UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women's soccer program opened its 2021 season with a 3-1 win on Jeffrey Field over UMass on Thursday evening. The Nittany Lions netted three second-half goals in the comeback victory.
How It Happened
1st Half
The Nittany Lions came out of the gates quickly as the reigning Big Ten Forward of the Year Ally Schlegel nearly gave Penn State a lead just 29 seconds into the game as her header went just over the crossbar.
Another shot from Payton Linnehan went wide in the ninth minute as the Nittany Lions continued to try and gain the early advantage.
UMass sent the first shot on net as Katherine Asman made a diving save to keep the score knotted at 0-0 in the 17th minute.
Penn State continued to press the Minutewomen's backline as the Nittany Lions recorded three shots in the ensuing minutes.
The Nittany Lion offensive pressure was unable to find the back of the net in first half despite outshooting UMass 9-5 and earning seven corners in the first 45 minutes of action.
2nd Half
In the 50th minute, UMass got on the scoreboard first as Chandler Pedolzky snuck a shot into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Minutewomen a 1-0 lead.
The lead for UMass would last just one minute and thirty-seven seconds as Sam Coffey took advantage of a Minutewomen turnover in their own box and buried her shot into the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
In the 57th minute, Schlegel found her mark on a diving header to put the Nittany Lions ahead 2-1.
Three minutes later, Linnehan took a pass from Kate Wiesner. Linnehan chipped the goalkeeper to give the Nittany Lions a 3-1 advantage.
Linnehan's goal was the final scoring effort of the night as the Nittany Lions went to 1-0 on the young season.
Penn State is back in action on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET at against La Salle.
Notes
Sam Coffey netted her 18th goal as a Nittany Lion and 35th of her career. She now has 116 points in her career.
Ally Schlegel scored the 25th goal of her career and her eight game-winning goal of her career.
Cori Dyke has now started every game of her Penn State career, starting her 42nd straight game on Thursday.
Katherine Asman picked up her 15th win in net Thursday night.
This was the first meeting all-time between Penn State and UMass.
The win was the 255th in program history at Jeffrey Field. Penn State is 255-35-13 all-time at Jeffrey Field.