Penn State Gets By Maryland On Late Goal

Story posted October 12, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Joe Skinner

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - On a chilly Friday night at Jeffery Field, the Penn State Nittany Lions (10-5-0, 6-2-0) welcomed the Maryland Terrapins (4-8-4, 2-5-1) for a homecoming weekend matchup.  Fueled by a second-half goal from sophomore forward Kerry Abello, Penn State left with a 1-0 win. 

“Every game in the Big Ten right now is tough,” Penn State head coach Erica Dambach said.  “Got a clean sheet off a team that’s got a lot of offensive force, so I’m proud of the group.”

In the first half, Penn State came out with a lot of pressure on redshirt senior goalkeeper Rachel Egyed.  The Nittany Lions peppered the net with 11 shots in the first half. 

“We are just finding a way [to win],” Dambach said. 

Senior midfielder Emily Ogle finished with four shots on the night, sophomore midfielder Shea Moyer had three, and junior midfielder Charlotte Williams had two.  Maryland only had six shots in the entire match. 

Penn State dominated the possession in the first half, putting all of those shots on net and earning five corner kicks.  However, the Maryland defense of Jenna Surdick, Niven Hegema, Julia New, and Adalee Broadbent were able to keep the Nittany Lions off the board. 

“Every time we get a shutout on this field, on the road, wherever it is, it’s definitely a full team effort,”  junior goalkeeper Amanda Dennis said. 

Immediately out of the second half, Maryland flipped the script and start putting pressure on Dennis for the first time in the match.  Redshirt freshman forward Alyssa Poarch was able to find a clear path to shoot, but Dennis stopped it for one of her six saves of the game. 

In the 60th minute, Penn State was finally able to break through when Abello scored off an assist from Ogle on a perfectly executed give-and-go.  The goal ended up being the games only, and Penn State notched their sixth win in the Big Ten schedule and get to double digits overall. 

“The fact that we can rotate players in and out, players like [freshman forward] Kim Dubs are giving us great minutes off the bench right now, it’s the difference in wins and losses,” Dambach said. 

Penn State gets another home game next, this time a test against No. 21 Rutgers.  Maryland stays on the road and travels to Columbus to take on Ohio State.

 


Joe Skinner is a sophomore broadcast journalism major.  To contact him, email jcs6108@psu.edu.