affair with the Golden Gophers, becoming the sixth different Penn Stater to record a match-winning score in the 2024 season. The veteran Nittany Lion midfielder matched her career-high marks in shots and shots on goal, accomplishing all that in 32 minutes of action.
Thanks to Damico’s late heroics, the Nittany Lions improved to 11-3-2 overall on the year with a solid 5-2-1 mark against Big Ten Conference competitors. In defeat, Minnesota dropped to 9-3-3 overall with all three losses for the Golden Gophers coming in league play, moving to 3-3-2 against B1G opposition. In an all-time series dating to the inaugural Penn State season in 1994, the Nittany Lions picked up their 25th win. PSU moved to 25-6-2 overall against the Golden Gophers following the 33rd meeting between the two programs, rising to 4-1-1 against Minnesota through the last six matchups. Penn State is unbeaten against the Golden Gophers on Jeffrey Field through the last three, rising to 3-0 in those meetings with an 8-2 goal differential.
Penn State battled in the second half to retake their early lead, but finished the match with an 11-13 deficit against Minnesota on the final shot chart. PSU led the shot battle by an 8-5 margin through the first 45 minutes of play, but the Golden Gophers were able to generate more offensive opportunities as the second half wore on. Minnesota contributed eight shots on goal against just five for the Nittany Lions, additionally picking up a win in the corner kick competition by a 6-5 margin. The match featured a remarkably physical battle on both ends, with each squad contributing more than 10 fouls with a pair of cautions issued to the Golden Gophers, one yellow in each half.
Elsewhere in the final box score, redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean continued her dominance on the national stage, recording her 13th goal of the year in addition to a goal in her third straight match. MacBean improved to 27 points, marking the highest scoring single season of her career surpassing a 26-point 2023 campaign split between 10 goals and six assists, with her 2024 effort amounting to 13 goals and one assist. The Excelsior, Minnesota, native is one point shy of matching the highest individual scoring total at PSU in the last five years, with MacBean needing one assist to match Ally Schlegel’s 28-point season in 2022.
Finally, sophomore defender Kaelyn Wolfe mustered the first goal of her collegiate career Sunday afternoon, booking her first score in 32 career matches as a rising prospect on the Nittany Lion back line. Wolfe booked her second start of 2024 and played 58 minutes on the back line, notching her first scoring play since an assist against Central Connecticut State in the first round of last year’s NCAA Tournament. Additionally, redshirt junior midfielder Julia Raich logged a career-high two assists while senior midfielder Jordan Fusco contributed her eighth helper of the season and freshman defender Bella Ayscue mustered her third assist of her rookie campaign.
Between the pipes, Penn State called on Lyndhurst, New Jersey, native Mackenzie Gress to tally all 90 minutes of work, logging a career-high six assists while surrendering two scores. Gress faced a career-high 11 shots against the Golden Gophers, managing to guide Penn State through a shutout second half of work en route to her fourth consecutive unbeaten decision. Following her fourth start and third complete-match effort of the season, Gress improved to 3-0-1 on an individual basis this year. For the Golden Gophers, Sarah Martin played all 90 minutes between the posts and surrendered a trio of goals with a pair of saves.
An extremely dramatic opening minute culminated in Penn State’s first goal of the match, with Ayscue serving a ball centrally into the box from the left wing, where the ball landed on Raich’s foot. Raich battled through aggressive challenges from a Golden Gopher defender and found Wolfe to her right, with the sophomore Nittany Lion booking a slow-rolling finish into the back right corner for her first collegiate score. Around 10 minutes later, Minnesota won a corner kick chance and demanded a response from the Nittany Lions. Golden Gopher forward Paige Kalal stood behind the ball on the far corner following a Minnesota corner opportunity, with Kalal serving the ball into the penalty area on the left edge of the 18. Senior forward Khyah Harper ran back through a number of defenders and found the ball just at the edge of the Nittany Lion box, using a high right-footed kick to bury the ball into the top left corner of the net to even the match.
The Golden Gophers wasted little time hunting for an opportunity to take the lead, with Minnesota graduate midfielder Sophia Romine assumed possession of the ball on the right side of the pitch around midfield following a difficult Penn State challenge. Romine sprinted with the ball around 20 yards forward, delivering a hard-hit banger of a shot with her right foot around 25 yards outside the Nittany Lion goal mouth, with Gress unable to corral the long-range attempt as Minnesota surged ahead by a 2-1 margin. With the lead in hand, the Golden Gophers settled back in defensively and held Penn State without a serious scoring chance over the course of the next 16 minutes.
