LYNCHBURG, Va. – Driven by a trio of second-half tallies from three different goal scorers and a multi-assist outing from redshirt senior midfielder Riley Gleason, the No. 9 Penn State women’s soccer team rolled to an impressive 3-0 road victory over the Liberty Flames on Sunday afternoon from Osborne Stadium.
Following Penn State’s second shutout victory of the 2025 campaign, the Blue & White improve to 4-2-1 overall through their seven non-conference fixtures, with their only two blemishes coming on the road against opponents nationally ranked inside the top 10. PSU secured a non-conference winning percentage of 0.643, finishing the non-league portion of its schedule above .500 for the 15th year in a row, a streak which dates to the 2011 season. Following the second all-time meeting between the Nittany Lions and Flames, Penn State remains unblemished against Liberty, rising to 2-0-0 with wins in 2022 and 2025. Liberty drops to 4-2-2 overall and will return to action in Lynchburg this Thursday, September 11, with a 6 p.m. (ET) kick against UNC Greensboro.
The Nittany Lions turned in their most statistically dominant match of the season to date on Sunday, with the Blue & White setting season high marks in shots and corner kicks while running up significant advantages in every major stat category. Penn State took home a win on the shot chart for the fourth time in the 2025 campaign, outpacing Liberty to the tune of a 19-12 mark with 14 of those tries coming in the second half of play. PSU’s previous season high in shot attempts was 14 across all 90 minutes against then No. 23 Saint Louis on August 21. Penn State won a 7-2 victory in terms of on-target shot attempts and picked up its first win of the season in the corner kick competition, doing so in 7-4 fashion. The Nittany Lions surpassed their previous season-best mark in the corner category of three, set twice against Santa Clara and James Madison on August 28 and 31. Foul calls were relatively even, with PSU earning seven and LU earning six, with the Flames also picking up the only booking of the day in the 15th.
Individually, the Blue & White benefitted from a bevy of impressive performances from multiple student-athletes, with a trio of Penn Staters finding the back of the net in Sunday’s action from Virginia. Redshirt senior midfielder and team captain Julia Raich was the first Nittany Lion on the board in the win, earning credit for her first collegiate match-winning goal as well as her third tally of the campaign overall. Raich, a native of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, is up to eight points on the year through her first seven starts, needing just three more points to match her single-season career high of 11 set in 2023. Raich finished the fixture with two shots and only one on-target try in 66 solid minutes of work in the field.
Redshirt freshman defender Lilly Burger was a menace on set pieces for the Nittany Lions, utilizing a pinpoint header off a corner to find the back of the net for her first collegiate goal and points scored on just her fifth-ever shot attempt. Burger, a native of New Holland, Pennsylvania, added another shot on goal moments later another header off a corner, but the Flames were able to utilize a team save to prevent the brace. Burger earned her first collegiate start in the match and played a career-high 80 minutes as an outside back, marking the first change to the PSU starting XI this year as a remarkable success. Additionally, Big Ten scoring leader and Nittany Lion breakout sophomore forward Aubrey Kulpa added her name to the box score in the 80th minute, tacking on an insurance score for the Nittany Lions that marked her sixth goal of the 2025 season. Kulpa, a native of Cromwell, Connecticut, is up to 13 points on the year, needing just four more to match her mark of 17 from last season in one-third as many matches played.
In the passing game, Penn State’s assist leader in Gleason was at it again, supplying a pair of helpers to mark the first multi-assist performance by a Nittany Lion in 2025. The Mission Viejo, California, native is up to five assists this season, marking a new single-season career best in the statistic for PSU’s veteran set-up woman. Additionally, Gleason’s running mate in the holding midfield, redshirt junior Molly Martin, etched her name into the box score thanks to an assist on Raich’s match winner in the 55th. Martin, a native of Acton, Massachusetts, marked her second assist of the campaign to join her first collegiate helper against Santa Clara on August 24. Three Nittany Lions played all 90 minutes in the victorious effort, with the back line trio of redshirt junior Kayleigh Herr, sophomore Bella Ayscue and freshman Hannah Jordan all going the distance.
Defensively, the Nittany Lions worked together alongside a pair of goalkeepers to force the team’s second shutout of the 2025 season, with the last clean sheet for the Blue & White coming against Santa Clara on Jeffrey Field in a 2-0 finish on August 28. In goal, redshirt junior Mackenzie Gress totaled 85 minutes played with a pair of saves to her credit en route to the winning decision. The Lyndhurst, New Jersey, native Gress boasts an identical individual record to the Nittany Lion team mark, rising to 4-2-1 following the win. Redshirt senior Amanda Poorbaugh went the remaining five minutes for PSU, facing off against a single Flame shot that soared above the crossbar. For the Flames, Ainsley Leja booked a trio of saves in her complete-match outing, surrendering three goals in the process.
