Penn State women’s soccer dominates Quinnipiac in first round of NCAA Tournament

It’s not easy to dominate an NCAA Tournament match from start to finish but that’s exactly what Penn State women’s soccer did Sunday afternoon against Quinnipiac.

Taking the first-round contest 4-1 over the Bobcats, the blue and white is set to host West Virginia Friday in Round 2 at Jeffrey Field.

Penn State controlled the pace of the match early on but was unable to consistently connect passes in its offensive zone for the first 15-plus minutes. Finally, though, the Nittany Lions began to break through and put serious pressure on their opponent.

In the 21st minute, senior forward Payton Linnehan took her first of three shots in a minute-long flurry. Despite coming up empty, Linnehan’s aggressiveness paid off for the unit when she gathered an assist on senior midfielder Kate Wiesner’s goal, a tally that gave Penn State a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.

Suffocating the Bobcats for most of the first 45, redshirt senior goalie Katherine Asman, who faced just one shot in the frame, and the rest of the Nittany Lions took the one-goal advantage into the break.

Head coach Erica Dambach praised her starting goalkeeper following the team’s victory Sunday.

“She has a big voice. She’s in command of the moment,” Dambach said. “She understands the flow of the game, but that’s a big part of how an experienced goalkeeper is — they know when to go big, they know when you can play underneath. It just gives us a lot of confidence.”

In a moment of weakness, though, Penn State’s defense in front of Asman cracked.

Taking the first half kickoff into its offensive zone, Quinnipiac advanced the ball toward the box before a ricochet off Mieke Schiemann dropped a slow-moving ball to Markela Bejleri, who fired a beautiful tailing shot to the top right corner for the game-tying tally.

In just the first minute of the second half, the Bobcats were right back in a game they’d struggled to find any offensive success in.

A couple of minutes later, Penn State subbed out redshirt senior star Ally Schlegel. While it’s not uncommon for the team’s leading goal scorer to sub in and out every now and then, Schlegel didn’t see the field for the rest of the match — which Dambach called a procedural move.

Even without their go-to player on the pitch, the blue and white quickly responded to the Bobcats’ goal, with the ultra-aggressive Linnehan giving her squad the 2-1 lead.

Arguably the match’s most commanding player, Linnehan’s 50th-minute tally opened the floodgates for a team that scored three second-half goals.

“I had no doubt that Payton was going to answer,” Dambach said.

After the second goal, Penn State returned to its dominant ways, outshooting the Bobcats 12-3 to bring the match total to 25-4. Goals from veterans forward Penelope Hocking, who also racked up two assists, and defender Cori Dyke highlighted what was an easy win for the Nittany Lions.

In addition to its dominance offensively, Dambach’s squad shut down the nation’s top goal-scorer in Quinnipiac junior Rebecca Cooke. Cooke, who tallied an astounding 22 goals entering the match, registered just one shot all match, with her most notable stat being a first-half yellow card.

“You knew if you gave her an inch she was going to bury one,” Dambach said. “Her spirit, her drive to keep going was fantastic and inspirational.”

Without Cooke making her usual major impact, the Bobcats were stagnant on offense, earning just three total corner kicks compared to Penn State’s nine, in addition to their abysmal four shots.

For the Nittany Lions, the resulting 4-1 victory serves not only as proof it can win as the stakes rise but do so in convincing fashion when things are clicking on all cylinders.

Next up for Penn State is another home match in the NCAA Tournament, this time against a West Virginia unit it beat 2-0 earlier in the campaign. The game is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Friday.

“This was the first step on our first journey to a national championship, so it feels really good,” Linnehan said.

This story was originally published November 13, 2022 at 6:44 PM.