UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 23 Penn State women's soccer team bounced back for a 5-1 win over the Michigan State Spartans on Sunday afternoon. Five different Nittany Lions netted goals during Sunday's win.
RECAP
In just the sixth minute of action, the Spartans were awarded a penalty kick following a foul inside the box. Michigan State's Danielle Stephan found the back of the net to give the Spartans an early 1-0 lead.
Despite the early setback, Penn State calmly maintained control in the first half. The Nittany Lions tallied five shots over the next nine minutes but couldn't score the equalizer.
Following a restart, Kerry Abello sent a long pass into the box that Frankie Tagliaferri redirected to Ally Schlegel. Schlegel took the pass and scored to tie the match at 1-1 in the 23rd minute of play. Schlegel leads the team with seven goals on the season and is second in the Big Ten in goals scored.
The Nittany Lions continued to control the first half, finishing with 14 shots in the first half alone.
With under a minute to play, it appeared that the teams would head to the locker room tied at 1-1. Payton Linnehan had other ideas. With less than 30 seconds remaining, Frankie Tagliaferri sent a pass behind the defense to Linnehan. Linnehan collected the pass and beat the keeper to the backside of the goal to give the Nittany Lions at 2-1 lead with 14 seconds to play in the half.
To begin the second half, Sam Coffey scored her fourth goal of the season in the 47th minute to give the Nittany Lions a 3-1 lead. Coffey hooked her shot inside the top left corner of the goal to extend the Nittany Lions lead.
Just over two minutes later, Kerry Abello netted the fourth goal of the game for the Nittany Lions. Abello's goal gave the Nittany Lions firm control of the remainder of the game.
Devon Olive capped the scoring in the 76th minute as she took a cross from Leah Scarpelli and flicked the redirect by the goalkeeper.
Penn State did not allow a shot in the second half as the Nittany Lions cruised to a 5-1 win over Michigan State.
The Nittany Lions outshot Michigan State 21-2 in the win.
Penn State continues Big Ten play on Friday, September 27 against Minnesota.
NOTES
Ally Schlegel has scored in seven of the Nittany Lions 10 games this season.
Frankie Tagliaferri's four assists ties the single-game school record set by Ali Krieger in 2003 against Bucknell.
