Penn State Falls To Michigan In A Defensive Battle
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Turnovers led to a defensive battle in Happy Valley on Saturday.
On senior day, Penn State fell to 19th ranked Michigan by a score of 8-7 in front of a crowded Panzer Stadium.
Kate Love, Taylor Regan, Sydney Wolfington, Erin Triandafels and Mary Muldoon were the seniors celebrated during pregame.
Michigan got on the board first after a goal by Julia Schwabe after multiple chances for Penn State were saved by Arielle Weissman.
Penn State responded with a behind the back goal by Wolfington that brought the crowd to their feet.
“We practice it in practice so why not pull it out in the game on senior day?” Wolfington said.
Schwabe responded for the Michigan Wolverines to put them up once again.
Penn State then evened it up less than two minutes later with a goal by Kristin O’Neill.
The first quarter ended all tied up even with Penn State outshooting 10-4 along with 6 Michigan turnovers.
The blue and white came out dominating in the second half and it paid off with O’Neill adding another goal on the day.
Michigan had multiple chances to respond but Penn State defense did not allow any good shots on net.
After a bad pass, Annabelle Burke was able to retain possession and score to tie it up for Michigan with 2:30 left in the second quarter.
Michigan would fend off the Penn State Nittany Lions offensive pressure at the end of the second quarter to take a 3-3 tie into halftime.
“We were missing two of our top scorers in Taylor Regan and Meg Murray, so we needed a couple of younger players to step up and I think we started the game getting some really good shots on cage, but our shot percentage in the first half was 3-19,” head coach Missy Doherty said.
The second half got started with a goal called back by Michigan and then an immediate goal by Penn State’s Brooke Hoss to take a 4-3 lead.
Less than a minute later, Kaley Thompson would tie the game up for the Michigan Wolverines.
Michigan then retook the lead after a free position shot by Kaylee Dyer ended up in the back of the net.
Penn State would get a free position shot and it would lead to another quick goal by Wolftington to tie it up once again.
Kaley Thompson would then retake the lead for Michigan while Weissman would make some great saves in net to hold the Penn State attack at bay.
The Penn State Nittany Lions would start the fourth down after Kayla Abernathy received a yellow card.
Right after the penalty was killed, Long Island native Brooke Hoss would even up the game with her second goal.
“We played as a team,” Wolfington said. “We had a lot of people step up today and I think we played great.”
The Michigan Wolverines rebounded from this with Burke’s second goal of the season which would cause the blue and white to take a timeout.
O’Neill tied it up with her hat trick goal and once again tied the game up at seven a piece.
Coming off a timeout, Michigan would not be able to get one in and the clock would run out in regulation.
In overtime, Jill Smith scored the winning goal after a controversial call that would go in Michigan’s favor.
Penn State is still searching for its first Big Ten win on the season.
The blue and white drop to 0-5 when scoring less than 10 goals in a game.
James Morrison is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email jpm6920@psu.edu.
