No. 15 Penn State Hits the Road for Nationally Ranked Test at No. 18 Iowa – Penn State

KICKIN’ IT

Penn State battled for 90 minutes and largely outplayed their opponents, but a tally against the run of play in the third minute afforded newly-No. 1 Michigan State a tightly contested 1-0 victory over the Nittany Lions Sunday 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. 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.

The Nittany Lions are off to an overall strong start in the program’s 31st varsity season, with the Blue & White needing just two more wins to extend the team’s streak of double-digit win seasons to 31 straight. PSU has been one of the most consistent women’s soccer programs in the nation since the program’s inception in 1994, reaching 29 consecutive NCAA Tournaments highlighted by seven consecutive Sweet 16 runs. Individually, the Nittany Lions are led by redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean‘s 21 points on a team-leading 10 goals with one assist. Senior midfielder Jordan Fusco leads the squad with six helpers in 2024, with all six assists coming on feeds to MacBean.

BLUE & WHITE… RED, WHITE & BLUE

Redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress earned a spot on the United States U-20 Women’s Youth National Team roster for the 2024 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia. The Nittany Lion keeper began her journey with the team on Sunday, August 18, and will return to the Nittany Lion squad soon. Gress and Team USA finished as bronze medalists at the tournament, booking a 1-0 win over the Netherlands to secure that honor. The United States has been one of the most dominant national team programs at the tournament all-time, with the USA tied alongside Germany and North Korea for the most titles all-time. Team USA has finished on the podium on five separate occasions, highlighted by their third-place finish with Gress on the roster less than a week ago.