No.11 Penn State women’s soccer (0-0-1, 0-0 Big Ten) lost 3-2 against No. 4 Duke (1-0-0, 0-0 ACC) on Thursday night at Koskinen Stadium in its season opener in Durham, North Carolina.

In their first meeting since the national championship game in 2015, it was a high-scoring first half as Duke got on the board first in the third minute before Penn State tied it less than a minute later. The Nittany Lions took the lead in the 16th minute, but the Blue Devils responded seven minutes later to tie it at two before the first half came to an end.

Duke broke the deadlock 11 minutes into the second half with a goal by Mia Minestrella. Penn State was only able to create one dangerous scoring opportunity on a header by MacBean, which hit the post, but could not find the equalizer as it lost its first season opener since 2020.

How It Happened

Penn State head coach Erica Dambach rolled out with a starting 11 that consisted of eight players from last year’s team, including Kaitlyn MacBean, and three new players. Duke played the high press from the start as Penn State struggled to get the ball out of its own half for the first two minutes. The Nittany Lions started to settle in and had two great opportunities to score, but were not able to manage to get a shot on target as Duke’s defense stood tall.

In the third minute, Penn State’s defense cracked first as Mia Minestrella found an open Avery Oder inside the box, and Oder scored to give the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead. However, this lead was short-lived as Minestrella made the mistake of playing the ball into the middle for Penn State’s Aubrey Kulpa to intercept it. After the interception, she placed the ball from long distance into the back of the net to tie the game at one with almost five minutes into the game.

A minute later, Duke’s Kat Rader played a great pass to Carina Lageyre inside the box, who hit the ball first time, which forced keeper Mackenzie Gress to make a spectacular save and gave Duke a corner kick. It could not capitalize on this opportunity as Penn State’s defense managed to get the ball out of danger. The tempo of the game slowed down as both teams struggled to create chances for the next seven minutes.

After Duke failed to capitalize on another corner in the 13th minute, Penn State managed to get its first corner kick of the game after Kulpa tried to cross the ball into the box before it got blocked by Duke’s Lexi Coughlin. On this corner kick, Riley Greason played the ball into the box, but Duke’s goalkeeper, Bianca Dominguez, could not punch the ball out of danger, and it ricocheted off Hannah Jordan’s head, going into the net as the Nittany Lions took a 2-1 lead.

Despite surrendering its lead, Duke tried to tie the game in the 16th minute, but Rader’s shot was off target. The Blue Devils continued to mount the pressure on the Nittany Lions’ side of the field for the next seven minutes. In those seven minutes, they had three corner kicks, but Penn State’s defense managed to stand tall.

However, in the 24th minute, Rader intercepted the ball from Kaelyn Wolfe on Penn State’s side of the ball, which left the Nittany Lions vulnerable on defense as the Blue Devils had a 2-on-1. Rader ran the ball into the edge of the box before she found an open Minestrella inside the box. She hit the ball on her first touch into the top right-hand corner of the net to tie the game at two.

The Nittany Lions continued to struggle keeping up with the pressure from the Blue Devils as Minestrella hit a shot on target into the bottom left, but was stopped by Gress. Oder managed to give Duke its sixth corner kick, but once again failed to capitalize. The Blue Devils managed to get two more shots in the next two minutes but failed to get them on target.

The tempo of the game slowed down for the next seven minutes before Duke created its seventh corner of the game in the 37th minute. Once again, it could not score as Penn State managed to get the ball out of dangerous territory. The Blue Devils continued to make life difficult for the Nittany Lions as they hit four more shots but could not break the deadlock as the first half came to an end.

The second half began with Duke switching goalkeepers and going with Caroline Dysart for the remainder of the game. Penn State got off to a better start as it created the first chance in the first minute of the half on a shot by Amelia White that went off-target. Almost two minutes later, Oder played a beautiful cross into Cameron Roller, but missed a wide-open opportunity to give the Blue Devils the lead that was eventually ruled offside.

Duke continued to mount the pressure on Penn State’s defense as Mia Oliaro had two shots in the span of three minutes, one off-target and another one that forced a save from Gress. However, in the 56th minute, Oliaro drove the ball down the right flank before Kulpa got the ball out of bounds to give the Blue Devils another corner. On their ninth corner of the game, they finally broke through on a set piece as Minestrella headed the ball into the back of the net to give them a 3-2 lead.

With 30 minutes left, MacBean finally made her presence known in this game as she had her first shot of the game that went off-target. On a Penn State throw-in in the 66th minute, Gleason played the ball to Nicollette Kiorpes down the left flank, who played a cross into MacBean. She headed the ball to the net, but it hit the post and rebounded to her, which forced a save from Dysart.

Duke dominated possession for the next five minutes but was not able to increase its lead as two of its shots went off target. In the 71st minute, Duke’s Daya King committed a foul outside the box, which gave Penn State a dangerous free kick, and King was given a yellow card. However, the Nittany Lions could not capitalize on this opportunity as Duke cleared away the danger.

Both teams struggled to create any dangerous scoring opportunities for the next six minutes, but in the 76th minute, Duke’s Farrah Walters had the opportunity to increase its lead to two with a shot on target, but Gress made a huge save to keep Penn State’s deficit at one. Duke managed to get another corner after this, but was not able to score.

With 8 minutes left, the Nittany Lions started to play the high press as they searched for an equalizer. They had a great opportunity to score on a shot by Riley Cross, but were accidentally blocked by MacBean, who was called for offside. However, they couldn’t create more meaningful chances as Duke started to dominate possession throughout the remainder of the game. The game came to an end as the Blue Devils held on to a 3-2 win.

Takeaways

• Duke’s inefficiency on goal was on display as it had 28 shots with seven on target. Despite winning the game, it was only able to score three goals as Penn State only had eight shots, with three on target. It also had 13 corners compared to Penn State’s one. This scoreline could’ve been more lopsided if Duke were more efficient.
• Penn State struggled heavily today against Duke. It had to defend for most of the game and got scored on three times. The offense struggled to create meaningful chances as it only had three shots on target, and MacBean struggled to make an impact in this game until the 60th minute.
• Despite the loss, forward Kulpa looks to play a meaningful role on this team as the season goes forward alongside MacBean, as she scored a goal and was dangerous on the attack whenever MacBean was held in check.

What’s Next?

Penn State will return to Jeffrey Field for its home opener against Saint Louis at 8 p.m. on Thursday, August 21. The game will be streamed on BTN+.