Aug. 24, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 3 Old Dominion got behind early 2-0 and battled back to tie the score at two, but No. 9 Penn State pulled away to take a 5-2 victory in the 2012 season opener for both squads Friday night at Penn State.
Penn State (1-0) got the scoring started just over five minutes into the contest as Kelsey Amy scored on a breakaway to give the Nittany Lions the early lead.
Lauren Purvis increased the PSU lead eight minutes later with a goal from the right side off an assist from Laura Gebhart.
Christy Longacre got the Lady Monarchs on the board with just 15 seconds left in the first half off a penalty corner.
ODU tied the score a minute and a half into the second half as Sarah Breen scored her first ever collegiate goal. Kelsey Smither chipped a pass to Breen who put it in the back of the cage to knot the game at two.
PSU retook the lead eight minutes later as Kelsey Amy scored her second goal of the game off an assist from Whitney Reddig to make the score 3-2.
Casey Haegele stretched the lead to 4-2 when she deflected a Gebhart shot into the goal with 16 minutes remaining.
Brittany Grzywacz scored the final tally of the game with just over a minute left on a penalty stroke to make the final score 5-2.
The Lady Monarchs travel to Washington, D.C. on Sunday to face American at 1 p.m.