Field Hockey Falls to No. 5 Penn State, 4-1

Sept. 30, 2016

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State field hockey team fell to No. 5 Penn State, 4-1 on Friday night in University Park, Pa. The Spartans got on the board first, but the Nittany Lions rallied for four unanswered goals to improve to 10-1 on the season and 2-1 in Big Ten play, while MSU drops to 5-5 on the year and 1-2 in conference play.

"I thought that we played excellent and disciplined field hockey in spurts tonight, but we have to be able to execute for an entire game," said head coach Helen Knull. "We can't give the No. 5 team in the country the time and space we did in the second half. It was great to get on the scoreboard first, but we needed to sustain the workload for 70 minutes."

With the game still scoreless in the 24th minute, the Spartans struck to take the first lead of the contest. Kendal Anderson scored her 10th goal of the season and was assisted by Megan Fenton.

Hanging on to a one goal lead in the final minutes of the opening half, Penn State scored two quick goals to take a 2-1 lead into the break. The Nittany Lions leading scorer Moira Putsch took it to the end line and carried the ball into the circle before spinning and firing a shot that found the back of the net to tie the game. PSU then took the lead with just 50 seconds remaining in the first half on a goal by Aurelia Meijer.

Penn State then added goals in both the 53rd minute and 67th minute to take a 4-1 lead and pull away from Michigan State.

Katie Miller made five saves in the match after entering the game for the second half. Sierra Patton got the start for MSU and made two saves in the opening frame.

PSU outshot the Spartans 24-6 for the game and had a 9-2 advantage in penalty corners.

The Spartans return home on Sunday to take on Ball State at Ralph Young Field at 1 p.m.