UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – In a back-and-forth nail-bitter that came down to the final seconds of play, it was the performances of two Nittany Lions on Sunday that helped fight off the Michigan Wolverines and sent No. 16 Penn State to the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament.
Goalkeeper Amanda Dennis and midfielder Marissa Sheva, who ended the scoreless deadlock with just one minute to go in the game as she finished a cross from Ellie Jean, were no doubt the talk of Jeffrey Field following their team's hard fought 1-0 victory against Michigan.
Dennis made numerous highlight reel stops late in the match and kept Michigan off the scoreboard despite a formidable offensive attack from the No. 8 seeded team in the tournament.
"I thought Amanda Dennis was the player of the match," head coach Erica Dambach said without hesitation. "I thought she did everything she needed to do for us to win that game and that's what your need in the postseason from your goalkeeper. They're going to have to come up with some big saves and she made three or four to keep us in that game today."
Dennis tied a career-high seven saves on the day and was very effective in coming off her line on the Wolverines' corner kicks and long balls over the top.
"Amanda kept us in the game for the entire 90 minutes," Sheva said of the junior goalkeeper, who helped Penn State register its 10th shutout of the year. "They put a lot of pressure on us in the attack and had some really dangerous shots and had a really talented front line. Just massive save after massive save to keep us in the game."
However, Dennis' great performance in net would have been for naught if it weren't for the heroics of Marissa Sheva. Of all of the stellar saves Dennis made throughout the contest, it was Sheva, yes, the team's starting outside midfielder, who made the most important save of the game – and maybe the team's season.
With just six seconds left in regulation, Michigan had a corner kick with the chance to tie the game on what was essentially a do-or-die last second "Hail Mary" play.
"It was mayhem and it's what you expect in a last-ditch effort from two teams that battled for 90 minutes," Dambach said.
"I couldn't grab a hold of it because there were 22 players in the box, which is a pretty rare instance," Dennis said. "I was just trying to get a hold of it even everyone was trying to clear it all at once."
She continued on about the hectic last play: "We try our best to prepare for these moments in practice and just know that anything can happen and we know we have to play all the way until the last second. It was wild. It was chaotic. We tried to control it as much as we could and just clear off the (goal) line."
Thankfully for Dennis, though, Sheva was there. Sitting on the goal line to back up her keeper, she successfully deflected a ball that was put on net by a Michigan player back out of trouble in what would have forced overtime in a crucial elimination game.
Sheva, who on top of her brilliant defensive stop recorded her second score of the season on her 89th minute go-ahead goal, talked about how she had the wherewithal to be in the exact right position on the play.
"Something we've been putting a lot of emphasis on is commitment in the box because we have some pretty talented players out wide that are getting these great services off, so just getting people in the box and getting someone on the end of a cross," Sheva said. "I saw Ellie Jean sprinting down the sideline and I knew she was going to beat the defender and I was just thinking to get first contact on the ball."
Sheva, along with Dennis and the rest of the Nittany Lions, will hope to continue their good fortunes and tremendous play as they hope to extend their run. The team will now travel to Westfield, Indiana, to play the No. 5 seeded Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday, Nov. 2, at 11 a.m. in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.