Penn State women’s soccer: Nittany Lions blank Michigan, head to Big Ten Championship game
Facing a packed box for the entire match, Penn State forward Frannie Crouse controlled a loose ball just left of the penalty box and poached a high-arching shot with her off-foot over the goalkeeper and into the net.
The 62nd-minute goal proved to be the decisive score of the Big Ten tournament semifinal match, as top-seeded Penn State topped No. 5 seed Michigan 1-0 Friday under the lights at Jeffrey Field.
“I took a chance and it went in,” Crouse said of the goal, which appeared to be a pass. “It probably looked like a cross because I usually don’t shoot with my left foot in that trajectory, but it was definitely a shot.”
The sophomore attacker has been in exceptional form through the first two matches of the tournament, picking up a goal and an assist last weekend against Illinois and a total of four shots on goal.
“I can’t say enough about Frannie right now, she’s on fire,” head coach Erica Walsh said of Crouse, who was on a month-long scoring drought. “When she wasn’t scoring goals, her work rate didn’t drop.”
“You knew it was coming back because nothing about the way she was carrying herself changed and in fact I think during that stretch she worked harder to find the back of the net.”
After a three-minute stretch that saw them concede three goals the last time these teams met, the Wolverines played behind the ball for most of the match, keeping at least 10 players in the defensive zone.
“That’s probably one of the most frustrating type of games you can possible play,” Crouse said. “You can switch the ball as many times but if they don’t break down it just gets to the point where it’s extremely frustrating because you can’t break it.”
The defensive presence forced Penn State to take most of its shots from beyond the penalty box. Although the Nittany Lions fired 13 shots, only four were on goal.
Walsh made the halftime adjustment to increase the Nittany Lion attack, pushing centerback Elizabeth Ball to the forward slot, a position she played before coming to Penn State two years ago.
“Being a forward for my whole entire life and going back to defense is crazy,” Ball said. “I’m not as confident up top now because I haven’t played (there) in the college game as much but it’s always exciting I’m going to put everything in when I go up there.”
Penn State returns to play at 2 p.m. Sunday at Jeffrey Field for the Big Ten championship, hosting No. 3 Rutgers, which beat No. 7 Ohio State 2-0 on Friday. The Scarlet Knights are the last team to hand the Nittany Lions a loss, 1-0 on Oct. 18.
“Basically, everything we tried to do failed against Rutgers the first time,” Walsh said. “I thought we were quite naive. They did a good job at minimizing our strengths … so we’re going to come in with a much better game plan.
“I think the team is really excited to get an opportunity to play against them on our home field with the same amount of rest and recovery as they have,” Walsh added.
This story was originally published November 6, 2015 at 10:20 PM with the headline "Penn State women’s soccer: Nittany Lions blank Michigan, head to Big Ten Championship game."