The first half of action featured relatively little by way of serious goal-scoring threats, but the Nittany Lions were able to maintain a strong command of the match through controlling possession. PSU did muster the first two chances of the contest, with a shot by senior forward Amelia White nicking off the left post in the eighth minute, followed by an off-target try from Kulpa in the 11th. Liberty began to settle in toward the middle portion of the opening stanza, ultimately finishing the first half with a quartet of shots to their credit. Penn State was held to just two shot attempts for most of the frame, but a flurry of activity toward the end of the first half saw the Blue & White earn a pair of corners and tack on three more shot attempts before the horn. Despite the late push, neither team was able to find an icebreaker, and returned to the locker rooms knotted at nil.
Out of the intermission, the Nittany Lions made a couple of lineup and tactical adjustments to get a stronger grip on the action in the second half. Those changes paid dividends in the 55th minute, as the Blue & White called on MacBean to make a dangerous run up the center of the pitch, with the Flames making a desperation play on the ball that rolled past the end line for a Nittany Lion corner. PSU delivered the service into the 18, where the ball rolled harmlessly past a slew of student-athletes into the central portion of the box. The ball found Martin’s foot around 15 yards out, at which point she played the ball back to the edge of the penalty area for Raich. The veteran Penn Stater unleashed a tremendous right-footed effort that rocketed toward the crossbar, bouncing down and into the back of the net for the ice-breaking score.
Another corner kick opportunity for the Nittany Lions spelled disaster for the Flames less than five minutes following the lid-lifting tally, with Gleason standing over the ball in the far corner and delivering a service into the box. The ball was forced back out to Gleason by the Liberty defense, but a pinpoint service back into the area from PSU’s assist leader found Burger’s head less than 10 yards out. The redshirt freshman defender’s head sent the ball into the top left corner of the Liberty net for her first score as a collegiate athlete. The Nittany Lions worked with a two-goal lead for the next 20 minutes, but were able to garner an insurance tally in the 80th. Gleason worked the ball centrally toward the Liberty net and fed the ball out wide to Kulpa on the edge of the 18-yard box. From there, the second-year star unleashed a sure-footed shot attempt off her left boot that careened along the pitch into the bottom right corner of the goal. The Nittany Lions battened down the hatches defensively the rest of the way, and ultimately came away with the impressive 3-0 result to close out non-conference action.
SCORING SUMMARY
55’ – The Blue & White called on MacBean to make a dangerous run up the center of the pitch, with the Flames making a desperation play on the ball that rolled past the end line for a Nittany Lion corner. PSU delivered the service into the 18, where the ball rolled harmlessly past a slew of student-athletes into the central portion of the box. The ball found Martin’s foot around 15 yards out, at which point she played the ball back to the edge of the penalty area for Raich. The veteran Penn Stater unleashed a tremendous right-footed effort that rocketed toward the crossbar, bouncing down and into the back of the net for the ice-breaking score. PSU 1, LU 0
60’ – Another corner kick opportunity for the Nittany Lions spelled disaster for the Flames less than five minutes following the lid-lifting tally, with Gleason standing over the ball in the far corner and delivering a service into the box. The ball was forced back out to Gleason by the Liberty defense, but a pinpoint service back into the box from PSU’s assist leader found the head of Burger less than 10 yards out. The redshirt freshman defender’s head sailed the ball into the top left corner of the Liberty net for her first score as a collegiate athlete. PSU 2, LU 0
80’ – Penn State garnered an insurance tally in the 80th minute of action, with Gleason working the ball centrally toward the Liberty net. The veteran Nittany Lion midfielder fed the ball out wide to Kulpa on the edge of the 18-yard box, where the second-year star unleashed a sure-footed shot attempt off her left boot. The ball careened along the pitch into the bottom right corner of the goal past a diving attempt at a save from Leja. PSU 3, LU 0
UP NEXT
No. 9 Penn State women's soccer returns to Happy Valley and opens its 32nd season as a Big Ten Conference program on Thursday, September 11, as the Blue & White welcome the Maryland Terrapins to Jeffrey Field in a 6 p.m. (ET) fixture. The match will air live to a national television audience via the Big Ten Network, with streaming available through the FOX Sports 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.