Penn St Comes Up Short Against West Virginia, 1-0

Sophomore Alyssa Naeher makes six saves in a tough loss

Nov. 24, 2007

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. - Sophomore keeper Alyssa Naeher (Seymour, Conn.) was a defensive stalwart as she made six saves for the No. 1 seed Penn State women's soccer team (18-4-2) in a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to No. 4 seed West Virginia (18-4-2) in the third round of the NCAA Tournament at Jeffrey Field today. It is the first-ever third round loss for the Nittany Lions and it is the first trip to the Elite 8 for West Virginia.

The Mountaineers broke through in the 71st minute off of a free kick as Amanda Cicchini served the free kick to Krystle Kallman who headed the ball toward the goal. Naeher made a diving attempted to stop the shot, but the ball hit off her hand, off the post and back off Naeher and into the right corner of the goal to give West Virginia the 1-0 lead.

The Nittany Lions had a great opportunity to tie the game in the 77th minute as freshman Danielle Toney (Northville, Mich.) drove in one-on-one inside the 18-yard box before taking a shot, but Kerri Butler made a diving save to preserve the WVU lead. In the final moments of the game, Penn State had two opportunities to tie the game as sophomore midfielder Sheree Gray (Toms River, N.J.) fed the ball through several WVU defenders to Toney, but the Nittany Lions were offsides. The Nittany Lions also had a chance with 21 seconds remaining as senior defender Denay Riley (Washingtonville, N.Y.) connected with senior forward Aubrey Aden-Buie (Allentown, Pa.) for a header, but the ball was saved by Butler.

Just minutes into the game, the Mountaineers had a golden opportunity to take the early 1-0 lead as Deana Everrett had a wide-open chance inside the box, but her shot glanced off the crossbar. Everrett also had a chance to put the rebound in, but Penn State defender Maura Ryan (Doylestown, Pa.) stopped the ball and cleared it just shy of the goal line.

Penn State had three good scoring chances in the opening frame with the first coming in the ninth minute when Carly Bedesem's (Holland, Pa.) shot was stopped by a sliding save from Butler. In the 27th minute, sophomore Katie Scheopfer (Waterford, Conn.) had a point-blank shot from just outside of the goal box, but Butler was in position to make the save. The Nittany Lions also had another opportunity in the final minute of the first half as Zoe Bouchelle's (Cockeysville, Md.) shot hit the side of the net.

In 2007, Penn State captured its 10th straight Big Ten title and earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in three days.

--NITTANY LIONS--