No. 12 Nittany Lions Set for Rematch of 2023 Sweet 16 at No. 19 Saint Louis – Penn State

KICKIN’ IT

Highlighted by the 25th hat trick in program history, as well as the first hat trick of redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean’s career, No. 12 Penn State rolled to a dominant 3-1 victory over the West Virginia Mountaineers last Thursday night, August 29, at Jeffrey Field. PSU’s dominant final line was accompanied by an overall effective performance on both ends of the pitch, with the Blue & White finishing the night with 13 total shot attempts in addition to eight shots on goal. West Virginia managed to get boot to ball on 14 occasions, narrowly edging out the Nittany Lions for the win on the shot chart. PSU outpaced the Mountaineers on target, however, by an 8-6 margin. Corners were evenly split, 5-5, with both teams committing five fouls apiece.

MacBean, a native of Excelsior, Minnesota, continued to etch her name in the Nittany Lion history books following Thursday night’s effort, scoring the first hat trick at Penn State since Payton Linnehan dropped a trio of goals against Central Connecticut State in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament a year ago. Her three-goal outing surpassed her previous career-high mark in single-match scoring, which included a brace in the 2023 NCAA Tournament Round of 16 matchup against upcoming opponent Saint Louis. Senior attacking midfielder Jordan Fusco has been dominant for the Nittany Lions as a facilitator over the first four matches of the year, with the veteran distributor leading the roster in total assists with four dishes in 2024. Fusco leads the Big Ten Conference in assists per match and is tied for the No. 3 spot in the nation with one dish per outing.

BALLIN’ LIKE BEANY

Redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean returns to action this weekend after recording the 25th hat trick in Nittany Lion women’s soccer program history on Thursday, August 29. MacBean submitted her highest-scoring individual performance in her collegiate career scoring the first hat trick at Penn State since Payton Linnehan dropped a trio of goals against Central Connecticut State in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament a year ago. MacBean would move into a tie for the third-longest goal-scoring streak in PSU history, as the veteran striker booked her seventh consecutive match with a goal to tie Maya Hayes, Katie Schoepfer and Christie Welsh in the category. MacBean became the first Nittany Lion student-athlete to record at least one goal in seven consecutive contests since Hayes accomplished that…