UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 9 Penn State women’s soccer battled for 90 minutes and largely outplayed their opponents, but a tally against the run of play in the third minute afforded No. 5 Michigan State a tightly-contested 1-0 victory over the Nittany Lions Sunday afternoon on Jeffrey Field. PSU welcomed a season-best 2,045 fans into the stands, highlighted by the program’s annual 11v100 match at halftime featuring the Centre Soccer Association.
Following Sunday afternoon’s result, the Nittany Lions dropped to 8-2-1 overall through their first 11 contests of the 2024 campaign, moving to 2-1-0 against Big Ten Conference opponents in the process. Michigan State extended their unbeaten start to the season and improved to 8-0-2 overall with an unblemished 3-0-0 start to league action with additional wins over Maryland and Nebraska. In the all-time series, Michigan State notched its second all-time win on Jeffrey Field, but the Nittany Lions continue to maintain a dominant 26-7-0 lead on the Spartans dating to the first all-time meeting in 1994.
The Blue & White were far more effective in generating quality looks on goal than their opponents, racking up a stark 18-12 shot differential against their nationally ranked challenger while simultaneously dismantling the Spartans by an 11-4 tally on goal. Penn State’s front-line student-athletes won nine corner kicks on the day, with the Michigan State attack also generating nine such chances. The top 10 matchup lived up to the billing in terms of physicality, with MSU committing 12 fouls against eight for the Nittany Lions. Michigan State was the only squad in the referee’s book on Sunday, with goalkeeper Kaitlyn Parks earning a yellow for dissent in the 65th minute.
On an individual basis, the Nittany Lions saw a quartet of student-athletes attempt multiple shots, highlighted by four chances apiece from redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean and graduate forward Rebecca Cooke. Senior defender Mieke Schiemann logged a trio of shot attempts, as well as two thunderous shots on goal that were ultimately corralled by MSU’s Parks. Senior midfielder Jordan Fusco contributed a pair of shots on goal in the match as well, with both opportunities saved by the Spartans. Four Nittany Lion fielders played all 90 minutes on Sunday, with redshirt sophomore midfielder Molly Martin, redshirt sophomore defender Kayleigh Herr and graduate defender Ginger Fontenot joining Schiemann with that distinction.
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