Penn State field hockey earned its first victory of the season in its home opener Friday night, dooming Temple 2-0 at the Penn State Field Hockey Complex.

Jenny Rizzo recorded her first career shutout, and Katie Dembrowski and Brooke Birosik tallied their first career goals for the Nittany Lions (1-2).

“It was a great win for the team; I thought it was a real team effort,” said Penn State head coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss to GoPSUSports. “It was beautiful execution on the two goals; the corner goal by Katie Dembrowski, and also the one Brooke put in showed a lot of poise by both girls.”

How It Happened

Dembrowski started Penn State’s scoring ways early in the game, taking Kirsten Gochnauer’s fourth-minute corner, and blasting the pass into the net. It was Dembrowski first career goal, and Gochnauer’s first career assist.

Not too long after, in the 27th minute, Birosik received Emilee Ehret’s corner pass and netted a shot past the defense.

“The biggest improvement I would say is that we’re attacking the circle smarter, I feel like we need to do a better job of fighting for positioning in front of the cage, but I also felt like we had a strong defense,” said Morett-Curtiss to GoPSUSports. “I felt like our defense showed a physical strength today, which was important.”

Meanwhile, Rizzo needed to make only three saves to thwart Temple’s scoring opportunities and earn her first career shutout.

Stats of the Game

Penn State outshot Temple 17-12, and outpaced them in corner attempts with a 9-5 advantage.

What’s Next

Penn State travels to Lewistown to face Bucknell on Sunday, then host California on Friday.

Photo: Craig Houtz/GoPSUSports