Today in Penn State sports: Aug. 25, 2017
Everything you missed in Penn State sports — and isn’t covered elsewhere — from Aug. 25, 2017:
Field hockey
Lions overcome deficit in dramatic fashion
NORFOLK, Va. The Penn State field hockey team scored three unanswered goals in the second half Friday to slip past No. 23 Old Dominion in the season opener at the L.R. Hill Sports Complex.
The Nittany Lions trailed 2-0 at halftime and then 2-1 with six minutes left in the game. That’s when they struck in succession.
Sophomore Madison Morano converted on a penalty stroke with 5:28 left in the game and, less than two minutes later, Moira Putsch found the back of the net by scoring from the side of the cage. Overall, the Nittany Lions outshot Old Dominion by a 24-5 mark. It also dominated it on corners, 14-3.
“The backs did a good job,” Penn State coach Charlene Morett-Curtiss said in a news release.”Everyone was around the ball in the second half, and it was really a great team effort.”
Women’s soccer
PSU outlasts Arkansas
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. Penn State junior Marissa Sheva netted her second two-goal performance of the young season Friday night, as she helped lead her No. 9 Nittany Lions to a 4-2 victory over Arkansas.
The Razorbacks took an early 1-0 lead, but Penn State responded with two goals in the back-and-forth affair. Arkansas scored again to tie it up 2-2 in the 47th minute — but it was all Penn State after that. Sheva broke the tie in the 55th minute, and Kaleigh Riehl put the game away in the 71st minute.
PSU is now 3-0 on the season.
Women’s volleyball
PSU cruises in opener
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. The No. 6 Penn State women’s volleyball team dominated in straight sets Friday to take the easy win over UT-Martin, 25-13, 25-13, 25-8.
Both Heidi Thelen (.615) and Haleigh Washington (.600) contributed heavily to the Nittany Lions hitting .397 as a team. Thelen even saved her best for last, as she recorded six of her nine kills in the final set while hitting .857.
Sixteen PSU players competed in Friday’s match. Junior Bryanna Weiskircher paced the Nittany Lions with 27 assists, and Ali Frantti added a pair of kills to her career total — which brings her just nine kills shy of 1,000.
Men’s soccer
Hofstra earns 1-0 win
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. The Nittany Lions had more shots, more corner kicks and more shots on goal Friday — but they didn’t get the most important stat in the end. A win.
Hofstra won 1-0 to spoil Penn State’s season opener. Danny Elliott scored just seven minutes into the game, and that was all his team needed. Penn State had 15 shots to Hofstra’s nine and five shots on goal to Hofstra’s five, but it still wasn’t enough. PSU also had more corner kicks, 8-1.
“You never want to start a season off like this on your home field,” associate head coach Chad Duernberger said in a news release.
This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 12:41 AM with the headline "Today in Penn State sports: Aug. 25, 2017."