Penn State boots Wisconsin to take Big Ten lead

UNIVERSITY PARK — The Penn State men’s soccer team moved into first place in the Big Ten and closed out its regular season home schedule undefeated after a 2-1 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday.

CDT photo/Craig Houtz

Penn State’s Drew Cost, right, battles for the ball with Wisconsin’s Taylor Waspi (12) in front of Badgers keeper Alex Horwath during the Nittany Lions’ 2-1 win Saturday afternoon at Jeffrey Field.

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The Nittany Lions (10-5-2, 3-1-1 Big Ten) were 7-0-2 on Jeffrey Field, the first undefeated home slate since they were 7-0 in 2001.

Penn State moved one point ahead of the Badgers (6-8-2, 3-3-0) in the conference standings and are alone in first, pending today’s contest between Northwestern (9-2-4, 2-1-1) and Michigan. The Nittany Lions close the regular season at Indiana (8-7-1, 2-2-0) next Friday.

Matheus Braga opened the scoring for Penn State, converting a penalty kick for his sixth goal of the season with 18 seconds left in the first half.

Corey Hertzog later added his fifth game-winning goal of the year in the 78th minute by working a give-and-go with Jason Yeisley. Hertzog took the pass from Yeisley and broke left to gain a shooting angle, putting a left-footed shot past a Wisconsin defender and keeper Alex Horwath and inside the far post from 14 yards away. Hertzog and Yeisley now share the team leads in goals (8), assists (5) and points (21).

The Badgers finally beat Warren Gross, who made two saves, three minutes later when Scott Lorenz found Jon Rzepka but could not find the net again.

Field hockey

Regular season closes with Penn State loss

UNIVERSITY PARK — No. 8 Michigan State upped its win streak to 10 games and closed the regular season with a perfect Big Ten record with a 5-1 victory over Penn State on Saturday.

Hannah Allison scored the Nittany Lions’ lone goal, her sixth of the season from Kelsey Amy, but it wasn’t enough.

Floor Rijpma scored 3:37 before halftime and added two more goals in the second half for the Spartans (15-3, 6-0). Jantine Steinmetz and Chantae Miller added the other goals.

Goaltender Ali Meves made five saves in the loss to give her 100 stops for the season, the first Penn State keeper with triple digits in saves since 2003.

Seventh-seeded Penn State (6-12, 1-5) will face No. 2 seed Ohio State in the first round of the Big Ten tournament on Thursday at Michigan State.

Swimming

Hokies edge Lions

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Freshman Amy Modglin won three races and Lyndsey Smith captured a pair of victories but Penn State fell to Virginia Tech 160-140 Saturday for its first loss of the season.

Modglin won the 200-yard backstroke in 1 minute, 58.89, the fifth-best time in school history and nearly four seconds better than the next-best finisher. Modglin also won the 100 backstroke (56.92) and 200 individual medley (2:06.94.

Smith led in the breaststrokes by taking the 100 (1:04.76) and 200 (2:20.60). She was also a member of the first-place 200 medley relay squad that finished in 1:44.55.

Kailey Morris won the 200 butterfly (2:01.86) and State College’s Michelle Myers took the 100 butterfly (56.55) to cap the Nittany Lions’ victories.

Men’s tennis

Gormley, Lee, Bourchier advance at Big Tens

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Penn State athletes posted an 11-5 record while Ryan Gormley, Eddie Bourchier and Jason Lee all advanced to the round of 16 at the Big Ten Indoor Championships.

Gormley earned his wins over Iowa’s Reinoud Haal (6-3, 1-6, 6-4) and Minnesota’s Brendan Ruddock (6-3, 6-2). Bourchier dropped Indiana’s Will Kendall (6-3, 6-2) and Purdue’s P.J. Rose (7-5, 6-4). Lee defeated the Boilermakers’ Billy Heuer (6-2, 6-1) and Michigan State’s Jason Norville (6-2, 6-4).

Penn State’s Taylor Cohen and C.J. Griffin are still alive in the back draw. Taylor lost to the Spartans’ Austin Brooks (2-6, 6-3, 6-3) and beat Minnesota’s Eddie Svenda (4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)). Griffin fell to the Gophers’ Phillip Arndt (6-4, 6-0) before beating Purdue’s Jan-Frans Englebrecht (6-1, 4-6, 6-2).

Meanwhile, Guillaume St-Maurice defeated Northwestern’s Mark Schanerman (7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4) and lost to Illinois’ Marek Czerwinski (6-4, 6-2), Warren Hardie topped Minnesota’s Derek Peterson (7-6 (1), 6-0) but lost to Wisconsin’s Billy Bertha (6-2, 7-5), and Bryan Welnetz dropped the Illini’s Conor Roth (7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (3)) and lost to the Baders’ Chris Freeman (6-3, 7-6 (3)).

Men’s ice hockey

Penn State sweeps West Virginia

UNIVERSITY PARK — No. 6 Penn State grabbed its fourth straight win by completing a weekend sweep of No. 25 West Virginia 8-2 Saturday and 10-1 late Friday night.

Freshman Eric Steinour scored two goals and added an assist Saturday.

Freshman Dominic Morrone netted a hat trick in Friday’s win as the Icers put together a seven-goal first period to end the Mountaineers’ five-game win streak.