UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Rutgers took 17 shots at Jeffrey Field on Saturday afternoon, 14 of them after halftime. Penn State needed one kick from the penalty spot.
Morgan Hippeli was called for the foul at 15:44, and Paige Kalal put the penalty top right for the only goal of a 1-0 Penn State win on the Nittany Lions’ Family Weekend. Olivia Bodmer made five saves. Mackenzie Gress made four, none of them after 64:16, and Rutgers’ last six shots of the afternoon either hit a Penn State body or missed the frame.
The running thread held as well. Rutgers won the shot count 17-15 and the corner count 7-5, and lost the count that matters, six on target to four. The Scarlet Knights had gone 2-1-1 in their previous four Big Ten matches, including the 3-1 win over then-No. 14 Wisconsin and last Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Nebraska, and arrived with Lilia Calvert leading the team in goals (four) and assists (three) after two Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
Penn State came in 6-3-4 and 4-2-2, sixth in the Big Ten on 14 points and 22nd in the RPI, home from a split in the Pacific Northwest. The Nittany Lions won 1-0 at Oregon on Oct. 8 when freshman Paige Pasinski hit the post and the ball came back off the Ducks’ goalkeeper and in, then lost 1-0 at No. 13 Washington on Oct. 11, their first loss since Sept. 10. This is a side built not to concede, five goals in eight Big Ten matches before Saturday, with Gress, a redshirt senior, holding four conference shutouts.
Erica Dambach is in her 20th season at Penn State and won her 300th match there in August, against Bucknell. Her program has reached 32 straight NCAA Tournaments and won the 2015 national title, beating Rutgers 2-0 in both the Big Ten Tournament final and the College Cup semifinal along the way. Penn State now leads the series 14-9-5. Rutgers has not beaten Penn State since 2021 and has not won at Jeffrey Field since 2019.
Penn State never scored from open play, and never had to.
Lineup
GK: Olivia Bodmer
D: Julia Joseph, Audrey Cain, Morgan Hippeli, Lindsey Hailey, Patricia Tsokos
M: Tommi Valente
F: Reilly McGlinn, Ashley Baran, Marian Dunne, Lilia Calvert
Subs: Sophia Stiles, Amanda Thornton, Jayme Malanda, Olivia Russomanno, Dina Bojkovic, Lily Ann Phillips, Sarah Martinez, Riley Morris, Charlotte Garcia
Gabriela Gil did not appear, six days after she came off at 64:41 against Nebraska and did not return. Cain took her place in the eleven, marking the only change from the side Mike O’Neill had started for three straight matches. The box score files Cain as a defender alongside Joseph, Hippeli, Hailey and Tsokos, with Valente the lone listed midfielder. Malanda, Martinez and Garcia returned to the rotation after sitting out Nebraska, and Phillips played nine minutes against the program she transferred from.
The substitution count held at last Sunday’s level and the pattern did not change. Rutgers made 25 changes, used nine substitutes and played 20 players, after 25, seven and 18 against Nebraska. The first half went in four waves. Stiles, Thornton and Malanda came on for Cain, Dunne and Hippeli at 27:32, Russomanno replaced Baran at 29:28, Bojkovic, Phillips and Martinez replaced Calvert, McGlinn and Valente at 35:58, and Morris replaced Malanda at 39:20, 11 minutes and 48 seconds after Malanda had come on. From 35:58 to the break, Bodmer, Joseph, Hailey and Tsokos were the only starters on the field.
All seven came back at 45:00, the fourth straight match Mike O’Neill has restored his starting eleven in full at the interval. The second half added 10 more changes between 60:32 and 82:52. Dunne, Baran and McGlinn each went off and came back. Cain went off for good at 60:32 and Hippeli at 65:02, and Thornton worked three separate shifts for 41 minutes.
Bodmer, Joseph, Hailey and Tsokos never came off, the same four who went the distance against Nebraska.
Penn State Takes 10 Shots Before Halftime and Only Needs the One From the Spot
Penn State outshot Rutgers 10-3 in the first half and put three on target to Rutgers’ one, the penalty included. It won three corners to one. Fouls finished level at five, Rutgers was flagged offside twice to Penn State’s once, and there were no cards. Bodmer made two saves. Gress made one.
The first six minutes were throw-ins, a Bella Ayscue foul on Calvert at 1:53 and a Rutgers offside at 2:36. Then Penn State took three shots in 17 seconds. Ellie Kocher put one off target at 6:09, Ayscue’s was blocked at 6:21 and Kalal sent one wide at 6:26. Bodmer took goal kicks at 6:34 and 7:14, and Kocher and Dunne traded fouls at 8:44 and 9:10. McGlinn took Rutgers’ first shot at 10:55 and put it off target, and Aubrey Kulpa did the same for Penn State at 13:41.
