UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Powered by a trio of goal scorers and highlighted by a strong individual performance from redshirt senior midfielder Julia Raich, the No. 14 Penn State women’s soccer team came away with an impressive 3-1 result against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Sunday afternoon from Jeffrey Field.
Penn State picked up its second consecutive victory at home on Jeffery Field and improved to 2-1-0 overall through the first three opportunities of the 2025 campaign. The Nittany Lions also managed their sixth consecutive win over the Mountaineers, additionally remaining unbeaten against West Virginia through each of the last nine meetings. Penn State has not dropped a fixture against WVU since September 2, 2017, a loss that the Nittany Lions avenged later that year during the NCAA Tournament. In defeat, West Virginia dropped to 1-2-0 overall and will look to return to the win column this Thursday, August 28, with a 7 p.m. (ET) fixture against Duquesne back in Morgantown.
Despite PSU’s impressive final scoreline, the Mountaineers were able to pick up a few statistical victories on the stat sheet. West Virginia picked up a 14-6 differential in total shot attempts, but the Blue & White were able to publish a narrow 4-3 victory in terms of shots on goal. Penn State buckled down defensively and between the pipes on Sunday afternoon, logging a pair of saves against a single stop by WVU. West Virginia mustered a 6-1 victory in the corner kick competition, with the Nittany Lions still yet to take home a win in that category in the 2025 regular season. Whistles came in abundance for offsides calls, with PSU called off eight times while WVU picked up a quartet of whistles for offsides play. The teams combined for nine fouls on the day, with six against West Virginia and three against the Nittany Lions. Neither team was saddled by the center referee for a caution on Sunday.
Individually, the Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, native Raich published her most impressive statistical outing of the season to date, logging a three-point day after mustering a goal and an assist. Raich booked her eighth collegiate goal and second of the 2025 season, adding her first helper of the year and eighth since arriving in Happy Valley in 2021. Senior forward Amelia White also made her name known on Sunday with a variety of scoring chances, highlighted by her first goal of the season and sixth as a Nittany Lion. White, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, found the back of the net for the first time since tallying on September 26, 2024, at Iowa. White led the Nittany Lions in total shot attempts on the day with three, placing a pair of shots on target.
Rounding out the trio of Penn Staters to find the back of the net was freshman defender Hannah Jordan, who logged her second collegiate goal and first at home on Jeffrey Field. Elsewhere on the box score, sophomore forward Aubrey Kulpa and graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean both logged their first assists of the 2025 season, with the Cromwell, Connecticut, native Kulpa being deprived her best scoring chance of the day later in the match on a narrow offsides call. Four Nittany Lion fielders tallied 90 minutes of work in Sunday’s rivalry matchup, with redshirt junior midfielder Molly Martin, redshirt junior defender Kayleigh Herr, sophomore defender Bella Ayscue and redshirt senior midfielder Riley Gleason going the distance for the Blue & White.
Between the posts, redshirt junior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress turned in an impressive individual outing, logging her second consecutive victory in goal. Gress, a native of Lyndhurst, New Jersey, booked a pair of saves and allowed a single goal en route to a complete match showing. For the Mountaineers, Mackenzie Smith opened the match and played the first 56 minutes, letting in a trio of Penn State scores while recording a single save. Bailey Herfurth went the rest of the way, playing 34 minutes while not having to face a shot on goal. Smith was saddled with the loss individually, moving to 1-2-0 on the young season.
The first 10 minutes of Sunday afternoon’s fixture passed largely without incident, with West Virginia booking the first shot attempt of the contest in the ninth. Penn State wasted little time answering back with a resounding goal less than three minutes later, as the Nittany Lions won a free kick just on the other side of the halfway line, where Gleason lifted a service into the penalty box. The ball took an odd carom inside the box and worked its way back out to the edge of the 18, where Jordan was standing by ready to unleash a no-doubter of a right-footed ball that zipped into the bottom right corner of the net past Smith’s late diving attempt. PSU was able to outshoot the Mountaineers in the first half by a 4-3 differential, with the Blue & White commanding nearly 60% of the overall possession throughout. Penn State took a 1-0 lead into the halftime intermission.
After the brief break, the squads returned to the pitch looking to find the back of the net once again. In the 49th minute, a strong challenge in the midfield from Raich popped the ball into the air around the center circle, where a well-timed header from Kulpa redirected action back onto Raich’s boot around 40 yards out. Raich shuffled the ball forward for White on a perfect run through the middle of the pitch. White commanded the ball and battled through pressure to work into an open-net situation, finishing a beautiful right-footed shot into the center of the net to give Penn State a 2-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, a throw-in on the attacking far side of the pitch found MacBean toward the end line, with the veteran Nittany Lion striker delivering the ball squarely into the six. West Virginia’s keeper attempted to corral the ball with her gloves, but the ball rolled free and was left wide open in the front of the net. Raich, in the right place at the right time, smashed the ball into the back of the net, with MacBean earning credit for the assist. West Virginia did manage to tally in the 65th minute, but the Blue & White were able to roll through the remainder of the contest and close out a 3-1 rivalry win.
SCORING SUMMARY
12’ – The Nittany Lions won a free kick just on the other side of the halfway line, where Gleason lifted a service into the penalty box. The ball took an odd carom inside the box and worked its way back out to the edge of the 18, where Jordan was standing by ready to unleash a no-doubter of a right-footed ball that zipped into the bottom right corner of the net past Smith’s late diving attempt. PSU 1, WVU 0
49’ – A strong challenge in the midfield from Raich popped the ball into the air around the center circle, where a well-timed header from Kulpa redirected action back onto Raich’s boot around 40 yards out. Raich shuffled the ball forward for White on a perfect run through the middle of the pitch. White commanded the ball and battled through pressure to work into an open-net situation, finishing a beautiful right-footed shot into the center of the net. PSU 2, WVU 0
51’ – A throw-in on the attacking far side of the pitch found MacBean toward the end line, with the veteran Nittany Lion striker delivering the ball squarely into the six. West Virginia’s keeper attempted to corral the ball with her gloves, but the ball rolled free and was left wide open in the front of the net. Raich, in the right place at the right time, smashed the ball into the back of the net, with MacBean earning credit for the assist. PSU 3, WVU 0
65’ – Penn State won the ball back off a Mountaineer throw but quickly gave the ball back to West Virginia in precarious position. Maddie Levy slotted the ball centrally, finding Taylor White for a right-footed screamer from beyond the edge of the box. PSU 3, WVU 1
UP NEXT
No. 14 Penn State women's soccer continues its four-match non-conference homestand this Thursday, August 28, as the Nittany Lions play host to the Santa Clara Broncos in a 7:30 p.m. (ET) fixture from Jeffrey Field. The match will serve as PSU's Military Appreciation Night, and will 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.
The 2025 Penn State women's soccer season is presented by Highmark.