EVANSTON, Ill. – Led by tallies from senior forward Amelia White and redshirt junior midfielder Molly Martin, the 18th-ranked Penn State women’s soccer team returned to the win column following a 2-1 result over the Northwestern Wildcats on Sunday afternoon from Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium.
Following Penn State’s pivotal result to close out the third match week of the Big Ten Conference slate, Penn State returned to its winning ways and picked up its sixth victory of the year, improving to 6-4-2 overall through 12 opportunities while returning to .500 in B1G competition with a 2-2-1 league ledger. In defeat, Northwestern experienced its first result in conference play outside of a draw, moving to 0-1-4 in the league while dropping to 4-2-6 overall. Following the 36th all-time meeting between Penn State and Northwestern in women’s soccer, the Nittany Lions were able to extend their lead to 30-5-1 coupled with a 12-3-1 record when playing at Martin Stadium. PSU remains unbeaten against the Wildcats through each of the last four meetings, winning thrice and mustering one draw in a span dating to 2021.
Despite Penn State’s decisive advantage in the run of play and far more significant scoring opportunities over the course of the 90 minutes, the Nittany Lions were out-shot by the Wildcats by an eye-popping 16-7 differential in addition to a 7-4 loss in terms of on-target opportunities. Penn State’s starting goalkeeper, redshirt junior Mackenzie Gress, as well as the PSU back line combined to record six saves compared to just two for the Wildcats. NU also managed a victory in the corner kick competition, amassing six opportunities against a pair of tries for the Blue & White.
White and Martin stole the show for the Nittany Lions in Sunday’s gritty road victory, with the duo combining to lead Penn State to its first road win in conference action in addition to its second road victory of 2025. White, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, tallied for the third time in the 2025 campaign in addition to scoring for the second time in Big Ten action, with her last goal coming against Maryland on September 11. White is now up to eight points on the year, matching her single-season career-best scoring mark from her inaugural collegiate campaign in 2022. For Martin, the Acton, Massachusetts, native logged just the second goal of her collegiate career in addition to her first match-winning goal as a college athlete. Martin’s tally marked her first score since mustering a goal on the road in Big Ten action last year at Maryland on October 10.
America’s most dangerous facilitator, redshirt senior midfielder Riley Gleason, was in her back of tricks yet again on Sunday, with the Mission Viejo, California, native logging her ninth helper of 2025 on Martin’s set-piece header goal in the second half. Gleason continues to lead the Big Ten in assists and is well within striking distance of the national leader, while needing just four more helpers to crack the top five all-time in Penn State’s storied varsity history. Sophomore forward Aubrey Kulpa also added her name to the scoresheet, delivering a perfectly timed pass to White in the first half to put the Nittany Lions out in front. Kulpa, a native of Cromwell, Connecticut, mustered her fifth assist of 2025, bringing her Big Ten-best scoring mark to 21 points through 12 fixtures.
Between the pipes, Gress was nearly immaculate over the full 90 minutes of work, with the Lyndhurst, New Jersey, native picking up her sixth individual win of the season against the Wildcats. Gress set a season high in the save category with a quintet of rejections, with one additional team save going in the book for the Nittany Lions later in the second half. Her lone goal allowed was off a penalty kick, the first PSU concession from the spot this season. For the Wildcats, first year keeper Nyamma Nelson played the full 90 and made a pair of impressive stops while allowing both PSU scores en route to the losing decision. In the field, Penn State saw four student-athletes go the distance, with Martin joining redshirt junior defender Kayleigh Herr, sophomore defender Bella Ayscue and redshirt freshman defender Lilly Burger playing the full 90 minutes.
Penn State got out to a strong start in the early going, with the Nittany Lions attempting the first shot of the day and winning the first corner kick of the match in the second minute of play. Things settled from there, but the Blue & White’s relentless attacking mindset was rewarded with the lid-lifting tally in the 12th minute of action. A dangerous attacking threat materialized down the left side of the pitch, where a pair of Nittany Lions scrapped to win possession and play the ball forward to Kulpa on a run toward the box. The second-year attacker took a few dribbles and worked to the edge of the 18, where she played a lethal centering pass into the box that took a deflection off the heel of a Wildcat defender. With little in the way of White, the veteran utilized a lightning-quick left-footed finish to beat Nelson into the bottom left corner to give PSU the edge. Thanks to stellar play from Gress between the pipes, highlighted by four saves in the first half of action alone, the Nittany Lions were able to carry their one-goal lead into the intermission.
Whistles rained down in abundance to open the second half of action, with four fouls and a yellow card issued to Northwestern occurring in the first seven minutes of the final 45. The fourth foul of the second half proved deadly for the Wildcats, as White drew a call in the 53rd minute of action to set up a service-range free kick opportunity for the Penn State offense. Gleason assumed her standard position as Penn State’s set piece delivery specialist, lifting a well-struck ball into the heart of the Wildcat box. Gleason’s service zipped straight toward Martin’s head in the front of the goal mouth around 10 yards out, where the savvy Nittany Lion midfielder redirected the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal in what proved to be the eventual match-winning score. Penn State did a marvelous job defensively over most of the remainder of the match, with Gress booking the best save of the afternoon in the 65th minute of play on a point-blank reaction stop with her legs off a Wildcat corner to preserve the PSU momentum.
In the waning moments of Sunday afternoon’s contest, a Nittany Lion committed an unfortunately timed foul inside the penalty area. Wildcat attacker Kennedy Roesch stood watch at the penalty spot, ultimately converting with a high-powered shot into the lower left corner just past Gress’ correct diving save attempt. Despite a dangerous scoring chance in the final minute of action generated by a Wildcat corner kick attempt that saw all 11 players for NU crowding the Nittany Lion final third, Penn State was able to assume possession of the ball and steer things out of harm’s way, with the Blue & White ultimately closing the book on a crucial 2-1 victory on the road in B1G action.
SCORING SUMMARY
12’ – A dangerous attacking threat materialized down the left side of the pitch, where a pair of Nittany Lions scrapped to win possession and play the ball forward to Kulpa on a run toward the box. The second-year attacker took a few dribbles and worked to the edge of the 18, where she played a lethal centering pass into the box that took a deflection off the heel of a Wildcat defender. With little in the way of White, the veteran utilized a lightning-quick left-footed finish to beat Nelson into the bottom left corner to give PSU the edge. PSU 1, NU 0
53’ – Gleason assumed her standard position as Penn State’s set piece delivery specialist, lifting a well-struck ball into the heart of the Wildcat box. Gleason’s service zipped straight toward Martin’s head in the front of the goal mouth around 10 yards out, where the savvy Nittany Lion midfielder redirected the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal in what proved to be the eventual match-winning score. PSU 2, NU 0
88’ – In the waning moments of Sunday afternoon’s contest, a Nittany Lion committed an unfortunately timed foul inside the penalty area. Wildcat attacker Kennedy Roesch stood watch at the penalty spot, ultimately converting with a high-powered shot into the lower left corner just past Gress’ correct diving save attempt. PSU 2, NU 1
UP NEXT
No. 18 Penn State women's soccer prepares for the third stop on its three-match Big Ten Conference road trip next Saturday, October 4, as the Nittany Lions face off against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights from Yurcak Field. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. (ET) with streaming available 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.