UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Powered by a pair of tallies from sophomore forward Aubrey Kulpa and a dominant night from the Nittany Lion back line, the No. 9 Penn State women’s soccer team toppled the Santa Clara Broncos by a 2-0 margin on Thursday night from Jeffrey Field.
Kulpa, a native of Cromwell, Connecticut, further cemented her dominant start to the 2025 campaign with her second multi-goal match of the season and first brace since finding the back of the net twice in last Thursday’s dominant win over the Saint Louis Billikens on Jeffrey Field. The second-year star is up to five goals on the year and 12 tallies in her collegiate career to date, with the sophomore also riding a four-match point streak dating to the first match of the season against Duke. Kulpa is up to a quartet of braces since arriving on the Penn State campus a season ago, with multi-goal outings coming against West Chester during last year’s regular season, Stony Brook in the opening round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, and last week’s win over SLU at home.
As a team, Penn State picked up its third consecutive victory to rise to 3-1-0 overall through the first four opportunities of the year. The Nittany Lions have outscored opponents by a 9-2 margin over the last three wins from Happy Valley, with Penn State logging multi-goal wins in three-straight fixtures for the first time since toppling Monmouth, Princeton and Maryland in a stretch spanning September 3 through 15, 2023. Following the seventh all-time meeting of the two programs, PSU picked up its fifth win to improve to 5-1-1 since the inaugural fixture between the sides in 1996. Penn State extended its unbeaten streak against the Broncos to six in a row while logging their fifth consecutive victory in the all-time series. In defeat, Santa Clara moved to 1-3-0 overall and will return to action this Sunday, August 31, at Pittsburgh.
The Blue & White put together one of their strongest team performances of the season on Thursday night, taking home a variety of statistical victories in addition to the overall result. On the shot chart, Penn State came away with a 9-4 differential in total attempts in addition to a striking 4-0 margin in terms of on target opportunities. The Nittany Lions held their opponent to zero shots on target for the first time since limiting West Chester to a goose egg in the category on August 25 of last season. The Nittany Lions played SCU level in the corner kick competition, with both programs earning a trio of attempts on the night. According to the center referee, Santa Clara picked up 11 fouls while the Nittany Lions were whistled just four times. PSU earned a bench caution and an additional yellow against junior defender Kaelyn Wolfe, while Santa Clara picked up a single yellow card in the first half.
Elsewhere on the final box score, a trio of Penn Staters picked up helpers on the evening, with senior forward Amelia White, redshirt junior midfielder Molly Martin and redshirt senior midfielder Riley Gleason delivering the assists. Gleason, a native of Mission Viejo, California, is up to three assists on the year while White picked up her second. Martin mustered her first collegiate assist in the win and contributed her first point in a Nittany Lion women’s soccer match since tallying against Maryland on the road on October 10 of last year. Between the pipes, redshirt junior keeper Mackenzie Gress booked her first clean sheet of the season to mark her first individual shutout since securing a 1-0 result against then-No. 7 TCU during last year’s NCAA Tournament second round. For SCU, Ally Reynolds went all 90 minutes and surrendered a pair of goals in addition to two saves in a losing effort.
The opening 45 minutes of action passed largely without incident, with the Nittany Lions and Broncos playing to a scoreless draw through the opening 45 minutes. Penn State picked up a narrow 3-2 victory in total shot attempts, with PSU placing the only shot on target in the opening stanza. Both times mustered a corner apiece, but the Nittany Lions were able to command the run of play a bit more with stronger possession numbers in the opening half. Penn State amassed 56 percent of the possession in the first half, but neither program was able to capitalize on their chances to find an opening score. Each team returned to the locker room searching for answers, with the action knotted at nil through 45 minutes of play.
Penn State wasted little time breaking the ice after the brief intermission, as the Nittany Lions won a corner on the nearside of the pitch in the 49th minute. Gleason stood over the ball in the near corner and smacked an inswinger into the six, where pressure from Kulpa helped the ball find the back of the net on a ricochet off the left post. Leading by a score, Penn State kept their foot on the gas pedal and was able to double their early advantage in the 55th.
An errant goal kick from the Bronco keeper found Martin’s head around 50 yards away from the goal mouth, where the Acton, Massachusetts, native redirected the ball centrally. In the midfield, White took control of the possession and slotted a perfect through ball forward to Kulpa, who spun off her defender to generate a clearing of space. Taking a few dribbles into the box, Kulpa sidestepped with the ball to distract the keeper, giving her enough time to sneak a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the goal for her second score of the match. From there, the Blue & White buckled down defensively and ultimately commanded the remainder of the contest, playing strong defense ahead of Gress in order to preserve the strong 2-0 shutout victory.
SCORING SUMMARY
49’ – The Nittany Lions won a corner on the nearside of the pitch, with Gleason standing over the ball ready to take the service. Gleason smacked an inswinger into the six, where pressure from Kulpa helped the ball find the back of the net on a ricochet off the left post. PSU 1, SCU 0
55’ – An errant goal kick from the Bronco keeper found Martin’s head around 50 yards away from the goal mouth, where the Acton, Massachusetts, native redirected the ball centrally. In the midfield, White took control of the possession and slotted a perfect through ball forward to Kulpa, who spun off her defender to generate a clearing of space. Taking a few dribbles into the box, Kulpa sidestepped with the ball to distract the keeper, giving her enough time to sneak a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner of the goal for her second score of the match. PSU 2, SCU 0
UP NEXT
No. 9 Penn State women's soccer prepares for its final non-conference home match of the 2025 campaign, as the Blue & White host the James Madison Dukes in a 6 p.m. (ET) fixture this Sunday, August 31, from Jeffrey Field. The match will serve as PSU's Senior Day presented by the Penn State Alumni Association, with streaming of the contest and pre-match senior ceremony both available via B1G+ and the B1G+ app.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
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.