Penn State Women’s Soccer Weekend Recap: Oct. 24
No. 24 Penn State women’s soccer ended its season 10-4-3 with a 5-3-2 conference record after falling to Nebraska 2-4 and tying Iowa 1-1.
The Nittany Lions faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Thursday, as they look to improve their conference record.
After the first whistle was blown Nebraska took off with the game, scoring two goals in the first seven minutes of the first half. Florence Belzile put the moves on Penn State's defense and scored both of Nebraska's goals on her own.
Penn State responded with a goal of its own in the 17 minute of the first half, but it didn’t take long for Nebraska to match the Nittany Lions’ goal. Ally Schlegel scored for Penn State but less than a minute later, was Sarah Weber for Nebraska that answered back.
Gwen Lane added to the Huskers’ lead in the 33 minute of the first half. Heading into half Nebraska led 4-1 but on the stat sheet Penn State was only a step behind.
Coming out of half Schlegel scored a goal for Penn State, trying to spark a comeback from the team. That spark slowly died out as Nebraska controlled the ball and ran out the clock to win the game 4-2.
The Nittany Lions wanted to get a big win before the end of the season against 5-6-6 Iowa. Schlegel would score the only goal for Penn State in the 24th minute of the first half.
After a defensive stand at the end of the first half, Iowa stormed out of the half and scored the game tying goal. That was the final score of the game as both teams got locked into a defensive battle in the second half.
Elle Kershner got a final shot at the net with a corner kick late in the second half. The kick went over the net and the game ended in a tie.
The redshirt senior Schlegel scored all of Penn State’s goals from the weekend. She will be a crucial part in the role of this offense headed into the tournament.
Penn State had an ugly start against Nebraska. The Nittany Lions will need to lock down on defense and control momentum swings well if they want to keep their season alive in the tournament.
Penn State has clinched a spot in the Big Ten Tournament but the Nittany Lions will have to wait for the release of the bracket to see who they will go against.
The quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament will start on Oct. 30 and it’ll be held on the home fields of the top four seeds in the bracket.
Micheal Bolger is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mpb6233@psu.edu.
