MATCH DAY: Penn State WSOC at Maryland

OPENING KICKOFF

• Penn State women’s soccer continues Big Ten play on the road against Maryland on Friday evening. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. (ET) at Ludwig Field in College Park, Maryland with a live stream on B1G+. 

• Penn State earned two votes in the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, tying the team for the second-most votes among teams outside the top 25. 

• The Nittany Lions enter Friday night’s contest on a 12-match winning streak against Maryland and have never lost to the Terrapins since they joined the Big Ten in 2014. 

• On Sunday, Penn State earned its first Big Ten win of the 2026 campaign, defeating Minnesota, 1-0, at Jeffrey Field. It was the third shutout for the Nittany Lions on their home pitch. 

• The Blue & White took 18 shots against the Golden Gophers, marking the fourth fixture with at least 15 shots this season. The team’s 18 shots were the second-most attempts of the year and the most against a Power Four opponent. PSU attempted 11 corner kicks, its most since in a single match since September 5, 2024 against Princeton. 

• Junior forward Aubrey Kulpa tallied her third goal of the season with a score in the first half, assisted by freshman forward Olivia Robinson, who notched her second helper of the year. Kulpa leads Penn State with nine points behind three goals and three assists. 

• Redshirt senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress secured her first complete-match shutout of the 2026 campaign in the victory over Minnesota, only needing to make two saves thanks to a strong performance from the Penn State back line that allowed just seven shots, the lowest total this season. She started against Bucknell and Brown, holding both sides scoreless, before being relieved by freshman Lily Selvy, who completed the shutouts. 

• Eight Nittany Lions have registered at least three points with seven of them recording at least one goal and one assist. Five additional members of the squad have at least one goal contribution each. In total, PSU has recorded 47 points through seven matches. 

• Penn State is the most storied program in the history of Big Ten women’s soccer. The Nittany Lions’ 20 regular season championships and nine Big Ten Tournament titles are more than any other program in the conference. The 2015 Penn State squad is the only team in conference history to win a national title. 

MEET MARYLAND

• Maryland enters Friday’s contest with a 3-4-1 record, having dropped four of its last five matches and coming off a 2-0 defeat at the hands of No. 11 Washington before a 1-0 loss against Oregon last week. 

• The Terrapins rank next-to-last in goal differential in the Big Ten, scoring seven times while allowing 11 goals.  

• Former Nittany Lion Jolie Farmer leads the squad with four goals and nine points in five appearances with four starts. Farmer has not seen action since September 3 against Old Dominion, a match Maryland dropped in a 2-0 decision. 

• Forward McKinley Heaven leads the way with 18 shots in eight matches played. She is one of four total goal scorers for the Terps with one tally this season. 

• Goalkeeper Faith Lucky has started five of the Terrapins’ eight matches, saving 19 shots with a 0.704 save percentage and 1.06 goals against average. Meredith Fisher has the other three starts in goal for Maryland, making eight saves while earning two wins. Lucky started both of Maryland’s matches in the Pacific Northwest.

STORY OF THE SERIES

• Penn State and Maryland have matched up 22 times previously, with the Nittany Lions owning a decisive, 18-4-0 lead in the series. 

• The Blue & White have never lost to Maryland since the Terrapins joined the Big Ten ahead of the 2014 season. PSU enters Friday night on a 12-match winning streak over Maryland dating back to 2005.  

• Penn State has not lost a regular season matchup against the Terps since the 2000 season, which is also the program’s last loss in College Park. Since the COVID-altered 2020 season, played in the spring of 2021, the Nittany Lions have outscored the Terrapins by a margin of 26-1 across six meetings and have not conceded a goal since October 8, 2021. 

• Penn State defeated Maryland, 4-0, at Jeffrey Field a season ago. Current leading scorer Aubrey Kulpa earned a goal contribution on every score of the match. She tallied five total points in the victory, collecting three assists and a goal. 

• The last Maryland victory in the series came in the second round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament, as they upset the No. 2 ranked Penn State with a 1-0 win.