MATCH DAY: Penn State WSOC vs. Virginia Tech

OPENING KICKOFF

• Penn State women’s soccer concludes a three-match homestand and nonconference play when the Nittany Lions host Virginia Tech at Jeffrey Field on Thursday. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. (ET) with a live stream on B1G+. 

• After outscoring Bucknell and Brown by a combined score of 11-0, the Nittany Lions now rank tied for 12th nationally in goals per match and assists per match at 3.50 each. 

• The Blue & White dominated Brown to the tune of a 6-0 result on August 30. The match saw many milestone moments, headlined by a hat trick from redshirt freshman forward Nicole Crane. Crane scored her first career goal in the match before tacking on two more to record the 26th hat trick in program history. 

• Crane and redshirt senior goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress earned Big Ten Offensive Player and Goalkeeper of the Week accolades on Tuesday while Bella Ayscue earned honorable mention honors on the TopDrawerSoccer National Team of the Week 

• Making her first collegiate start, freshman forward Ellie Kocher scored her first career goal in the match. She became the third freshman Nittany Lion to record their first goal in their first start, joining Anna Babcock against West Virginia and Paige Pasinski against Bucknell. 

• Over the course of the two contests, Penn State totaled 34 points with 13 different Nittany Lions registering at least one point in addition to eight different goal scorers. Of note, redshirt sophomore defender Lilly Burger scored in both matches, junior forward Aubrey Kulpa and junior defender Bella Ayscue both tallied four points with one goal and two assists while freshman midfielder Paige Pasinski and senior defender Kaelyn Wolfe totaled three points apiece with one goal and an assist. 

• Freshmen forwards Marthe Hens and Olivia Robinson both recorded the first points of their young careers with assists against Brown. 

• The victory over the Bears marked the second clean sheet in a row for the Nittany Lions as they defeated Bucknell by a 5-0 margin on August 27. Redshirt senior Mackenzie Gress started in goal, earning her first two wins of the season. 

• Erica Dambach, serving as the head coach of the Nittany Lions for the 20th season, earned her 300th career victory as the leader of Penn State women's soccer against the Bison. With the triumph, Dambach further cemented her status as one of the all-time great coaches in collegiate women's soccer and Penn State Athletics. 

TECH TALK

• Virginia Tech enters Thursday night’s matchup unbeaten with a 4-0-2 record. The Hokies are coming off a ranked road win over No. 22 Georgetown in a 2-1 result on August 30. 

• Prior to defeating the Hoyas, VT took down William & Mary, 3-1, on the road after consecutive draws against Maryland and Liberty at home. The Hokies opened the season with a 2-1 victory over Old Dominion before defeating VMI, 6-0. 

• Virginia Tech has dominated the offensive statistics so far this season with a 126-57 edge in shots over the team’s first six matches, averaging 21 shots per match. VT boats a 10-point goal differential as well as a 37-16 advantage in corner kicks. 

• The Hokies are led offensively by senior forward Anna Weir, who paces the team in goals with five while adding two assists for a total of 12 points. Weird recorded a hat trick in the victory over William & Mary and an assist in the win against Georgetown. 

• Graduate forward Eliana Salama leads VT with four assists in addition to two goals. In total, five Hokies have registered at least one goal and one assist with another eight more tallying at least one point. 

• Junior goalkeeper Julianna Trujillo has started all six of Virginia Tech’s matches. She owns a 1.20 goals against average in 450 minutes with a 0.600 save percentage. Trujillo has collected nine saves this season after making three stops in the Georgetown win. 

STORY OF THE SERIES

• Penn State and Virginia Tech have met just once with the Nittany Lions taking the lone match in the series, a third-round NCAA Tournament contest in 2014, by a score of 2-1. The victory propelled the Nittany Lions to the quarterfinals of that season’s tournament, just one year before winning the national title in 2025. 

• Thursday will be the first-ever regular season meeting in the series.