Penn State women’s soccer takes on UCLA today in a Big Ten televised clash.
The final three games on the Penn State schedule are all Big Ten on the road. The Nittany Lions ended their regular season finale at home Sunday beating Minnesota 3-2.
The game was also inspirational for the athletes, too, as they hosted their Down Syndrome Awareness game, which included Julia Raich’s sister as an honorary captain. Penn State is currently ranked No. 16 and is 11-3-2 overall and 5-2-1 in conference. Minnesota is 9-3-3 overall and 3-3-2 in Big Ten.
The game was hot from the start. Three goals were put away in the first 15 minutes. The first score coming within the first minute at 55 seconds.
Bella Ayscue sent a ball into the box to Raich, who took a header that was initially blocked by Minnesota goalkeeper Sarah Martin. Kaelyn Wolfe was at the right place at the right time as she tapped the ball into the net getting her first collegiate goal.
“Wolfe’s going to give you everything she’s got, every time she steps on the field, and I think she’s earned it,” Penn State head coach Erica Dambach said.
The game was full of high-pressured situations. The Golden Gophers had five free kicks within the first 10 minutes. There were a total of 24 fouls in the game.
“That’s the Big Ten for you,” Penn State’s Olivia Damico said. “We’ve been experiencing it for a few games now and that’s something we try to bring every game, is to be able to keep up with it and step on the front foot.”
Minnesota tied the game up at one 10 minutes in as Penn State defender Molly Martin made a mistake, which led to a Caroline Birdsell shot. That was deflected by goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress leading to a corner kick.
Minnesota took their first corner kick and it was cleared by Ginger Fontenot, which led to a second corner kick. A chain events unfolded in favor of the Gophers, starting with Paige Kalal taking the corner, sending the ball right to Khyah Harper, who sent it into the top left corner past Gress.
Five minutes later, Minnesota took the lead as sloppy passes from Penn State led to a shot from Sophia Romine, who curved the ball to the top left of the net making it 2-1.
More shoving and pushing escalated as both teams fought for possession. There was a huge collision at midfield between Raich and Minnesota midfielder Kate Childers. Childers received a yellow card for conduct, which the Minnesota bench wasn’t too thrilled about.
Not only did the Nittany Lion forwards have to step up because of being down, but also because Amelia White was out due to a long-term injury from Penn State’s game against Maryland.
Minnesota native Kaitlyn MacBean scored on a three-on-one as she tipped the ball past one defender and then took a shot through the legs of another forcing Martin to come out of the net. The ball went right into the center of it with 14 minutes remaining to tie the game at two.
The second half was a played in the midfield as both teams struggled to make clean passes and keep possession. Whenever the Gophers did have possession though, the blue and white defense leveled up.
Another yellow card was given to a Minnesota player as Sophia Romine made a huge slide tackle to Kayleigh Herr.
With eight minutes remaining, Penn State took the 3-2 lead as Jordan Fusco made a perfect cross to Damico. Damico was inside the box and headed the ball into the top right of the net. It was her first goal of the season.
“It was great,” Damico said. “Obviously, I’m just really happy to be able to do something for my team to help our team get the three points and put in the work the whole week to get six points on the week.”
Minnesota couldn’t find the back of the net in the few remaining minutes. Their next opponent is Maryland today.
As for the Nittany Lions, they are in California and take on UCLA today and USC on Sunday.
“Mentality doesn’t change. We go into every game the same and I think obviously away games are a little tougher, because you’re not from your home crowd, but we’re taking away where it’s one and out. So we go and we take the win on Thursday, and then we’ll go on Sunday and do that as well,” MacBean said.
Kassie Vasellas is a Female Athlete News student-intern at Penn State University.
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Photo: Kassie Vasellas
