Kaitlyn MacBean got her tenth goal of the season with a Penn State win against Northwestern earlier this week.
The Nittany Lions take on Michigan State today at 2 p.m. Prior to the second Big 10 conference game between them, Penn State stood at 7-1-1 and Northwestern 5-3-1. Northwestern takes on Ohio State today at 11 a.m.
PSU is now 8-1-1 on the season and Northwestern is 5-4-1.
The Wildcats were into their offensive formation immediately in Thursday’s game, but Penn State’s defense was able to flip it and take control of the game quickly.
Jordan Fusco was setting up her teammates, more specifically, MacBean, whose first attempt at putting a score on the board was a header. It didn’t capitalize. Penn State’s offense continued to pressure the Wildcats, earning four corner kicks in the first, but they weren’t able to convert.
A notable moment was graduate student Rowan Lapi’s appearance. She came into the game for Penn State, having formerly played for Northwestern from 2019-2023. She started all the games there in her last two seasons with the Wildcats and even though she wasn’t on the stat sheet, she got to play against a few of her former teammates.
As the game progressed, Kennedy Roesch was all over Penn State’s defense. She took two shots within two minutes but Amanda Poorbaugh saved them both keeping zeros on the scoreboard.
There were a collection of fouls with 10 minutes left: Northwestern ended with four and Penn State with one.
Olivia Borgen entered the game for the Nittany Lions with nine minutes left. Last season when these two teams met, Borgen scored two goals, ending the game in a draw. In the first half, Borgen broke past the defenders and put pressure on keeper Reiley Fitzpatrick, but she couldn’t find the back of the net.
The first half ended 0-0 but it didn’t stay like that long. Four minutes into the second half, Fusco found MacBean, who forced Fitzpatrick out of her box. She sent the ball to the bottom right corner of the goal to put the Nittany Lions up 1-0. All of Fusco’s six assists have been on MacBean’s goals.
“I think they understand what the other one wants to do and as the season grows, they’re just going to get better and better together,” Coach Erica Dambach said about Fusco and MacBean’s connection.
Nicole Doucette and Megan Norkett were continually trying to make chances for Northwestern, but Ginger Fontenot and the rest of the defense were not letting any come through. Poorbaugh didn’t see much action in the second as the Wildcats finished the half with two shots.
A great chance came for the Nittany Lions with 11 minutes left as Amelia White took a shot that was hit away by Fitzpatrick. Wilson was ready for the rebound as she was right there and sent the ball into the back of the net. Celebrations were halted immediately as the goal was ruled offside.
With three minutes remaining, Northwestern tried to put a ton of pressure on Penn State as Fitzpatrick was playing from midfield. The first yellow card of the game was issued as Northwestern’s Maddie Finnerty pulled down Olivia Damico by her jersey.
The Nittany Lions won with a final score of 1-0 and improved to 2-0 in conference play. The Wildcats fall to 0-2 in conference play.
“They’re obviously a really good Michigan State team, and they bring some different things every year, ” MacBean said. “I think it’ll be a really good matchup for us to prepare for the rest of the season.”
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