Aug. 30, 2008
COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. -- The No. 8 Old Dominion field hockey team fell 2-0 to No. 6 Penn State in their 2008 season opener Saturday afternoon at Ursinus College's Eleanor Frost Snell Alumnae Field.
After playing to a 0-0 stalemate in the first half, the Lady Lions capitalized on one its 13 penalty corner opportunities and a penalty stroke attempt.
Senior goalkeeper Kelly Driscoll (West Chester, Pa.) made a career-high 13 saves for the Lady Monarchs.
Penn State controlled the ball the vast majority of the half, outshooting Lady Monarchs 12-0, en-route to the 0-0 halftime stalemate. Driscoll made eight stops, including a save at the top of the circle thwarting a breakaway opportunity by Penn State's Jessica Longstreth. Off the rebound, the Nittany Lion's Bethany Marvel picked up the ball along the left side of the cage, but Old Dominion's Kathleen Shea (Elizaville, N.Y.) swooped in and cleared out the ball as Driscoll was running back to the cage. Old Dominion managed just one penalty corner but was unable to fire upon the Nittany Lion goal.
Penn State broke the scoreless tie with 15:20 left in the game on a penalty corner. The Nittany Lion's Jenny Purvis fed the ball, bypassing Jen Long who had been serving as the stick stop on the penalty corner unit, to Allison Scola. Scola then dribbled the ball into the circle passing the ball to Jessica Longstreth in front of the Old Dominion cage. Longstreth then found the gap in the defense to find the back of the Lady Monarch goal.
The Nittany Lions added in their second goal with 7:39 remaining on a penalty stroke by Scola. Scola, who assisted on Penn State's first tally, finished the afternoon with three points.
The Lady Monarchs took their chances with the remaining time, taking Driscoll out the cage and playing with 11 field players. While defensively, the Lady Monarchs managed to keep Penn State at bay, Old Dominion did not find its way into the Penn State goal.
Old Dominion was outshot 20-0 and the Nittany Lions held a 13-1 advantage in penalty corners.
The Old Dominion field hockey team returns to action on Sunday, August 31st against No. 18 Syracuse at 1:00 p.m. at Ursinus College's Eleanor Frost Snell Alumnae Field in another neutral site contest.