Penn State women’s soccer head coach Erica Dambach won her 300th game as the program’s head coach against Bucknell on Thursday night.

“Sitting at 0-1-1, I just needed one. I didn’t need 300; I just needed one,” Dambach said after the 5-0 win over Bucknell. “This team has been working their butts off, and you could feel it coming. Obviously, in the bigger grand scheme of things, we’ve coached incredible players and have an awesome staff. But this was a big one.”

Dambach was hired as the third Penn State women’s soccer head coach in 2007 and holds a total record of 300-98-29 with the Nittany Lions.

During her time at Happy Valley, Dambach has won 11 Big Ten Regular Season Titles, five Big Ten Championship Titles, 19 consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, and one NCAA Tournament Title.

She also won Big Ten Coach of the Year five times and National Coach of the Year twice.

“This program is my family. My husband, my kids, my dad, my mom, we are Penn State soccer,” Dambach said. “Look at the community that’s been built and all these families that come in that we bring in with open arms.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve built here, and the way we’ve done it: in a way we treat people the right way, and we win some games. For me, I hope that’s what they’re remembering me by: the way I treat people.”

On Thursday night, Dambach led her team to a dominant 5-0 win against Bucknell in large part to persisent positive attacking play.

Forward Aubrey Kulpa contributed one goal to the win and said after the game that the team had coach Dambach in mind.

“I think the underlying message was we wanted to do it for coach,” she said. “300 is insane, so we were really happy to do that for her.”

Not only has Dambach been at Penn State for 20 seasons, but associate head coach Ann Cook has been right by Dambach’s side since 2007. After the game, Dambach and Cook celebrated the special milestone.

“It’s been a journey, and that’s an understatement, obviously highlighted by a national championship,” Dambach said. “But I think we arrived with the grand experiment of Joe Paterno. We arrived with a balance of great academics and great athletics, and being involved with the community.”

“We are really proud that we’ve been able to continue that tradition of what Penn State’s all about, and that’s near and dear to our hearts.”