University Park, PA. – On Senior Day the 16th-ranked Nittany Lions kept hammering away and fighting hard and Ella Jennes scored in overtime with less than 40 seconds left to give the seniors a huge way to end their home careers.
The Spartans were able to sneak a goal past Senior goalkeeper Lauren Delgado early in the first period when Carmen Pucheta was able to get the ball in the cage. But the Nittany Lions increased the pressure and kept Spartan goalkeeper Lyra Gavino. At the end of the first half, The Spartans led 1-0 with the Nittany Lions getting 11 shots to only 4 for the Spartans. Delgado had 3 saves for THe Nittany Lions, as well as Gavino. Penn State had a 5-3 lead in corners.
In the second half, it seemed to be all Penn State as they kept the pressure mostly in Spartan territory. Penn State’s all-time leading goal scorer Phia Gladieux was all over the field putting lots of pressure on the Spartans. Delgado was not tested as much in the second half but when she was she came up huge!
The Nittany Lions still trailed going into the final stanza but were still fighting hard. On a penalty corner at the 7:49 mark, Gladiuex fired a rocket of a shot and senior Julienne Van Bekkumwas there for the rebound to score the tying goal. Much pressure was put on the Spartan goalkeeper after that and Jennes was able to force a corner but the Nittany Lions were unable to capitalize.
The team switched sides for the overtime period and both teams fought hard trying to capitalize. Gladieux nearly ended the game about halfway through overtime, but Gavino made a nice save to keep the action going. Mannino fed Gladieux at 7:56, forcing a corner for Penn State. The Lions forced more corners but just couldn’t get the ball past Gaviono. Both Gladieux and Senior Drew Taylor had shots but Gavino was able to knock them aside. Michigan State then moved the ball down to the Nittany Lion’s zone with less than 4 minutes left but Van Bekkum came up with a big steal. Natalie Freeman made a steal at 1:00 and had a hard backhand blocked by Gavino but Penn State kept possession, and Jennes brought the ball down on the right side and crossed the center of the field as Gavino came out to pressure her but was able to get a hard backhand shot away giving her Nittany Lions the huge victory!
Penn State outshot Michigan State 34-7 on the day and had an 18-4 margin in penalty corners. Gavino collected 17 saves to keep the Spartans in the game and Delgado had four for Penn State to pick up the win in the cage.
It was Delgado’s 4 victory of her graduate season with no losses. She has a 0.73 goals-against average and a .750 save percentage. It was Van Bekkum’s 3rd goal of the season and 11th point on the season and it was Jenne’s 2nd goal and 6th point of the season.
Penn State is now 8-7 overall, and 2-4 in the Big Ten Conference while Michigan State falls to 7-8, 0-5 in the Conference. The Nittany Lions will hit the road next weekend for an early afternoon game at Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 25, at 2 p.m. in Piscataway, N.J.
