Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Penn State
Women's Soccer Topped by No. 8 Penn State, 7-0
9/23/2014 10:35:00 PM | Women's Soccer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Eighth-ranked Penn State remained red-hot with a 7-0 victory over visiting Bucknell on Tuesday night at Jeffrey Field. The Nittany Lions, who were coming off a 5-1 win over Ohio State, improved to 8-1 on the season, while the Bison fell to 5-5.
Mallory Weber put the hosts on the board first in the 15th minute, and then Frannie Crouse scored the first of her two goals on the night in the 31st. The Bison appeared to be headed to the locker room with the deficit at just two, but with only 24 seconds left in the half Megan Schafer scored on a deflected shot to make it 3-0. Then just 1:14 after the break, Emily Ogle scored off a Weber feed to put the contest out of reach.
Penn State tacked on three more goals in the final 14 minutes, including Crouse's second of the night with 53 seconds to play.
Bucknell generated eight shots, and seven of them were on frame. Seven of the eight shots came from Bison reserves, including a team-high three from freshman Kendall Ham, who had a couple of good scoring chances in the second half. Classmate Maddie Mulford took two shots.
Both teams split the goalkeeping duties. For Bucknell Jessie Ashworth played the first half was credited with one save, and Jessica Ratner came on in the second and stopped four shots. Britt Eckerstrom (three saves) and Meghan Kaminski (four saves) combined on the shutout for Penn State.
"Obviously Penn State is a great team with some very special players," said head coach Ben Landis afterward. "The goal just before the half and then the fourth goal coming right out of halftime really changed the game. We felt that if we could have kept it 2-0 then anything could happen. We missed some good chances, and Kendall was unlucky not to score. We lost the match, but I think we found some answers to some questions."
The Bison return to Patriot League play on Friday at night at home, hosting Lehigh at 7 p.m. at Emmitt Field at Holmes Stadium.
