Penn State clinches Big Ten women’s soccer regular season title

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State women’s soccer program (8-1-1, 8-1-1) clinched its 20^th Big Ten regular season championship with a 3-0 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday, March 28. The regular season title is the 11^th under head coach Erica Dambach.

Penn State’s last regular season crown came in 2018 as the Nittany Lions went 18-6-1 overall and 9-2 in conference play. The Nittany Lions won the 2019 Big Ten Tournament title, the eighth in program history last season.

Penn State returns home on Saturday, April 3 for its match against Maryland.

For the 20th time in program history and the 11th time under @EDambach7 the Penn State women's soccer program is Big Ten regular-season champions!#WeAre #PSWS pic.twitter.com/FAgYfSJQiB

— Penn State Women’s Soccer (@PennStateWSOC) March 28, 2021

How It Happened

• The Nittany Lions got off to a red-hot start as senior captain Frankie Tagliaferri scored her fourth goal of the season in the fourth minute of the match to give Penn State a 1-0 lead.
• Just four minutes later, Rachel Wasserman netted her first goal of the 2021 spring campaign to put the Nittany Lions in front 2-0. Assists were credited to Big Ten points leader Ally Schlegel and Payton Linnehan.
• The Penn State back line was clicking on all cylinders in the first half, allowing only one shot from Nebraska and preserved the two-goal lead.
• Maddie Myers would send two more shots towards the net in an attempt to extend the lead in the first half, but couldn’t put them on target.
• Penn State took its 2-0 lead into halftime.
• Linnehan and Elle Kershner connected in the 61^st minute to extend the Nittany Lions lead to 3-0 on Kershner’s second goal of the season. Linnehan sliced through the Nebraska backline and sent a perfect cross to the feet of Kershener and she buried her shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
• Sam Coffey had a pair of shots that were saved and nearly made the lead 4-0 for Penn State in the following minutes.
• Nittany Lions goalkeeper Katherine Asman saved both shots she faced in the second half and recorded her fourth shutout of the season with the 3-0 win.
• Penn State held Nebraska to just eight shots in the match and just two on goal.

Notes

• The Nittany Lions 20 Big Ten regular season championships is 16 more than the next closest program in the conference.
• Erica Dambach‘s 11 Big Ten titles as head coach are the most in Big Ten history.
• Schlegel and Coffey are tied atop the Big Ten in every offensive category. Schlegel leads the conference in goals with seven and Coffey tops the league with six assists. Schlegel and Coffey are tied for the Big Ten lead in points (18) and game-winning goals (3).