LOS ANGELES – Powered by a career-best six-save clean sheet from redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress and a miraculous goal-line clearance in the final 15 seconds from freshman defender Bella Ayscue, the No. 16 Penn State women’s soccer team shut out the No. 10 UCLA Bruins in a scoreless draw Thursday night at Wallis Annenberg Stadium.
In the first meeting of the two perennial national powerhouse programs since UCLA joined the Big Ten Conference this summer, the Nittany Lions and Bruins battled for the first-ever draw in the all-time series. Following Thursday’s result, the Nittany Lions moved to 11-3-3 overall and 5-2-2 in Big Ten matches heading into the penultimate match of the 2024 campaign, while the Bruins moved to 12-2-3 overall and 7-0-2 in the B1G. At the conclusion of the seventh all-time meeting between PSU and UCLA, the series record remains deadlocked at 3-3-1, with all seven matchups featuring Nittany Lion and Bruin squads that were ranked inside the top 20 of the United Soccer Coaches poll at the time of the match.
The final box score saw the home squad register victories in a number of statistical categories, including a 20-3 differential on the shot chart at the end of the contest. UCLA’s 20 total shot attempts marked the most shots faced by the Penn State defense and goalkeeper in the 2024 campaign, with the previous season-high of 18 opponent shots coming in a dominant 6-0 rout of Michigan at the start of Big Ten play back in September. UCLA booked seven shots on goal against a pair of on-target efforts from the Blue & White, with the Bruins also mustering a 3-1 advantage in the corner kick competition by the final whistle. It was a relatively quiet night for the head referee, with just six fouls assessed to each squad and zero cards issued in a relatively clean Thursday-night challenge.
Penn State’s defending stole the show in the weekend opener, with the Nittany Lion back line working together to help secure the ninth PSU shutout of the year as Thursday night rolled into Friday morning on the East Coast. Senior defender Mieke Schiemann, graduate defender and California native Ginger Fontenot, and redshirt sophomore defender Kayleigh Herr each battled to combine for seven blocked shots in the second half, holding a volatile Bruin attack at bay in front of their starting goalkeeper. Schiemann wiped away at least four Bruin shots in the final frame, while Ayscue’s goal-line clearance in the final minute proved to be the icing on the PSU clean sheet, a team save credited in the last 15 seconds of play.
On the offensive end of the pitch, the Nittany Lions were limited in their opportunities, but extremely dangerous when chances presented themselves. Senior midfielder Jordan Fusco was a threat all evening long, with the veteran transfer accounting for both Nittany Lion shots on goal in addition to two of PSU’s trio of total shot attempts on the night. The only other shot for the Nittany Lions was credited to graduate forward Elle Kershner, who made her attempt towards the end of the first half that sailed off-target. Four Nittany Lions played all 90 minutes in Thursday night’s test, with the defensive trio of Herr, Fontenot and Schiemann joining redshirt sophomore midfielder Molly Martin with 90 minutes next to their names.
Between the pipes, Gress was a force to be reckoned with, as the Lyndhurst, New Jersey, native matched her career high in saves for the second time in the last five days. Gress tallied six total saves against the highest volume of shots faced in her collegiate career, with her previous career highs of six saves and 11 shots faced came in Sunday’s matchup against Minnesota on Jeffrey Field. Gress has played 90 minutes in four consecutive matches for PSU following her return from the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup with the United States, with the Nittany Lion shot-stopper going unbeaten through her first five total appearances this season with a 3-0-2 individual record including a pair of unbeaten decisions against top 10 opponents in No. 8 Texas Tech and No. 10 UCLA. For the Bruins, goalkeeper Ryan Campbell corralled both of Fusco’s shot attempts for yet another UCLA clean sheet through her 90 minutes of effort, splitting the tied decision with Gress in goal.
The opening 45 minutes of play lived up to the billing as one of the most entertaining opening halves of the 2024 season for both sides. UCLA star striker Quincy McMahon mustered the opening shot of the affair less than five minutes into the contest, with the effort sailing off target. Penn State booked the first dangerous on-target opportunity of the match, with Fusco making an unincumbered run into the Bruin final third, but her long-range effort in the 23rd minute was safely handled by Campbell. UCLA rattled off the next trio of shots before Kershner halted the home side’s offensive momentum with an off-target blast in the 34th. In a sequence amounting to less than six minutes of play, Gress made a trio of saves to keep the score level as both sides returned to the locker rooms scoreless.
After the intermission, both sides returned to the pitch invigorated to find the opening score, with UCLA managing four shots, including two on-target chances in the first 10 minutes of the final frame. An offensive chance generated off a Gress goal kick materialized into the only Penn State corner of the match in the 57th minute, but after UCLA defended the initial PSU scoring opportunity, the Nittany Lions were whistled offsides. The block party began for Penn State’s defense in the 66th, with a Penn State defender wearing a shot by Bruin attacker Sofia Cook in what would be the first of seven denials from PSU fielders in the second half.
Penn State would have one immaculate chance at a match-winning goal with time winding down, as a magnificent cross from redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean narrowly missed an unmarked redshirt senior midfielder Olivia Damico immediately in front of the Bruin net. Damico dove head-first at the ball to find the only score of the contest, but the pass attempt barely missed Penn State’s attacker in the final 20 minutes of work. With time winding down, UCLA’s offense moved at a frenetic pace, but a pair of saves from Gress and two additional blocked shots in the final 10 minutes kept the sheet clean. A corner by UCLA in the final minute nearly spelled disaster for the Blue & White, but a batted ball by Gress in the top left corner of the goal on the initial Bruin shot attempt, followed by Ayscue’s miraculous right-booted clearance on the goal line preserved the draw and saw both squads live to fight another day following a scoreless tie in Westwood.
UP NEXT
No. 16 Penn State women's soccer continues its weekend sojourn through the City of Angels this Sunday, October 20, as the Nittany Lions get set for their second-consecutive top 10 road matchup against the USC Trojans. Kickoff from Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, the home of Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy, is slated for 3 p.m. (ET), with the match set to stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and the B1G+ app on connected devices.
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