Penn State women’s soccer: Nittany Lions capture Big Ten tournament title with win over Rutgers

Top-seeded Penn State powered past No. 3 seed Rutgers, which had only conceded six goals all season, with a two-goal first half Sunday at Jeffrey Field to claim the Big Ten tournament championship.

Big Ten Goalkeeper of the Year Casey Murphy and Defensive Player of the Year Erica Skroski anchored a physical Rutgers team that could not contain a balanced Penn State attack.

The Nittany Lions dominated possession from the start and created chances early and often in a 2-0 win.

“From start to finish, I think we battled, kept our composure,” Penn State coach Erica Walsh said. “We played Penn State soccer on both sides of the ball.”

It was Penn State’s sixth Big Ten tournament title and the first since 2008, despite winning 17 of the past 18 regular season titles.

The win gives Penn State an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Selection Show is 4:30 p.m. Monday. The first round will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Penn State opened the scoring in the ninth minute on a corner kick pass from Nickolette Driesse. A crashing Raquel Rodriguez came in full speed and connected with a header that found a crouching Elizabeth Ball’s head and ricocheted into the goal.

Just how coach drew it up?

“Not at all,” Ball said with a loud chuckle. “I was trying to move out of the way … but it just skimmed my head. It was really Rocky’s goal to be honest.”

Penn State entered the match 14-0-0 when striking first, and Emily Ogle added an insurance goal in the 26th minute, rebounding a blocked Frannie Crouse shot atop the penalty box and sending a strike from 18 yards out to the far post for a 2-0 lead.

“Good things happen when Ogle touches the ball, there’s no doubt about that,” Walsh said. “These two games were conducive to her finding the ball more. Ogle was outstanding all weekend.”

The physicality on the pitch was evident for the entire 90 minutes.

The Scarlet Knights picked up two fouls in the opening six minutes, the latter a dangerous collision that saw Ball a bit shaken up.

As she celebrated the championship donning a water pack on her backside, Ball brushed off any lingering concerns.

“I feel great,” she said with a smile. “We just won the Big Ten championship.”

In the net behind Ball was senior goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom, who recorded her second consecutive clean sheet courtesy of a Penn State defense that only asked her to make one save.

“These guys in front of me are lights out,” Eckerstrom said. “We ask for more and they give us more. We have big expectations but we’re still taking it one game at a time.”

She added that experience has been key to the success of the backline that features two freshmen and two sophomores.

“We’ve had all these games under our belt and hundreds of conversations about what we need, what we see,” she said. “We’re moving as one unit and that’s all you can ask for out of our back four.”

Penn State swept the individual tournament awards.

Eckerstrom claimed Defensive Player of the Tournament with her two shutouts, while Crouse earned Offensive Player of the Tournament, picking up an assist and scoring two goals, including the semifinals game-winner.

Ogle, Crouse and Eckerstrom were all named to the Big Ten All-Tournament team.

The Nittany Lions are now headed to the NCAA tournament.

“A blue collar mentality is definitely one of our pillars for this team and we have to bring that day in and day out,” Ogled added. “I think that this was a great test for us going into the NCAA tournament.”

Marley Paul is a journalism student at Penn State.

This story was originally published November 8, 2015 at 6:41 PM with the headline "Penn State women’s soccer: Nittany Lions capture Big Ten tournament title with win over Rutgers."