Minnesota Hands Penn State Worst Big Ten Loss Since 2002 in 4-1 Win

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Schedule

Oct 26

1:00 PM

Soccer

vs Purdue

MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota (6-3-3, 2-3-0 B1G) handed Penn State (7-5-0 1-4-0 B1G) its worst Big Ten loss since 2002 with a 4-1 drubbing of the Nittany Lions at Elizabeth Lyle Robbie Stadium on Sunday afternoon. Izzy Brown netted the game-winning goal in the 25th minute, her second gamewinner of the season, and the four goals are the most Minnesota has scored against Penn State since 1997.

"We really challenged our group today to set the tone and be assertive right from the get go and I thought we responded and did that," head coach Erin Chastain said. "Creating chances early, getting corner kicks early showed that we were the aggressors today. You want to make it tough on teams on a Sunday. I'm disappointed that we took a goal at the end there, you just can't shut off and you can't get into that habit. I know we had the game well in hand but I have higher expectations of our team closing out a game. Overall, four goals against anyone in the Big Ten I will take and we had some great individual performances from our group today."

Minnesota's first goal came from the foot of senior Patricia Ward, her first goal of the season, to put the Maroon and Gold in front just 10 minutes into the match. The 10th minute goal is the sixth goal this season Minnesota has scored in the first 15 minutes of play. Ward was able to finish with her right foot after Makenzie Langdok sent a service into the box that fell to the ground near the six-yard box.

Brown's gamewinner came from a service from Ward, who celebrated her 21st birthday on Thursday, who headed home her sixth goal of the season to put Minnesota up 2-0 in the 25th minute. Ward becomes the fifth Gopher on the active roster to have a multi-point (not including one goal) performance in their career.

"Bouncing off the Rutgers game, we knew we were capable of dominating in this conference and this performance was more of what we expect from ourselves," Ward said. "We had to change our mindset to that we are going to set the tone instead of waiting to see what the other team is going to do. Once we were able to do that, we saw what we were capable of and that's the standard going forward."

Minnesota made it 3-0 in the second half when McKenna Buisman scored her second goal of the weekend off a fantastic through ball from Sophia Boman. Buisman flicked a touch about the Penn State goalkeeper and tapped home her second goal of the season.

The Nittany Lions added to the scoring when Mieke Schiemann scored an own goal to make it 4-0 Minnesota with 17 minutes left in the match. Penn State was able to get one goal back with 32 seconds left when Riley Gleason scored her first goal of the season to finish the match with a score of 4-1.

Penn State out shot the Gophers 15-9 for the match, but Minnesota matched the quality of chances with each team registering five during the match. The Maroon and Gold are the only Big Ten team to score four goals in a conference match this season and they have now done it twice with today's 4-1 win joining the 4-2 win over Ohio State back in September. The loss for Penn State is the program's worst conference defeat since 2002 when the Nittany Lions lost 4-0 to Michigan.

After a tough stretch the Gophers will be able to take some time off with just one match scheduled in week four of the Big Ten season. Minnesota will travel to West Lafayette to take on Purdue on Oct. 10, at 12 p.m. on BTN+. Purdue currently is tied atop of the Big Ten standings with nine points with a 3-1-0 record in the Big Ten this season. Last time Minnesota took on the Boilermakers the Gophers won 1-0 at home.

For more information on the Gophers, continue to check back with GopherSports.com. Keep up with the University of Minnesota women's soccer on Twitter and Instagram (@GopherSoccer) and on Facebook, so you do not miss any content during the 2021 season.

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