The minutes before the penalty belonged to Penn State. Bodmer took goal kicks at 12:54, 13:49 and 14:27, three in 93 seconds, and Rutgers’ only possessions of note in that stretch ended in throw-ins at 12:30 and 13:25. None of Penn State’s first four shots had been on target.
At 15:44 Hippeli was whistled, and Kalal put the penalty top right. It was Penn State’s fifth shot of the afternoon and the only one that beat Bodmer.
It was the only goal of the match.
Most of what followed ran through Kocher. Tsokos fouled her at 16:58 and again at 23:03, and Kocher fouled Calvert at 24:40 and 30:20. Penn State won corners at 17:54 and 18:36, neither of which produced a shot, and Kocher and Emma Johnson both went wide inside 36 seconds, at 21:13 and 21:49.
Then the benches started turning over at 27:32, with both coaches making their first changes on the same clock mark. Valente’s shot 13 seconds after the first wave was blocked, and after Herr fouled Thornton at 30:52, Calvert got Rutgers’ only shot on target of the half away at 31:37, top right, where Gress saved it. Rutgers won its only first-half corner nine seconds later. Bodmer answered with saves on Kalal at 34:27, bottom right, and on Anna Babcock at 40:20, bottom left. Morris fouled Kalal at 41:54, Kalal had a shot blocked at 42:30 and Penn State won a corner eight seconds after that. Penn State was caught offside at 43:16, and Rutgers at 44:46.
Rutgers went to the break with three shots, one on target, and a penalty to answer.
Rutgers Takes 14 Shots After Halftime and Penn State Blocks Seven of Them
Rutgers started the second half on the front foot. After a Penn State corner at 46:16, Kulpa fouled Bodmer at 46:56, McGlinn went top left at 47:43 for Gress’ second save, Rutgers won a corner at 47:59 and Hailey put one off target at 48:26. Penn State answered at 49:29 with Kocher going bottom center, and Bodmer saved that one too.
Joseph went off target at 51:01, Hippeli fouled Kulpa at 51:56 and Kulpa went wide at 52:54. Calvert’s attempt at 55:10 was the first of seven Rutgers shots Penn State blocked after halftime. Kulpa tested Bodmer again at 57:58, bottom center, and Tsokos picked up her third foul of the day on Kocher at 58:24.
The best stretch Rutgers had came in the next six minutes. Baran went top left at 60:06 and Gress saved it. Dunne’s shot was blocked at 62:48, McGlinn’s went off target at 63:25, and at 64:16 Hippeli, the player whistled for the penalty, went bottom center and Gress made her fourth save.
Gress did not have to make another.
Rutgers had most of the ball from there and could not find the frame. Penn State won a corner at 66:30. Calvert’s shot at 68:06 was blocked, Joseph was called for a foul on Kocher at 68:25, and Kulpa and Kennedy Ring fouled Stiles and Russomanno at 69:41 and 70:26. Rutgers won a corner at 71:14 and Joseph’s shot 27 seconds later was blocked. Pasinski put one off target at 77:13. Rutgers won two corners 17 seconds apart at 80:21 and 80:38, and Penn State used the stoppage between them for three changes, Kalal among those going off.
Calvert was booked for unsporting behavior at 82:52, on the same whistle as her foul on Pasinski. At 84:25 Pasinski went bottom center and Bodmer made her fifth save. It was Penn State’s last shot of the afternoon.
The last push came in 32 seconds. Dunne’s shot was blocked at 87:38, Baran’s at 87:45 and McGlinn’s at 88:10. Rutgers won corners at 88:16 and 88:50, Kalal came back on at 88:50, and McGlinn’s final attempt at 89:02 went off target. Gress took a goal kick at 89:10, and Rutgers spent the last 50 seconds taking throw-ins.
Rutgers outshot Penn State 14-5 in the second half and won six corners to two. Each side put three on target. Rutgers committed six fouls to four and was flagged offside once to Penn State’s twice. Bodmer made three saves. Gress made three.
Rutgers is 4-6-4 and 3-5-1, with 16 goals scored and 18 conceded through 14 matches and a 187-179 edge in shots. Penn State moves to 7-3-4 and 5-2-2.
The road does not ease.
Rutgers goes to No. 3 Ohio State on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium, to face an 11-1-1 side sitting at the highest ranking in program history, which had allowed six goals in 13 matches before visiting No. 20 Purdue on Sunday. Then it is Indiana in Bloomington on Sunday, Oct. 25, before the regular season closes against Maryland at Yurcak on Oct. 30.
Three Big Ten matches remain, and two of them are on the road.
Rutgers took 17 shots in Happy Valley.
Penn State needed one.
