UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Despite taking an early edge in the seventh minute of action, the No. 8 Penn State women’s soccer team dropped a 2-1 decision to the Wisconsin Badgers Sunday afternoon from Jeffrey Field.
In defeat, the Blue & White move to 5-3-2 overall and fall back to .500 in Big Ten Conference competition, working with a 1-1-1 league ledger through a trio of opportunities at home. The Badgers improve to 7-2-1 overall and secured their first win in Big Ten Play, mirroring PSU’s 1-1-1 league ledger through the first two weeks of competition. Following the 35th all-time meeting of the two sides, Wisconsin mustered its seventh win in the series, and second consecutive regular season win on Jeffrey Field. Penn State maintains a 24-7-4 record against Wisconsin since the first fixture in 1994.
PSU took home statistical victories in both total shots and shots on goal in the match, netting 18 total chances against 13 allowed for Wisconsin. The Blue & White greatly out-shot UW in terms of on-target opportunities, with the Nittany Lions placing seven tries on frame against a pair for the Badgers. In the corner kick competition, Wisconsin garnered six total chances while Penn State forced five, marking PSU’s sixth loss in that statistic in 2025. Between the pipes, redshirt junior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress played all 90 minutes and conceded a pair of goals with zero saves, moving to 5-3-2 individually on the year. For Wisconsin, Drew Stover went the distance and rejected seven PSU shots on goal, allowing a single score en route to her seventh win of the campaign.
The Blue & White were once again led on the pitch by graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean, who extended her goal scoring streak to three straight matches to mark the longest such run of the season by any Nittany Lion fielder. MacBean, a native of Excelsior, Minnesota, is responsible for four of Penn State’s six goals against Big Ten competitors this season and has found the back of the net on five occasions in 2025 overall. MacBean becomes the second Penn Stater to crack double digits in the scoring column this year, with her 11 points ranking second behind sophomore forward Aubrey Kulpa’s total of 18. Redshirt senior midfielder Riley Gleason notched her fourth-straight match with an assist, improving on her league-leading assist tally with her eighth helper of the season. A second assist was granted on MacBean’s early tally, with redshirt senior midfielder Julia Raich earning credit for her third of 2025.
Penn State looked to be the more effective side in the early moments of Sunday’s fixture, with the Nittany Lions dominating possession in the first 25 minutes of action. That strength was rewarded in the seventh minute, as Gleason took control of the attack around midfield. Penn State’s go-to distributor lifted a brilliant ball far ahead and to her left toward Raich, who assumed possession down the left flank of the field toward the penalty box. A perfect pass immediately redirected off of Raich’s boot into the center of the 18, where MacBean slid forward and buried a marvelous right-footed shot into the back of the Badger goal to open the scoring. With the early moments of the match in the books, Wisconsin attempted to generate a dangerous opportunity in the 29th minute with Ottey attacking down the nearside of the pitch. Her delivery forward to Cox provided Wisconsin with enough time to get numbers in the box, and Cox was able to send a dangerous ball into the Nittany Lion 18. Connolly found herself in a clearing inside the penalty area and was able to slot a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner past a diving save attempt from Gress that leveled the match at one-all. Both teams returned to the locker room looking for a go-ahead tally in the final 45.
Wisconsin wasted little time generating another tally as both squads returned to the pitch following the intermission, with Connolly able to net her second score of the afternoon. An attacking throw-in on the far side of the pitch kickstarted the scoring chance, with Ottey able to direct a ball forward to Connolly down the left side of the pitch once again. Connolly battled through defenders to the far corner of the six and drilled a hard-hit, right-footed strike into the top right corner of the Nittany Lion net to break the deadlock. Penn State appeared to have a ready-made equalizing opportunity in the 70th minute, as Raich won a penalty kick for the Blue & White on an aggressive foul from Connolly inside the 18. Unfortunately for PSU, Stover was able to save the Penn State penalty chance to preserve the 2-1 score. The Nittany Lions battled valiantly over the final 20 minutes but were ultimately unable to find an equalizer as Wisconsin took a 2-1 win back to Madison.
SCORING SUMMARY
7’ – The Nittany Lions dominated possession in the opening moments of the first half, with Gleason taking control of the attack around midfield. Penn State’s go-to distributor lifted a brilliant ball far ahead and to her left toward Raich, who assumed possession down the left flank of the field toward the penalty box. A perfect pass immediately redirected off of Raich’s boot into the center of the 18, where MacBean slid forward and buried a marvelous right-footed shot into the back of the Badger goal to open the scoring. PSU 1, WISC 0
29’ – With the early moments of the match in the books, Wisconsin attempted to generate a dangerous opportunity in the 29th minute with Ottey attacking down the nearside of the pitch. Her delivery forward to Cox provided Wisconsin with enough time to get numbers in the box, and Cox was able to send a dangerous ball into the Nittany Lion 18. Connolly found herself in a clearing inside the penalty area and was able to slot a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner past a diving save attempt from Gress that leveled the match at one-all. PSU 1, WISC 1
49’ – Wisconsin wasted little time generating another tally as both squads returned to the pitch following the intermission, with Connolly able to net her second score of the afternoon. An attacking throw-in on the far side of the pitch kickstarted the scoring chance, with Ottey able to direct a ball forward to Connolly down the left side of the pitch once again. Connolly battled through defenders to the far corner of the six and drilled a hard-hit, right-footed strike into the top right corner of the Nittany Lion net to break the deadlock. WISC 2, PSU 1
UP NEXT
No. 8 Penn State women's soccer hits the road for the first time in Big Ten Conference competition this week, as the Nittany Lions head to west to face off in a pair of league fixtures. PSU's next matchup comes on Thursday, September 25, as the Blue & White battle the Illinois Fighting Illini in an 8 p.m. (ET) kick from Demirjian Park on 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.