Aug. 27, 2017
| 4 | 2 |
| University Hall Turf Field | Charlottesville, Va. | 511 | |
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| FINAL STATISTICS |
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Nittany Lions capped opening weekend on the road with a 4-2 win over No. 10 Virginia Sunday afternoon at University Hall Turf Field.
"It was a great team effort," said head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss.
"We had a spell where we got tired and they capitalized on us being a little fatigued. We made it difficult on ourselves to play, we had three yellow cards and played 15-minutes down a player but they rallied and played a good zone defense and we were able to get through the 70-minutes with a win on the road against a very good team."
Penn State (2-0) got things going early and often, scoring three of their four goals within a 12-minute span to give the Nittany Lions a dominating lead early in the first half.
Bes Bovelander scored her first-career goal on a shot from the left side of the cage to break the scoreless tie and give the Nittany Lions the lead.
Here's a 👀 at Bovelander's first career goal in the 14th minute! #WeAre #PSUFH 🏑🏑🏑 pic.twitter.com/3vApZf6Kpo
— PSU Field Hockey (@PennStateFH) August 27, 2017
Moira Putsch again found herself on the stat sheet with the assist making it two-straight games with an assist to start the 2017 campaign following her assist on Friday against No. 23 Old Dominion.
Nine minutes after Bovelander's goal, Gini Bramley dribbled in towards the goal off the save from Virginia's Carrera Lucas who rushed out of the cage leaving an empty net for Bramley to tap the ball into extending the lead to 2-0 in favor of Penn State.
Here's a look at the second goal for the Nittany Lions, scored by Gini Bramley pic.twitter.com/A6vTODc5qK
— PSU Field Hockey (@PennStateFH) August 27, 2017
A short three minutes later, Bramley struck again making it 3-0 Penn State midway through the opening half.
Bovelander, who scored the first goal in the game, notched her second-career goal in the 46th minute on the second attempt off a penalty corner by the Nittany Lions to give Penn State its largest lead of the day at 4-0.
Check out Bes Bovelander's SECOND goal of the game to give Penn State a 4-0 lead over No. 10 Virginia #WeAre! 🏑 pic.twitter.com/DTjt2M4aOx
— PSU Field Hockey (@PennStateFH) August 27, 2017
Though Penn State gave up two goals late in the match they finished the game on a strong note to knock off No. 10 Virginia and earn their second win against a ranked team this weekend.
"I thought (the Penn State defense) played with a lot of composure late in the game, they certainly played with a lot of composure early in the game. I thought our possession skills and outletting today were sharp and spot on. Gini (Bramley) had a good game, Bes (Bovelander) really stepped up and it was good to see her put the ball hard into the net and it was fun to get a win," said Morett-Curtiss.
Penn State moves to 2-0 on the season and 6-5 against Virginia over the last 11 years during opening weekend.
Penn State out shot Virginia 20-17 while the Cavaliers held an advantage in penalty corners at 8-6. Jenny Rizzo again logged 70-minutes in the cage making a season high eight saves on the day.
Penn State will be back in action Friday, Sept. 1 at 6 p.m. when the Nittany Lions host Temple in their first home contest of the season at Field Hockey Complex.
For more on Nittany Lion Field Hockey, log onto www.GoPSUsports.com or follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at @PennStateFH, and on Facebook at PennStateFieldHockey.