COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Five different goal scorers found the back of the net, with four goals coming in a dominant second-half performance as the No. 20 Penn State women’s soccer team throttled the Maryland Terrapins in Big Ten Conference action from Ludwig Field Thursday night. The Nittany Lion victory ensured the 31st-consecutive 10-win campaign in program history, with PSU winning at least 10 matches in every season of its varsity existence.
Penn State’s victorious road outing Thursday night saw the Blue & White climb to 10-3-2 overall in the 2024 campaign while rising to 4-2-1 against Big Ten Conference foes with four matches left on the league calendar. The Terrapins dropped their third-consecutive match and fell to 3-8-4 overall with an 0-6-1 mark against conference competitors this year. In the all-time series with the Terps, Penn State climbed to 17-4-0 overall against Maryland following the 21st meeting. PSU has never dropped a match to Maryland since the Terrapins joined the Big Ten in 2014, going an unblemished 10-0-0 in B1G tests.
As a squad, Penn State was astonishing in practically every facet of the match, highlighted by dominant margins on the shot chart and in terms of shots on goal. PSU attempted 17 total shots in the hostile road environment, placing 11 of those tries on target. The Nittany Lions out-shot Maryland 17-9 overall with a striking 9-1 differential in on-target opportunities. In the corner kick competition, both squads managed a quintet of tries apiece, with Penn State improving to 3-2-0 in 2024 when matching their opponent’s chances from the corner. The match featured relatively clean play, with neither team crossing the double-digit threshold in fouls, but Penn State logged the only booking of the match with a bench yellow card assessed for dissent early in the second half.
Individually, five different Nittany Lions found the back of the net in a raucous offensive performance Thursday night, highlighted by the first career goal from redshirt sophomore midfielder Molly Martin to kick off the dominant PSU second stanza. Martin capitalized on a header drilled perfectly into the box from freshman defender Bella Ayscue off a corner opportunity, with the Apex, North Carolina, native Ayscue earning credit for the Nittany Lions’ only assist of the contest in the process. For Martin, a native of Acton, Massachusetts, an astonishing start to the year was made even sweeter with her first collegiate points overall, with the physical holding midfielder also matching her career high totals in shots and shots on goal with one apiece.
Redshirt senior forward Kaitlyn MacBean continued to impress as one of the most dangerous individual attackers in women’s college soccer Thursday, with the Excelsior, Minnesota, native finding the back of the net for the 12th time this year. MacBean needs just one more tally to become the highest goal-scoring player for Penn State since the turn of the decade, with the veteran Nittany Lion striker just one goal behind Ally Schlegel’s 13-goal performance in the B1G Tournament championship winning 2022 campaign. MacBean booked her fifth match-winning score of the season and the 10th of her storied career following her match-opening tally off a Terrapin giveaway in the first half.
Elsewhere on the box score, freshman forward Aubrey Kulpa found the back of the net for the fourth time this year, making her the third Nittany Lion to cross the double-digit scoring threshold for PSU in 2024. Graduate forward Elle Kershner buried her third goal of the year in the 80th minute of play, while graduate forward Rebecca Cooke logged her first tally of the season in the final minute of competition, her fourth goal scored as a Nittany Lion and 43rd collegiate goal overall. Cooke needs just three more points to become a 100-point scorer in her career following a dominant trio of seasons at Quinnipiac as well as a pair of successful campaigns in Happy Valley.
Between the pipes on Thursday, the Nittany Lions called on redshirt sophomore goalkeeper Mackenzie Gress for her second consecutive start and third of the year. Gress was rarely tested by the Terrapin back line, but made the only Nittany Lion save of the night when called upon in the second half of play. Gress remains unbeaten in her collegiate career at 2-0-1 overall, earning credit for her first career solo shutout Thursday night in College Park. On the opposite end, Maryland keeper Liz Beardsley came up big for the Terrapins on multiple occasions, denying five Penn State chances despite allowing four Nittany Lion goals.
Penn State and Maryland played a relatively quiet opening to Thursday night’s conference test, with neither team managing to attempt a single shot until the Terrapins made an effort in the ninth minute of action. Despite the early Terrapin opportunity, PSU was able to find the back of the net first as outstanding pressure against the Maryland back line applied by redshirt junior midfielder Julia Raich forced a dangerous deflection off a Maryland defender a few steps outside the six-yard box. MacBean found herself all alone with the ball dead-center in front of the net around nine yards out and delivered a swift left-footed finish into the back left corner of the goal for what proved to be the match-winning effort less than 20 minutes into the contest. PSU battened down the hatches defensively over the remainder of the period and returned to the locker room with a 1-0 advantage.