With the momentum still working in Minnesota’s favor, the Nittany Lions took advantage of a Golden Gopher giveaway in the neutral third to spark a dangerous scoring chance. After graduate midfielder Rowan Lapi forced a change of possession, the ball traveled forward to the left for Raich, who delivered a magnificent through ball to MacBean on the opposite side of the field. MacBean outpaced her Minnesota defender and utilized a right-footed dribble to elude the defender on her back, using the same right foot a second later to chip her 13th goal of the campaign into the top right corner. Penn State and Minnesota would return to the dressing room following an electric 45 minutes of play knotted at two goals apiece.
Out of the break, the Golden Gophers generated more offensive opportunities than the first 45, attempting nearly double the shots of Penn State in the final stanza. With time and opportunities winding down for both squads to break the deadlock, the Nittany Lions utilized a throw-in in the neutral third to spark the match-winning chance. After playing the ball through the midfield, Fusco took control around the 20-yard mark on the far left side of the attacking third, making a dramatic run into the left edge of the box. Fusco chipped the ball over the entire defense with her left foot to a completely unmarked Damico on the far post, with the ball bouncing off her head into the top right corner of the net on one of Penn State’s most impressive scores this year. Penn State’s defense buckled down over the remaining eight minutes and took home a dramatic 3-2 victory in its regular season home finale.
SCORING SUMMARY
1’ – An extremely dramatic opening minute culminated in Penn State’s first goal of the match, with Ayscue serving a ball centrally into the box from the left wing, where the ball landed on Raich’s foot. Raich battled through aggressive challenges from a Golden Gopher defender and found Wolfe to her right, with the sophomore Nittany Lion booking a slow-rolling finish into the back right corner for her first collegiate score. PSU 1, MINN 0
11’ – Golden Gopher forward Paige Kalal stood behind the ball on the far corner following a Minnesota corner opportunity, with Kalal serving the ball into the penalty area on the left edge of the 18. Senior forward Khyah Harper ran back through a number of defenders and found the ball just at the edge of the Nittany Lion box, using a high right-footed kick to bury the ball into the top left corner of the net to even the match. PSU 1, MINN 1
15’ – The Golden Gophers wasted little time hunting for an opportunity to take the lead, with Minnesota graduate midfielder Sophia Romine assumed possession of the ball on the right side of the pitch around midfield following a difficult Penn State challenge. Romine sprinted with the ball around 20 yards forward, delivering a hard-hit banger of a shot with her right foot around 25 yards outside the Nittany Lion goal mouth, with Gress unable to corral the long-range attempt as Minnesota surged ahead by a 2-1 margin. MINN 2, PSU 1
31’ – With the momentum still working in Minnesota’s favor, the Nittany Lions took advantage of a Golden Gopher giveaway in the neutral third to spark a dangerous scoring chance. After graduate midfielder Rowan Lapi forced a change of possession, the ball traveled forward to the left for Raich, who delivered a magnificent through ball to MacBean on the opposite side of the field. MacBean outpaced her Minnesota defender and utilized a right-footed dribble to elude the defender on her back, using the same right foot a second later to chip her 13th goal of the campaign into the top right corner. PSU 2, MINN 2
82’ – With time and opportunities winding down for both squads to break the deadlock, the Nittany Lions utilized a throw-in in the neutral third to spark the match-winning chance. After playing the ball through the midfield, Fusco took control around the 20-yard mark on the far left side of the attacking third, making a dramatic run into the left edge of the box. Fusco chipped the ball over the entire defense with her left foot to a completely unmarked Damico on the far post, with the ball bouncing off her head into the top right corner of the net on one of Penn State’s most impressive scores this year. PSU 1, MINN 0
UP NEXT
No. 20 Penn State begins its toughest slate of road matches in the 2024 campaign this week, as the Nittany Lions embark on a three-match road trek beginning with matchup against preseason Big Ten Championship favorites UCLA this Thursday, October 17. The match will air live to a national television audience via the Big Ten Network beginning at 10:30 p.m. (ET) from Wallis Annenberg Stadium in Los Angeles, with streaming available to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via the FOX Sports App.
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