PROGRAM HISTORY sophomore goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher trained with the U.S. U-20 team in preparation for the Pan-Am Games. • September 2: Erica Walsh gets her first victory as Penn State’s head coach in a 1-0 win over Central Florida in Knoxville, Tenn. • November 2: The dynasty reaches a decade, as Penn State wins its 10th consecutive Big Ten title with a 1-0 victory at Ohio State. The Nittany Lions went 9-1 on the conference season. • November 7: Sophomore Alyssa Naeher is named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and six Nittany Lions earned All-Big Ten. Naeher is PSU’s 10th Big Ten Player of the Year in all categories. • November 12: Penn State earns one of four No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament, which signals its 13th consecutive NCAA appearance. • November 24: After a 4-0 victory over Monmouth and a 2-1 thrilling overtime win versus Hofstra, Penn State loses a 1-0 battle to visiting West Virginia to end its NCAA tournament run in the third round. • December 11: Aubrey Aden-Buie and Zoe Bouchelle received Academic All-America honors from CoSIDA, pushing the Nittany Lions’ number of honorees to seven in the program’s 14 years. • December 17: Alyssa Naeher and Katie Schoepfer are named NSCAA All-Americans. Their selection pushes the number of Penn State individual All-America honorees to 11 all-time in 14 years. The number of all-time honors earned by the group stands at 22 overall. 2008 • April 14: Erica Walsh becomes an assistant coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team set to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. • May 24: Former Nittany Lion Ali Krieger becomes the first American woman to win the UEFA Women’s Cup when her FFC Frankfurt team captures its third Cup, 3-2. Her squad beat Swedish powerhouse Umea IK led by the ‘07 FIFA Women’s Player of the Year, Marta, of Brazil. • Summer: Erin McLeod continues as Canada’s starter and represents her home country at the Beijing Games. Current Lions Alyssa Naeher (U-20) and Katie Schoepfer (U-23) see game action with their respective U.S. Teams and incoming players Lexi Marton (Canada) and Christine Nairn (U.S.) are also in preparations for the upcoming U-20 World Cup. • August 21: Head coach Erica Walsh wins gold with the U.S. Women’s National Team as an assistant coach. Walsh was charged with the defense and the Americans followed through, shutting out Brazil 1-0 in extra time to earn the U.S. its third Olympic gold medal. • October 26: PSU claims a share of the 11th consecutive Big Ten title with a 2-0 win at Purdue, going 8-2. Minnesota also goes 8-2. • November 7: Penn State captures its fifth Big Ten Tournament title with a 1-0 victory over Michigan State, avenging an earlier loss to the Spartans. Danielle Toney earns tournament Offensive MVP and Alyssa Naeher is the Defensive MVP. The Conference would announce the tournament’s elimination after 2008. • December 8: Alyssa Naeher and future Lion Christine Nairn capture the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile. Naeher earns the tournament’s Golden Glove Award. She also garners her second NSCAA All-America First Team honor.
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2009 • May 18-28: The PSU Lions trek to Brazil for a threematch tour of the South American country in addition to a beach soccer and an indoor futsal tournament. July 22: Freshman Christine Nairn scores an 89th-minute goal to defeat Canada in a friendly for the U.S. Senior National Team. It’s the first time a current Nittany Lion scores a goal for the U.S. National Team at the senior level. August 21: The second-largest crowd at a Jeffrey Field women’s soccer game (3,098) witnesses a 1-0 Penn State win over then-No. 9/12 Virginia. Danielle Toney scores the lone goal in the sixth minute. August 31: Christine Nairn’s header in the 79th minute caps a two-goal in three-minute effort that gives Penn State a 3-2 win over UConn. October 4: The Nittany Lions win their first Big Ten game of the season, a hard-fought ten-player 2-1 win over then-No. 15 Ohio State behind goals from Christine Nairn and Katie Schoepfer. October 16: Katie Schoepfer slips a last-second free kick goal at Minnesota to put the Nittany Lions into first place for the first time all season with a 1-0 victory. Schoepfer was honored as the league’s offensive player of the week. October 25: Katie Schoepfer records the 17th hat trick in PSU history in a 6-0 drubbing of Illinois on the Big Ten Network. It’s the first hat track since 2005 by Tiffany Weimer. October 29: On a cold and rainy Thursday night, the