Out of the halftime break, the Nittany Lions wasted little time adding an insurance goal as Ayscue stepped behind the ball after the Nittany Lions won a corner kick opportunity on the far side of the pitch in the 52nd, with the freshman delivering an in-swinging service into the Terrapin box. The delivery soared toward a pair of Penn Staters making a run at the goal, with Martin rising up and using her head to find the back right corner of the Terrapin goal for an 2-0 lead. In the 77th minute, Kershner assumed possession well beyond the midfield line, utilizing a striking run through multiple lines of Terrapin defenders to set up a brilliant Nittany Lion scoring chance. Kershner headed into the box and threaded the needle to a perfectly placed Kulpa, but her right-footed shot attempt would be denied by Beardsley. On the long rebound, Kershner resumed possession centrally at the edge of the penalty box and chipped a right-booted ball into the back left corner for the third Penn State goal.
Kulpa would not be denied a mere three minutes later, as a pristine through ball from PSU found the rookie forward flying down the left side of the pitch. Kulpa dribbled centrally into the 18 to position herself optimally for a goal-scoring chance, but her initial effort ricocheted off Beardsley’s gloves back into the box. Kulpa remained composed and delivered a second try off the rebound that deflected off a Terrapin into the back of the net. A mere 10 minutes later, with time winding down, the Nittany Lions kicked the ball high in the air to bleed clock, but Cooke was able to control the high-arching ball around 30 yards outside the Maryland net. Cooke bobbed and weaved her way through a slew of Terrapin defenders into the box, ultimately placing a powerful strike on the ball as she went to ground with her right foot that found the back left corner of Beardsley’s goal to close out the Penn State scoring on the night.
SCORING SUMMARY
18’ – Outstanding pressure against the Terrapin back line applied by Raich forced a dangerous deflection off a Maryland defender a few steps outside the six-yard box. MacBean found herself all alone with the ball dead-center in front of the net around nine yards out and delivered a swift left-footed finish into the back left corner of the goal for what proved to be the match-winning effort less than 20 minutes into the contest. PSU 1, UMD 0
52’ – Ayscue stepped behind the ball after the Nittany Lions won a corner kick opportunity on the far side of the pitch, with the freshman delivering an in-swinging right-footed service into the Terrapin penalty box. The delivery soared centrally toward a pair of Penn Staters making a run at the goal, with Martin’s run and jump timed perfectly to the Ayscue service. Martin rose up and used her head to find the back right corner of the Terrapin goal for an insurance tally. PSU 2, UMD 0
77’ – Kershner assumed possession well beyond the midfield line, utilizing a striking run through multiple lines of Terrapin defenders to set up a brilliant Nittany Lion scoring chance. Kershner headed into the box and threaded the needle to a perfectly placed Kulpa, but her right-footed shot attempt would be denied by Beardsley. On the long rebound, Kershner resumed possession centrally at the edge of the penalty box and chipped a right-booted ball into the back left corner for the third Penn State goal. PSU 3, UMD 0
80’ – Kulpa would not be denied a mere three minutes later, as a pristine through ball from PSU found the rookie forward flying down the left side of the pitch. Kulpa dribbled centrally into the 18 to position herself optimally for a goal-scoring chance, but her initial effort ricocheted off Beardsley’s gloves back into the box. Kulpa remained composed and delivered a second try off the rebound that deflected off a Terrapin into the back of the net. PSU 4, UMD 0
90’ – With time winding down, the Nittany Lions kicked the ball high in the air to bleed clock, but Cooke was able to control the high-arching ball around 30 yards outside the Maryland net. Cooke bobbed and weaved her way through a slew of Terrapin defenders into the box, ultimately placing a powerful strike on the ball as she went to ground with her right foot that found the back left corner of Beardsley’s goal to close out the Penn State scoring on the night. PSU 5, UMD 0
UP NEXT
No. 20 Penn State women's soccer returns home to Happy Valley this weekend for its final regular season home match in the 2024 campaign, as the Nittany Lions play host to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a 1 p.m. (ET) fixture from Jeffrey Field. The match will stream live to a worldwide audience of authenticated subscribers via B1G+ and will feature the return of B1G+ en Español in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, with both streams in English and Spanish airing to authenticated subscribers on the B1G+ app.
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