No. 9 Penn State women's soccer falls in close battle to No. 5 Michigan State

University Park- Pa., No. 9 Penn State falls to No. 5 Michigan State 1-0 at Jeffrey Field after conceding an early goal.

Kaitlyn MacBean broke through the defense in the first minute of play for a one-on-one on the left wing and aimed her shot at the upper left-hand corner, but Kaitlyn Parks got the best of MacBean with an outstretched save as she was charging to close off the shot angle.

The Spartans responded with a counterattack of their own, turning the ball over in the offensive zone and quickly moving the ball into the penalty area.

Justina Gaynor was able to make a great through pass to Bella Najera who had her shot blocked, and after an unfortunate bounce, Gabby Mueller found herself with the ball in open space. As the Nittany Lions tried to close that space, Mueller quickly found a wide-open Gaynor who tucked the ball into the bottom right corner to take the lead in just the third minute of play.

Despite going down early, the Nittany Lions showed grit and determination to take back control of the momentum, and by the 30-minute mark, they had tallied four shots on target.

Parks was at her best all day, and she made all of the early saves look routine. Coach Dambach spoke about Penn State’s rally after conceding early, “I thought the response was fantastic, I think that this is a team that set their game plan, I thought they created enough opportunities to score a goal. Full credit to Michigan State, they bottled us up and created their own chances. That's all you can ask for, I thought they left it all out on the field and did everything except for finishing.”

Penn State never seemed to be out of it though, but sometimes the offensive opportunities just aren't enough to warrant the desired result. The box score doesn't always tell the story of the game, and that was true in today’s match.

While Penn State outshot the Spartans in both halves and tallied 18 shots, eleven of which were on target, someone watching the game live from the field would probably only attribute the Nittany Lions with a handful of true goal-scoring opportunities.

The Physical nature of the game was on display in this match, coach Dambach commented on the Spartans' ability to impose their physicality on the Nittany Lions “That's an older team, so you know that you’re gonna get knocked around a little bit, and that's good for us, especially going into Iowa and Nebraska was going to need it, that's this league. There's a physical game, and there's a tactical game, and we needed to win both today, but I thought we responded well to the challenge.”

Despite the loss, there is no reason for the Nittany Lions to be discouraged, they outshot and stuck around the entire game trying to claw their way back into it, and Team Captain Rowan Lapi saw more playing time in her second game coming back from injury.

Coach Dambach commented on Lapi’s performance, “Just pumped to have Ro back, you can see her impact on this team. She's working her way back into this group and she looked great today.”

Lapi recorded 40 minutes on the pitch today after seeing 29 minutes in her return from injury on Thursday against Northwestern. She led the huddle during a few breaks and tried to energize her teammates, emphasizing a positive mentality despite being down to a tough opponent.

The Nittany Lions will have nearly two weeks until their next home match and will travel to Iowa City for a Thursday night match against the No. 18 Iowa Hawkeyes, and then to Lincoln Nebraska for a Sunday matinee against the Cornhuskers.

Carson Schuler is a fourth-year majoring in broadcast journalism, to contact him, please email cts5357@psu.edu.