No. 4 Penn State women's soccer fights through the storm to take down Nebraska

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — No. 4 Penn State women’s soccer looked to build on its eight-game win streak against Nebraska on a rainy Sunday evening.

The Nittany Lions defended their turf against Nebraska with a late Cori Dyke goal to win 1-0 and grab their third conference win of the season.

As Big Ten weather came down on Jeffrey Field, the Nittany Lions and the Huskers kicked off at 1 p.m.

In the opening minutes, both teams dealt with the conditions on the field that led to a ton of sloppy play early on. 15 total shots were taken by the end of the first half as the game remained tied at zero.

Penn State honored its alumnae at halftime before it trouted back onto the field to continue a gritty, not-pretty matchup. Head coach Erica Dambach said after the game that while the weather affected what their play normally looks like, the team knew what it needed to do.

“It’s not going to look the way that we want it to look like and that’s okay,” Dambach said in the locker room at halftime. “Don’t get this idea in your mind about what it needs to look like just play the game. The game was ugly today and we needed to buck up and we needed to play ugly and win ugly. That’s exactly what we did.”

In the second half, tempers began to flare as the Nittany Lions and Huskers fought for any chance that they could at the ball. Those emotions got a little out of hand, however, as the Penn State bench received a red card in the 67th minute of play.

With time ticking down and each side desperately fighting to stay at the top of the Big Ten standings, the Nittany Lion’s big break came from the foot of Cori Dyke.

On a free kick right out of the box, Eva Alonso quickly tapped it to Kate Wiesner who left it for Dyke to wind up and drill into the back of the net. Nebraska and Penn State lined up away from the ball allowing the senior-plus to get an open kick that resulted in the game-winning goal.

“Literally nothing that Cori Dyke cannot do,” Dambach said. “She is absolutely driving our team. She’s driving the culture of our team and I cannot say enough about the pro that she is right now.”

Dyke’s third goal of the season came in the 80th minute in what she said was training and repetition in practice to translate onto the field.

“We train those (game-winning goal play) all the time and we were just practicing them the other day,” the Colorado native said. “We try to get some in almost every practice, a couple of times a week.”

As the team celebrated on the field and went to sign autographs for fans after the game, Dambach looked ahead to Penn State’s two road matchups against Michigan and Michigan State.

“There were so many balls in the air that we weren’t tracking enough in some of those moments,” Dambach said. “That’s all stuff that can win you championships, so we have to dial it in on that stuff.”

Micheal Bolger is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email mpb6233@psu.edu.