PROGRAM HISTORY • October 22: With a 2-1 win over Northwestern, PSU grabs its ninth consecutive Big Ten Title. The streak is tied for second longest ever among women’s conference teams. The win also marked Penn State’s 100th in conference play. • November 2: Six Nittany Lions earn All-Big Ten honors, including Co-Defensive Player of the Year Ali Krieger. Senior Krieger, junior Aubrey Aden-Buie, and sophomores Sheree Gray and Allie Long all garner First Team honors, while junior defender Denay Riley and freshman goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher are named to the Second Team. • November 5: On its home field, Penn State captures its fourth Big Ten Tournament title with a 3-1 victory over Illinois in a final broadcast on CSTV. Aden-Buie was named Offensive MVP, while Krieger garnered Defensive MVP accolades. • November 6: The Big Ten champion Nittany Lions earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the 12th straight for Penn State. • November 24: After racking up three NCAA wins, Penn State falls to eventual national runner-up Notre Dame in South Bend. The quarterfinal appearance is the eighth overall for PSU. • December 5: Ali Krieger and Sheree Gray are named NSCAA All-Americas. Krieger’s First Team honor was the second consecutive, while Gray became Penn State’s ninth All-American in program history. 2007 • January 25: After six years as head coach, Paula Wilkins departs Penn State with a 11919-11 career record. • February 8: Former Dartmouth and Harvard head coach, current U.S. U-17 bench boss Erica Walsh becomes the third head coach in PSU history. • Spring: Erica Walsh announces a Top 20 recruiting class headed up by Parade All-Americans Danielle Toney and UNC transfer Melissa Hayes. • Summer: PSU alums Christie Welsh and Joanna Lohman are named to the 24-player travel roster as the U.S. Women’s National Team continues its tune-up for the 2007 FIFA Women’s World Cup in China. Canadian goalkeeper Erin McLeod primed for a World Cup appearance, while recent graduate Ali Krieger headed to U-21 training camp to prep for the Nordic Cup. Rising 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 alltime 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.
14 STRAIGHT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS 1998-2011
2009 • May 18-28: The PSU Lions trek to Brazil for a three-match 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 tenplayer 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 thenNo. 23 Indiana, 2-1, behind the strength of a Danielle Toney first-half goal and a gamewinner 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 firstteam 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 Li-
NITTANY LION ATHLETICS • GoPSUsports.com
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