Penn State Dominant Again, Defeats Boston U. 6-0
It was another frigid and blustery night at Jeffrey Field when the Penn State women’s soccer team took the pitch against Boston University on Friday night. The cold didn’t stop the Park Ave. Army and 1,224 Penn State fans from coming out and cheering on their team to victory as Penn State defeated Boston University, 6-0 to advance to the third round.
“It’s a good team [Boston]. This was a really good performance from our group tonight to break them down. I thought this was our most complete performance tonight,” said Penn State head coach, Erica Walsh.
Boston University (13-6-3) was coming into the game riding an eight-match winning streak and had only lost one since September 3rd. The Terriers came out strong, but most of the first half consisted of ball control by the Lions. Unlike Penn State’s last game, it took a little while for the first goal to be scored. Penn State (18-3-2) took a 1-0 lead on a deflection off of a shot by sophomore Frannie Crouse just over 27 minutes into the contest.
“When I got the opportunity and saw that the line was high, [Megan] Schafer played me the ball, and I just decided that it was time to go. I started running, and they really didn’t keep up so I took the opportunity to take my shot,” said Crouse.
The goal was Crouse’s 9th on the season, but like always Penn State wasn’t done. Just before halftime, Nickolette Driesse scored a beauty of a goal in the left upper corner of the net from outside the 18 to give the Lions a two-goal advantage heading to the half.
“I just kind of figured I take a chance, and I ripped it as hard as I could,” Driesse said.
After outshooting the Terriers 11-3 in the first half, Penn State would hold true again in the second half. The Lions started the second half with a lot more fire under their belt compared to the first half. Ten minutes into the second half, Megan Schafer put one past Boston goalie, Alyssa Parisi. Schafer’s 11th goal on the season gave Penn State a commanding 3-0 lead. The mindset, though, of this team is to score quickly and to keep the pressure up to get more.
Once this offense gets going, they don’t stop, and so they added another off the foot of Charlotte Williams. Williams scored off of a deflection to give the Lions a four-goal lead. Williams has now scored in two straight games and notched her third goal overall on the season for Penn State.
Penn State wasn’t done, however, and notched a late goal with six minutes remaining to take a 5-0 lead. Elizabeth Ball netted her third goal of the season off of a corner kick. The team never lets up and with less than ten seconds remaining in the game, Haleigh Echard scored her first goal of the season, which capped off a powerful six-goal win.
Boston University’s season came to an end on Friday night, however Boston head coach, Nancy Feldman, wouldn’t have liked her team to play differently than they did.
“You have a couple choices: you can play the game to lose by a goal or two or you can play the game. And I only know one way to play the game,” said Feldman.
With the win, the Lions advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament. The game prior to this one was between Ohio State and Virginia Tech with Ohio State upsetting Virginia Tech to also advance to the next round. The only problem for the Buckeyes is that they have to face this resilient Penn State squad. On October 24th both the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions met in Columbus with Penn State coming out on top, 2-1. Even with their seeding, Walsh knows that this Buckeyes team is very talented.
“They’re coming off a major high beating Virginia Tech. This is NCAA tournament time, you don’t know what to expect. You play a team within the Big Ten, they know you. They know your strengths and weaknesses so you’ve got to expect some wrinkles in what they’re doing,” said Walsh.
Mike Wszolek is a freshman majoring in Broadcast Journalism. To contact him, email mewszolek@gmail.com.
