Minnesota’s Own Goal Helps Women’s Soccer Remain Perfect in Big Ten
The No. 7 Penn State women’s soccer team defeated Minnesota 1-0 on Friday night in Minneapolis to remain a perfect 6-0 against Big Ten opponents this season.
Minnesota (6-6, 3-3 Big Ten) scored the only goal of the game, unfortunately scoring on its own net. In the 22nd minute, a Minnesota defender facing pressure from freshman forward Frannie Crouse sent an errant pass back to the Golden Gophers’ goalkeeper Tarah Hobbs, who watched helplessly as it rolled into the net for a 1-0 Penn State lead.
Penn State (11-1, 6-0 Big Ten) did not allow any shots on goal as the Nittany Lions cruised to their fifth shutout of the season. Goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom faced only one scoring chance in the second half as the defense, led by Elizabeth Ball, Maddie Eliston, Kori Chapic, and Whitney Church stifled the Golden Gophers attack. Eckerstrom improved to 11-1 as the starting goalkeeper, owning an impressive 0.66 goals against average in 948 minutes played.
The Nittany Lions outshot Minnesota 13-5, but head coach Erica Walsh said the team wasn’t able to solve the Gophers’ defense all night and was lucky to escape with a win. Penn State directed only four shots on goal.
“We kept them from a shot on goal which is positive, but we weren’t good enough on the attacking side,” Walsh said. “We need to see how Minnesota imposed their style on us and figure out ways to solve it.”
Penn State looks to remain perfect in conference play when it heads to Madison this Sunday to take on No. 13 Wisconsin at 1 p.m. The Badgers and Nittany Lions have identical 11-1 records, with Wisconsin’s only blemish coming in a loss to Michigan.
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