Nittany Lions dodged the elements and used a solid counter attack to down then-No. 23 Indiana, 2-1, behind the strength of a Danielle Toney first-half goal and a game-winner by Christine Nairn in the 80th minute. Both goals were assisted by Katie Schoepfer. November 1: Senior Day will forever be memorable as Melissa Hayes and Tara Davies score their first goals of the season in a 4-0 romp over then-No. 22 Purdue. Davies added a cartwheel and a flip in celebration for good measure on her first career goal. November 6: Michigan State downs Ohio State, 1-0, to give Penn State at least a share of its 12th-straight Big Ten title. November 8: Katie Schoepfer and Jackie Molinda each tally goals and the defense doesn’t allow a single shot to reach net in a 2-0 win at Michigan, giving PSU the outright claim to the Big Ten and the automatic NCAA bid. November 11: Katie Schoepfer and Alyssa Naeher are named the Big Ten’s Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively, while Christine Nairn is a unanimous Freshman of the Year and All-Big Ten First Team member. Erica Walsh picks up her first Coach of the Year Award and Danielle Toney garners first-team accolades. Lexi Marton is a unanimous All-Freshman selection with Nairn and named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. It’s only the second time in school history that Penn State swept all the Big Ten awards. November 14: The fourth-seeded Nittany Lions in the UCLA bracket of the NCAA Tournament use a hat trick by Katie Schoepfer, her second in 20 days, to down Colgate, 5-0 at Jeffrey Field. • December: Katie Schoepfer and Alyssa Naeher earn NSCAA All-America Third Team honors, while Schoepfer is named to the NSCAA Scholar All-America First Team.
PENN STATE 2011 • WOMEN’S SOCCER
2010 January 15: Alyssa Naeher is selected 13th overall by the Boston Breakers as the final pick in the first round of the WPS 2010 Draft. Fellow classmate Katie Schoepfer is selected in the third round by the defending champion Sky Blue FC. January 30: Christine Nairn helps co-captain the U.S. U-20 National Team to the CONCACAF Championship in Guatemala. Newcomer Maya Hayes plays a role as a reserve in most games as the team qualifies for the World Cup in June. July 14-25: Christine Nairn and Maya Hayes help the U.S. U-20 team win Group D with a 2-0-1 record. Nairn starts all four games in the tournament, captaining the squad twice in a 5-0 win over Switzerland and a 1-1 draw with Nigeria. Hayes notched an assist in a 1-1 tie with Ghana and in the Switzerland rout, while making an appearance in all four games with two starts. August 20: Tani Costa scores her first career goal, an overtime game-winner, as Penn State defeats No. 24 West Virginia, 2-1, in Morgantown. August 27: A Penn State women’s soccer record crowd of 3,912 cheer the Nittany Lions to an exciting 1-1 tie against regional rival, No. 15 Virginia. October 15: On a blustry evening at Jeffrey Field, Penn State turned its season around in comeback fashion as Taylor Schram and Maddy Evans headed home second-half goals to defeat No. 15 Minnesota, 2-1. October 24: Penn State captures its biggest upset as an unranked squad, downing No. 13 Illinois, 2-0, in Champaign. Jess Rosenbluth supplied two assists and Danielle Toney scored the game-winner. October 28-31: Tani Costa records PSU’s 19th hat trick in program history in a dominating 6-1 win over Indiana. She adds two more goals in a matching 6-1 triumph at Purdue to snag Big Ten Player, Freshman and TopDrawerSoccer.com Player of the Week honors. November 7: Despite registering a school record-tying 42 shots, Penn State’s Big Ten title streak hung in the balance of a 0-0 double overtime game against Michigan at Jeffrey Field. A combination play of Tani Costa and Taylor Schram led to Ali Schaefer’s first career goal, the game-winner, to clinch PSU’s 13th straight Big Ten championship in thrilling fashion on Big Ten Network. December: Christine Nairn captures her first NSCAA AllAmerica honor, landing on the second team as Penn State’s lone representative. 2011 June-July: Ali Krieger and Erica Walsh head to Germany on the U.S. National Team, while Erin McLeod and Carmelina Moscato represent the Canadians at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup. While Canada is eliminated in the group stage, Krieger starts and plays every minute for the Americans, who reach the Final. Krieger notches the game-winning penalty kick to down Brazil in an exciting comeback match, which earned an ESPY award for Abby Wambach’s goal. Krieger becomes the first Penn Stater to play for a World Cup title.
16 STRAIGHT NCAA APPEARANCES 1995-2010