No. 14 Penn State women’s soccer (1-1, 0-0 Big Ten) beat No. 23 Saint Louis (1-1, 0-0 A10) 4-1 in its home opener at Jeffrey Field on Thursday night.

Aubrey Kulpa led the charge for the Nittany Lions with two stellar goals on the night. Penn State had 14 shots and six saves in net en route to victory.

How It Happened

Erica Dambach’s Nittany Lions trotted onto Jeffrey Field for the first time in 2025, looking to get their first win of the new season. Following its loss to Duke a week ago, Penn State rolled out the same starting 11 as it did against the Blue Devils.

The Nittany Lions began the opening minute with a quick offside that went the way of the Billikens. A back-and-forth next few minutes allowed both teams to settle into the match. Aubrey Kulpa recorded the first shot on goal for either side in the fourth minute off her left foot for the blue and white.

Hannah Larson took a shot from distance for Saint Louis, but it did not find the frame of the goal in the eighth minute. Both squads played disciplined soccer from there, and the next 10 minutes saw little action in either attacking areas.

Amelia White placed a perfect cross into the middle of the box for seasoned veteran Kaitlyn Macbean, and the graduate student found the back of the net. The Nittany Lions took a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute at Jeffrey Field.

Mackenzie Gress made a brilliant save at the top of her bar on a long shot from Saint Louis to keep the Nittany Lions ahead of the Billikens. In the 26th minute, Emma Parker kept the Saint Louis deficit to a single goal after snagging a dangerous ball in her box off a corner from Kayleigh Herr.

The first yellow card of the match was awarded to Izzy Luebbert after she made a hard tackle for the Billikens. A few moments later, the Nittany Lions and Kulpa led the attack down the field and nearly found their second goal of the evening, but Parker made back-to-back saves in the later moments of the first half.

A crucial mistake from the backline of the Billikens allowed Kulpa to sneak in behind and find the second goal of the match for Penn State with 11 minutes to play in the opening half. The first half wrapped up with neither team finding another dangerous scoring opportunity, and the Nittany Lions went into the half with a two-goal lead.

Penn State’s defense showed no weaknesses as the second half began at Jeffrey Field. Saint Louis did its best to try and break down the back line of the Nittany Lions, but nothing was looking promising in the opening minutes.

Things changed quickly for the Billikens as Audrey Smith scored a beautiful goal that beat Gress in net, and the Nittany Lions’ lead was just 2-1 with 37 minutes to play in the match. Both teams went to the bench to look for some energy and fresh legs after the Saint Louis goal.

Just as it felt as if Saint Louis was inches away from finding a game-tying goal, Kulpa found her second goal of the evening to double the blue and white’s lead in the 61st minute. Riley Gleason delivered a perfect pass to Kulpa to make it a 3-1 match.

Julia Raich joined in on the scoring party for the Nittany Lions just minutes later after a Saint Louis miscue allowed for an easy open goal, and Raich did not disappoint. With 24 minutes to play in the home opener and a three-goal lead, Penn State dominated possession and play from there on.

Both teams used a few substitutes to finish off the last 20 minutes, including a few first appearances for a couple of Nittany Lion freshmen. In the 75th minute, Saint Louis emptied its bench as well, and both teams had fresh legs in the match with the score out of reach.

Saint Louis did not give up, however, continuing to press to find any hope of squeaking back into the game in the final few minutes. Lilly Burger tried to find goal number five for Penn State off a cross and header, but the Billikens’ defense held strong. That was all 90 minutes had, in store between the Nittany Lions and Saint Louis, with Penn State winning 4-1.

Takeaways

• Kulpa looks elite at the forward position. Two goals on the night to go along with countless runs up the sideline show how scary of a threat she game be for this Penn State team.
• This was a great bounce-back victory against a top-ranked opponent in Saint Louis. A tough loss to Duke made tonight an early must-win for Penn State, and the Nittany Lions showed up for all 90 minutes and played well for most of the match.

What’s Next?

The Nittany Lions stay at home at Jeffrey Field to match up against West Virginia at 3 p.m. on Sunday, August 21. The match will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network.