UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Despite an impressive connection for a score in the first five minutes of play, the No. 19 Penn State women’s soccer team battled to a 1-1 draw with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Friday evening from Jeffrey Field.
Following Friday night’s result in Happy Valley, the nationally ranked Nittany Lions moved to 9-3-2 overall with a 3-2-1 ledger to open Big Ten play, making Penn State one of seven B1G programs with double digits in the point column through the start to the weekend. Rutgers moved to 8-1-3 overall with a 4-0-2 start to conference competition. In the all-time series dating to PSU’s inaugural varsity season in 1994, the Blue & White continues to lead Rutgers by a 12-9-5 margin and remains unbeaten against the Scarlet Knights over each of the last three fixtures.
The Scarlet Knights entered Friday night’s match receiving votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, marking PSU’s eighth match of the year against a ranked or receiving-votes opponent, as well as the third such match in the last four outings. Penn State’s final five matches of the year feature three opponents who were ranked or receiving votes in this week’s poll, with all three of those tests coming on the road to close the 2024 Big Ten Conference regular season.
Despite the deadlocked final score line, the Nittany Lions statistically dominated Rutgers in practically every element of the match. The Blue & White booked their second-most shots in Big Ten Conference play and logged their third-most shots on goal against a B1G challenger this season, attempting 20 total shots with 10 on-target opportunities in the match. PSU more than doubled Rutgers in both shots, 20-9, and shots on goal, 10-5, working to a 1-1 result against the run of play. The Scarlet Knights narrowly triumphed in the corner kick competition, outpacing PSU by a 5-4 margin. Per usual, Rutgers was particularly egregious in their challenges, picking up 13 fouls in addition to a pair of yellow cards in the final 10 minutes of play.
Redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean provided the highlight of the match less than five minutes into the contest, notching her single-season career-best 11th goal of the 2024 campaign. MacBean is responsible for 11 of Penn State’s 28 total scores in the program’s 31st varsity season, nearly 40% of all Nittany Lion scores this year. The Excelsior, Minnesota, native matched her career high in shots with eight and surpassed a three-week old career high in shots on goal with five. Elsewhere on the score sheet, junior forward Amelia White recorded her third assist of the year on MacBean’s early goal, while senior midfielder Jordan Fusco mustered her seventh assist of the campaign, finding MacBean in all seven of those chances.
Between the pipes for the Nittany Lions, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress returned to the starting XI for PSU following a seven-week hiatus with the United States U-20 Women’s Youth National Team at the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia. Gress played all 90 minutes in the match, her first complete-match outing in her collegiate career, booking a career-high four saves against a career-high nine shots faced. Gress moved to 1-0-1 overall through her second start of the season, joining a win against then-No. 8 Texas Tech on opening night. For the Scarlet Knights, redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Olivia Bodmer amassed a career-high nine saves with one goal allowed in 90 minutes en route to the deadlocked decision.
The Nittany Lions were immediately dominant out of the gates, placing a pair of shots including one on target less than three minutes into the contest before Rutgers could find its footing. In the fifth minute, Fusco made a physical run against a Scarlet Knight defender on the right corner of the 18-yard box, playing the ball through to White on the right edge of the box approaching the end line. White utilized a pair of dribbles to drive toward the goal box and slotted the ball back to MacBean in the middle of the penalty area around 10 yards out from the goal. MacBean took her time and delivered a simple right-footed finish to give the Blue & White an early one-goal advantage. The Scarlet Knights reconvened from there, playing the Nittany Lions relatively even over the remaining 40 minutes, but the Blue & White managed to carry a 1-0 lead into the break.
Out of the brief intermission, the Scarlet Knights were able to find the back of the net less than five minutes into the period. Freshman Rutgers midfielder Shaela Bradley assumed possession of the ball on the left flank around 35 yards out from the Nittany Lion net. The Scarlet Knight attacker drove centrally and utilized a right-footed blast from the edge of the box that snuck into the bottom left corner of the Nittany Lion goal past a fully outstretched save attempt from Gress. PSU responded immediately thereafter, amassing a domineering 12-3 differential in total shots over the final 45 minutes of play. Despite the dominant Nittany Lion showing in the second half, Rutgers was able to escape Happy Valley with a 1-1 draw to split the points Friday night.
SCORING SUMMARY
5’ – Fusco made a physical run against a Scarlet Knight defender on the right corner of the 18-yard box, playing the ball through to White on the right edge of the box approaching the end line. White utilized a pair of dribbles to drive toward the goal box and slotted the ball back to MacBean in the middle of the penalty area around 10 yards out from the goal. MacBean took her time and delivered a simple right-footed finish to give the Blue & White an early one-goal advantage. PSU 1, RUT 0
47’ – Shaela Bradley assumed possession of the ball on the left flank around 35 yards out from the Nittany Lion net. The Scarlet Knight attacker drove centrally and utilized a right-footed blast from the edge of the box that snuck into the bottom left corner of the Nittany Lion goal past a fully outstretched save attempt from Gress. PSU 1, RUT 1
UP NEXT
No. 19 Penn State women's soccer prepares for a single-match road trip in Big Ten Conference competition next week, as the Nittany Lions travel to College Park to square off against the Maryland Terrapins. Kickoff from Ludwig Field on Thursday, October 10, is slated for 7 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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Visit GoPSUSports.com for more information on Penn State women’s soccer. Fans can keep up to date with the Nittany Lion women’s soccer team on X and Instagram @PennStateWSOC, in addition to the team’s Facebook page at /PSUWomensSoccer.