UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Powered by a trio of goal scorers and an all-around team effort on the defensive end of the pitch, the eighth-seeded Penn State women’s soccer team rolled to a 3-0 victory over the Army Black Knights in the opening round of the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championships on Saturday night from Jeffrey Field.
For the 32nd year in a row, the Nittany Lion women’s soccer program crossed into double-digits in the win column, accomplishing that feat in every season of the team’s varsity era since its inaugural collegiate run in 1994. The Blue & White now own a 10-7-3 overall record in the 2025 season and earned a trip to the second round of the national postseason for the 17th year in a row, booking opening-round victories in every year since 2009. PSU is now 48-7-1 in NCAA Tournament matches played on Jeffrey Field, 67-28-3 in the national postseason all-time and has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament or later on 28 occasions.
In the all-time series against Army, PSU improves to 2-0-0 overall, with both matches coming in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in University Park. The Nittany Lions have outscored the Black Knights by a 4-0 margin in the two combined meetings, with the last fixture coming during the 2011 tournament that resulted in a 1-0 Penn State victory. PSU earned a trip back to Charlottesville, Virginia, for the second round of the 2025 event following the win over Army, looking to avenge a 1-0 defeat at the hands of top-seeded and seventh-ranked UVA next Thursday, November 20. In defeat, Army drops to 14-6-2 to conclude its historic 2025 campaign with a Patriot League Tournament championship to the program’s credit.
The Blue & White were dominant throughout Saturday’s NCAA Tournament opener, highlighted by an impressive 21-9 differential in total shot attempts. The Nittany Lions booked their second-most shots in a single match in the 2025 season and amassed a 9-3 margin in terms of shots on goal, the team’s most on-target shot attempts in a single fixture since booking 10 against Rutgers on October 4. The Black Knights were able to pick up victories in saves with a 6-3 margin, in addition to the corner kick competition with another 6-3 win in that category. Fouls were called in abundance both directions, with the Nittany Lions whistled for 11 infractions while Army was called for nine. Neither squad was saddled with a caution across the 90 minutes.
PSU was anchored by a trio of goal scorers in the opening-round win, the team’s most goal scorers in a match since three different student-athletes found the back of the net at Illinois on September 25. Graduate forward Kaitlyn MacBean continued to lead the way for the Nittany Lions, extending her team lead in goals scored this season with her 10th tally of 2025. The Excelsior, Minnesota, native has cracked double figures in goals in each of the last three seasons, burying 39 scores over the course of her decorated collegiate career in Happy Valley. She now owns a pair of match-winning scores this season and is up to 13 in her four seasons of collegiate competition.
Senior forward Amelia White added her name to the scorebook on Saturday night, continuing to build on her single-season career-best in scoring by cracking the 16-point mark with a goal and assist against Army. White, a native of Fort Wayne, Indiana, is up to six goals on the season with four additional helpers to reach 16 points on the year. Finally, freshman forward Dikte Bang recorded her first goal and points as a collegian in her eighth career match, with the Odense, Denmark, native logging the third and final score in the win in the second half of play. In the passing game, four Nittany Lions were able to record assists with redshirt senior midfielder Riley Gleason logging a multi-assist outing. Gleason, a native of Mission Viejo, California, crossed the double-digit mark in assists this season and now boasts 11 helpers on the year, two shy of the top three all-time in a single season at Penn State. In addition to White and Gleason’s contributions, redshirt senior midfielder Julia Raich and freshman defender Hannah Jordan both logged assists in PSU’s dominant all-around performance.
Between the posts, PSU utilized a two-keeper platoon to record the team’s sixth clean sheet of the year and second consecutive shutout on Jeffrey Field. Redshirt junior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress earned the start and played 77 minutes, logging one save in her Saturday night performance. Redshirt senior Amanda Poorbaugh played over the course of the final 13 minutes, closing out her time on Jeffrey Field with a pair of saves to her credit. For Army, sophomore goalkeeper Karalyn Dail went the full 90 minutes and recorded six saves against three goals allowed.
The Nittany Lions were dominant over the course of the opening 45 minutes, managing to rack up a pair of goals in addition to a striking 13-3 differential on the shot chart through the early going. PSU got the match started with the first four shots of the match, but Penn State’s fifth try of the night proved to be the match-winning effort. Jordan maintained possession along the right flank of the formation and slotted a quick pass to her left toward Gleason, who powered the ball forward to MacBean on the edge of the 18 with her back to the goal. The veteran striker worked against her Black Knight opponent and eventually created separation with a quick move toward the goal line. MacBean utilized a powerful right-footed strike and smacked the ball off the far post and into the back of the net for her 10th tally of 2025.
The match continued on for 10 minutes from that point before the Blue & White were able to double up their advantage in the 19th minute of play. Gleason worked centrally toward the Army 18-yard box and utilized a right-footed ball forward to her right to find White. The senior used some fancy footwork to place the ball on her left foot, working centrally to her left with a quick dribble. White then took a left-footed blast and buried the ball into the back left corner of the Army goal past a diving attempt from Dail. PSU’s back line was able to hold strong over the final 25 minutes of work in the opening stanza to take a 2-0 advantage into the halftime break.
PSU remained in control over the final 45 minutes of action, with the Blue & White adding a third and final insurance score in the 76th minute of play. Raich battled through pressure from an Army defender to move the ball over to her left toward White, whose central run was met by another Black Knight back-line player. White slotted a pass forward through pressure toward Bang, who sprinted forward into the Army box. Bang took a couple of dribbles and unleashed a right-footed try that found the bottom left corner of the goal from about 14 yards out. Penn State closed out its 17th consecutive opening round NCAA Tournament victory with a solid defensive showing down the final stretch, closing the book on a 3-0 Nittany Lion win.
SCORING SUMMARY
9’ – Jordan maintained possession along the right flank of the formation and slotted a quick pass to her left toward Gleason, who powered the ball forward to MacBean on the edge of the 18 with her back to the goal. The veteran striker worked against her Black Knight opponent and eventually created separation with a quick move toward the goal line. MacBean utilized a powerful right-footed strike and smacked the ball off the far post and into the back of the net for her 10th tally of 2025. PSU 1, ARMY 0
19’ – Gleason worked centrally toward the Army 18-yard box and utilized a right-footed ball forward to her right to find White. The senior used some fancy footwork to place the ball on her left foot, working centrally to her left with a quick dribble. White then took a left-footed blast and buried the ball into the back left corner of the Army goal past a diving attempt from Dail. PSU 2, ARMY 0
76’ – Raich battled through pressure from an Army defender to move the ball over to her left toward White, whose central run was met by another Black Knight back-line player. White slotted a pass forward through pressure toward Bang, who sprinted forward into the Army box. Bang took a couple of dribbles and unleashed a right-footed try that found the bottom left corner of the goal from about 14 yards out. PSU 3, ARMY 0
UP NEXT
Eighth-seeded Penn State women’s soccer continues its journey in the 2025 NCAA Division I Women’s Soccer Championships with a second-round appointment against the top-seeded and seventh-ranked Virginia Cavaliers from Klöckner Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia. The match will be contested on Thursday, November 20, with kick time to be determined. Action will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via ESPN+ and the ESPN app on connected devices.
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.