UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women’s soccer wrapped up its 32nd varsity season in style on Sunday afternoon, with the Nittany Lions rolling to a 2-0 win over the Ohio State Buckeyes in the regular season finale from Jeffrey Field.
Penn State closed the book on its 2025 campaign by improving to 9-6-3 overall and 5-4-2 in Big Ten Conference competition, guaranteeing PSU’s place in the league’s postseason event which will begin next weekend at Folk Field on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. PSU finished inside the top 10 of the league standings for the 32nd consecutive season, once for every year the Nittany Lions have competed at the varsity level. The Blue & White need just one more win to extend the nation’s second-longest streak of consecutive 10-win seasons to 32 as well. Following the 37th all-time meeting of the two teams, PSU improves to 26-10-2 overall and improves to 5-1-0 against the Buckeyes on Jeffrey Field over the last six meetings. Ohio State clinched its B1G Tournament spot last week and completes it season at 8-3-6 overall and 4-2-5 in the Big Ten.
The Nittany Lions dominated the run of play for all 90 minutes and racked up a wide array of statistical advantages across Sunday’s regular season finale. Penn State amassed a striking 17-9 differential on the final shot chart with four student-athletes recording multi-shot matches. PSU also notched a solid 7-3 edge in shots on goal, marking the team’s first win in on-target attempts since notching a 6-3 edge against Oregon on October 12. Penn State picked up its fifth win in the corner kick competition over the last six fixtures, logging an 8-3 win in the category to tie the team’s season high in the statistic, also last set against the Ducks. Fouls were called evenly both ways, with each team logging 11 whistles on the day while Ohio State logged a trio of cautions and PSU picked up one.
Graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean closed the book on her final regular season at the collegiate level with a decisive score to put the Buckeyes away in the second half. MacBean notched her seventh goal in Big Ten Conference competition to extend her league-best mark in the statistic. The Excelsior, Minnesota, native is up to eight goals on the campaign and 17 points on the season, rising to 37 career goals and 84 points. MacBean is the nation’s fifth-leading career goal scorer among active collegians and ranks 11th in Division I in total points.
Elsewhere on the scoresheet, freshman midfielder Riley Cross tallied her third point at the collegiate level with her third career assist. The Chatham, New Jersey, native found her name on the box score for the first time since providing a helper in Penn State’s match against Illinois on the road on September 25, providing the primary assist on MacBean’s tally in Sunday’s win over OSU. Redshirt senior midfielder Julia Raich booked her fifth assist of 2025 and continued her highest-scoring season at PSU with her 15th point of the campaign. The Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, native logged an assist for the first time since adding a helper against Illinois on September 25. Penn State saw four players log 90 minutes on the pitch, with redshirt junior defender Kayleigh Herr, sophomore defender Bella Ayscue, freshman defender Hannah Jordan and redshirt freshman defender Lilly Burger going the distance.
Between the posts, redshirt junior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress compiled her third clean sheet of the 2025 season and seventh shutout of her collegiate career, powering Penn State to its fourth such performance as a team this year. Gress logged her second shutout in Big Ten Conference play, with her only prior performance of that nature coming against the Purdue Boilermakers on October 16. The Lyndhurst, New Jersey, native tallied a trio of saves on the day without a goal conceded across all 90 minutes of action, moving to 9-6-3 to mirror Penn State’s team record. Ohio State veteran netminder Molly Pritchard picked up a quartet of saves and was only credited with a single goal allowed when accounting for a Buckeye own goal in the first half of action.
Penn State looked impressive right out of the gates, with the Blue & White logging the first shot on goal of the match as well as four of the first five corner kick opportunities in the fixture. The Blue & White generated multiple chances as the first half wore on, but a fortuitous bounce in the 29th minute of play put the Nittany Lions ahead. An aggressive challenge by the Buckeyes resulted in a yellow card and a free kick opportunity for Gleason, who passed the ball centrally toward Ayscue. The second-year defender clobbered the ball into the 18 toward the head of freshman midfielder Dikte Bang, but the ball careened past the Nittany Lion attacker onto the head of a Buckeye in their own box. The ball took an odd bounce off the Ohio State defender and took a couple of bounces en route to finding the back of the net for the match’s lid-lifting score. The Nittany Lions played well from that point forward and managed to maintain the 1-0 advantage heading into the break.
Ohio State managed the first corner kick opportunity in the second half and appeared to stabilize early on, but PSU was able to ice the match with a decisive second score in the 56th minute of play. A pristine goal scoring opportunity materialized in the run of play through the center of the pitch, with Raich commanding possession past the midfield line. Raich worked centrally and ultimately delivered the ball to her left for Cross on the far side of the pitch. The rookie Penn Stater wasted no time with a touch and elected to immediately serve the ball into the 18 for MacBean, who took a couple of dribbles and spun off her defender to generate space. The veteran Penn State striker utilized her right foot to bury the attempt into the lower right corner of the goal to ice the match. Penn State’s defense buckled down the rest of the way and managed to close the book on a resounding 2-0 decision to close out the 2025 regular season.
SCORING SUMMARY
29’ – An aggressive challenge by the Buckeyes resulted in a yellow card and a free kick opportunity for Gleason, who passed the ball centrally toward Ayscue. The second-year defender clobbered the ball into the 18 toward the head of Bang, but the ball careened past the Nittany Lion attacker onto the head of a Buckeye in their own box. The ball took an odd bounce off the Ohio State defender and took a couple of bounces en route to finding the back of the net for the match’s lid-lifting score. PSU 1, OSU 0
56’ – A pristine goal scoring opportunity materialized in the run of play through the center of the pitch, with Raich commanding possession past the midfield line. Raich worked centrally and ultimately delivered the ball to her left for Cross on the far side of the pitch. The rookie Penn Stater wasted no time with a touch and elected to immediately serve the ball into the 18 for MacBean, who took a couple of dribbles and spun off her defender to generate space. The veteran Penn State striker utilized her right foot to bury the attempt into the lower right corner of the goal to ice the match. PSU 2, OSU 0
UP NEXT
Penn State women's soccer awaits its seeding and opening round opponent in the Big Ten Conference Women's Soccer Tournament. First round and quarterfinal matches will be contested at Folk Field on the campus of Purdue University next Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, October 30 and November 1-2. The B1G semifinals and final will take place at Energizer Park in St. Louis on Thursday and Sunday, November 6 and 9.
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.