University of Minnesota Athletics
No. 3 Penn State Defeats Minnesota Soccer 2-0
10/17/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Third-ranked Penn State (13-1-1, 9-0-0) defeated the Golden Gopher soccer team, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. With the hard-fought win, the Nittany Lions clinched their seventh straight Big Ten Championship.
Minnesota (5-10-0, 1-8-0) played well throughout and nearly took the lead just 30 seconds into the match. Sophomore Haley Lentsch took a pass in front of the Nittany Lion net and spun to her right to fire a shot that goalkeeper Erin McLeod dove to make the stop. She had another opportunity in the 22nd minute, but her shot from 15 yards out sailed just over the cross bar.
Penn State broke through in the 23rd minute as Amanda Lentz scored from 10 yards out off a crossing pass from Sophie Hiller. The Nittany Lions held a slim 4-2 advantage in shots on goal in the first half.
In the second half, the Golden Gophers' Rosalinda Kennedy nearly tied the match, but her shot hit the left post and bounced sideways just in front of the goal line in the 52nd minute. The Nittany Lions responded in the 61st minute as Tiffany Weimer received a pass from Holly Lincoln in front of the Minnesota net and made a lightning-quick spin to her left and scored from 10 yards out. With 18 goals on the season, Weimer has netted at least one marker in all nine conference games for Penn State.
Junior Molly Schneider finished the match with nine saves, while McLeod stopped all four Golden Gopher shots she faced. The Nittany Lions have allowed just one goal in their nine Big Ten matches.
"I'm proud of the way our kids rebounded from Friday night's match," head coach Mikki Denney Wright. "We were able to get a couple of players back from injury and that helped us today. We were able to play our style of soccer and had a good performance against a great team."
The Golden Gophers will finish up the Big Ten season at Iowa next Friday night. Minnesota will host North Dakota State on Sunday at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium. It is the first season at the Division
