No. 4 Penn State look to stay unbeaten against Purdue and Northwestern

The Nittany Lions continued their undefeated season this past weekend after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes 2-1.

Penn State’s sluggish start allowed Ohio State to capitalize on their sixth corner kick, and Peyton McNamara found the back of the net early in the 35th minute.

Despite being down 1-0 and trailing for the first time this season, No. 4 Penn State was able to tie it up 1-1 before heading into halftime with a goal by Kaitlyn MacBean.

With exciting shots from the offense, comes exciting plays by the defense. Ohio State took 17 shots compared to Penn State’s 10. Nittany Lion goalkeeper Katherine Asman made three saves in the second half to keep it tied.

With the help of teammates Cori Dyke and Elle Kershner, MacBean found the back of the net again in the 87 minute to put the blue and white ahead 2-1 late.

With the win, the Nittany Lions improved their overall record to 11-0-2 and 5-0-1 in the Big Ten. They remain the only unbeaten team in the Big Ten conference.

Penn State will hit the road for their final away series with two Big Ten conference matchups against Purdue and Northwestern.

They will face the 3-10-1 Boilermakers on Thursday and then the 7-4-3 Wildcats on Sunday.

Purdue has lost five of their last six games while tying the sixth. The Nittany Lions last faced off against the Boilermakers in 2021 ending in a Penn State 2-1 win.

Penn State has dominated the head-to-head matchups with their last loss occurring in 2003.

Purdue is averaging 1.3 goals scored per game; either they need their strikers to step up against this Penn State powerhouse offense or have a brick wall defense to prevent the Nittany Lions from their average of 2.4 goals scored per game.

After facing the Boilermakers, the Nittany Lions will head off to Evanston, Illinois to face off against Northwestern.

Northwestern is also coming off a losing streak of four of their last five games while tying the fifth. The Wildcats will face Iowa Thursday before the Nittany Lions, where they hope to get their season back on track.

Penn State and Northwestern last faced off last season with a Nittany Lion 2-0 victory. The blue and white have safely dominated this matchup 21-3 with those three losses coming in the past 10 years.

Northwestern will want to focus on getting the ball to playmaker Meg Boade as she leads the team with 11 assists.

Lauren Harth is a first-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email lah6271@psu.edu.